Key Skills

Job Description

Head of Materials: Own the Materials Challenge for a New Reactor Europe (Netherlands or Central and Eastern Europe) | Permanent | Hybrid with regular travel Capax Mundi is recruiting for an early-stage advanced reactor developer building its founding team in Europe. The company has a patent-pending, liquid-metal-cooled reactor concept designed around cost from the start, and test facilities lined up with a European research partner. Materials and corrosion are its largest technical risk, and this role owns them. What you will do - Own materials selection and the corrosion strategy for structures, components and fuel in contact with heavy liquid metal - Plan and run the test programme, in-house and with partner laboratories, and turn the results into design inputs the engineering team can use - Build the materials qualification case and the evidence the regulator and investors will ask for - Work closely with the CTO and design engineers, and grow a small materials team as the company scales What you bring - A PhD in materials science, metallurgy, corrosion or a closely related field - Hands-on experimental experience in heavy liquid metal (lead, lead-bismuth, lead-lithium) or molten salt environments - Experience applying that work in a real project, with a reactor developer, test facility, industrial supplier or fuel vendor, not research alone - Comfort with ambiguity and with building something from the start - Advantages: fuel cladding or zirconium alloy experience; materials qualification to RCC-MRx or ASME III Division 5; irradiation testing; alumina-forming steels or coatings Start is flexible, with the first half of 2027 a good fit. Applications are handled confidentially by Capax Mundi. Contact Imee Carisma, [email protected]

Core Responsibilities

Lead materials selection and corrosion strategy for reactor structures, components, and fuel exposed to heavy liquid metal, and plan and run testing with in-house and partner laboratories. Develop the materials qualification evidence needed by regulators and investors, translate test results into design inputs, and build a small materials team as the company grows.

Requirements

A PhD in materials science, metallurgy, corrosion, or a closely related field is required, along with hands-on experimental experience in heavy liquid metal or molten salt environments. Candidates should have applied this work in an industry or reactor project and be comfortable building in an ambiguous, early-stage environment; experience with fuel cladding, zirconium alloys, qualification codes, irradiation testing, or alumina-forming steels and coatings is advantageous.