Regulatory Analyst, Energy Company, Washington D.C

Hanson Search is partnering with an innovative advanced nuclear energy business to appoint a Regulatory Analyst in Washington DC. This office-based role reports to the Vice President, Regulatory and Licensing.

About Our Client

Our client delivers abundant ship-based power to the industries and economies driving global prosperity. It builds, integrates and deploys ship-based nuclear energy systems, including moored floating nuclear power plants serving ports, industries and grids. The business also develops nuclear-powered commercial ships and the industrial capability to manufacture and support both at scale.

With an international footprint, the business operates at the intersection of advanced nuclear, maritime, energy security and industrial policy. It is a growing company working to establish a new global industry, which demands both first principles thinking and disciplined execution.

The Regulatory Analyst Role

The Regulatory Analyst carries out the research and analysis that underpins the company’s regulatory work. The role supports regulatory programmes across floating nuclear power plants in the United States and other markets. It also covers nuclear-powered commercial ships, a nuclear-grade shipyard and wider maritime nuclear sector development.

The business works across nuclear, maritime, environmental, security, liability and international frameworks. Some pathways exist; others are still being written. The Analyst takes a defined question, finds and verifies the primary sources, works out what applies and sets out plainly what the business needs to understand before it commits.

This role suits someone who is curious, careful with evidence and able to write well. Our client is open to candidates from any sector who have learned how a demanding regulatory environment works. Specialist nuclear knowledge is not a requirement.

Analysts work directly with senior colleagues and see their work reach decision-makers and regulators. There is also a clear route to more senior and specialist roles as the team grows.

Regulatory Analyst Responsibilities

Recent work gives a sense of the task load. It includes a response to the NRC’s proposed Part 57 rulemaking and a baseline review of the Jones Act and its consequences for how floating plants are built, moved and operated.

The team has also reviewed the historical civil liability conventions for nuclear ships. Early work is under way on how thermal discharge from a moored plant would be permitted at a candidate US port.

Research and Analysis

• Deliver defined regulatory tasks under an agreed task initiation, with clear scope, deliverables and deadlines.
• Find, verify and organise primary sources, including statutes, regulations, regulator guidance, treaties and conventions, standards, dockets, class society rules and official meeting records.
• Establish what applies to the company’s products, including line-by-line applicability reviews.
• Identify where requirements are unclear, absent or ill-suited to ship-based nuclear.
• Compare frameworks across jurisdictions and assess precedents that may support or foreclose a pathway.
• Separate fact, assumption, open question and recommendation.

Written Outputs

• Produce task reports, gap analyses, applicability matrices, briefing notes, regulatory summaries and stakeholder maps to a standard suitable for senior review.
• Write concisely and in plain language, with traceable sourcing, so that conclusions can be checked, challenged and reused.
• Prepare briefing packs, meeting notes and action logs for regulator meetings, industry forums and internal decision-making.
• Draft input to external submissions, including rulemaking comments, consultation responses and position papers.

Monitoring and External Engagement

• Monitor developments from the NRC, USCG, MARAD, EPA and state and port authorities.
• Follow the IMO, IAEA and OECD NEA, as well as classification societies and industry bodies.
• Track relevant dockets, rulemakings, consultations and publications, and flag what matters, why it matters and by when.
• Support external engagement by preparing briefings in advance, recording outcomes accurately and following through on actions.

Knowledge, Records and Working Across the Business

• Maintain the regulatory knowledge base, source registers, completed work compendium, knowledge gap register, stakeholder records and action trackers.
• Apply the team’s filing, naming and version control rules.
• Keep task owners informed on progress and risk, and escalate early where work is blocked, evidence is missing or senior judgement is needed.
• Work with Engineering, Business Development, Legal, Government Affairs and Analytics to understand what a regulatory answer needs to support.
• Support external counsel and specialist advisers with well-organised briefs, source packs and clearly framed questions.

What We Are Looking For in a Regulatory Analyst

Our client does not expect any candidate to meet every criterion below, and nuclear expertise is not necessarily required. It is looking for sound analytical judgement, care with evidence and the appetite to learn quickly in unfamiliar areas.

Experience

• Experience in a regulatory, licensing, policy, legal or analytical role.
• A background in a complex, safety-critical or heavily regulated environment. Our client takes a deliberately wide view of what counts, including maritime and shipping, ports and infrastructure, energy and utilities, environmental permitting and nuclear. Aviation, rail, defence, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, financial services and telecommunications are equally relevant.
• That experience may come from a regulator, government department, international organisation, law firm, consultancy, engineering firm or classification society. Think tanks, trade associations, energy or shipping companies, infrastructure developers and congressional or parliamentary offices also count.
• A record of producing written analysis for a demanding audience, such as briefing notes, research papers, gap analyses, consultation responses or policy advice.
• Strong primary-source research skills.
• No nuclear or maritime background is required. Exposure to nuclear, maritime, environmental, safety, security, safeguards, licensing, standards, trade or industrial policy would be an advantage.
• Authorised to work in the United States and able to satisfy applicable requirements for access to controlled information and regulator-facing work.
• Willing to travel occasionally within the United States and internationally.

Skills and Capability

• Excellent written English, with the ability to explain complex material plainly and reach the point quickly.
• Sound judgement with incomplete information, and the discipline not to push a conclusion beyond what the evidence supports.
• Ability to turn an ambiguous question into a workable piece of analysis with a clear scope, method and output.
• Strong organisation and attention to detail, and the learning agility to get up to speed in unfamiliar material quickly.

Ways of Working

• Curious and rigorous, with a real interest in how rules work, why they exist and how they change.
• Outcome-driven and accountable, seeing a piece of work through from question to finished product.
• Calm and comfortable with ambiguity, in a company where much of the regulatory framework is still being written.
• Collaborative and resilient, able to maintain momentum in long-cycle, high-scrutiny work.
• Ready for the pace and personal ownership of a start-up, alongside the rigour a safety-critical industry demands.

Apply for This Regulatory Analyst Role