Director of Engineering, Modules

Fusion Energy Base; Everett (WA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, Vision plans

PTO 31 days

401(k) match

Disability & life insurance

Parental leave

Wellness stipend

Job summary

Helion in Everett, WA seeks a senior hardware engineer to own the Orion capacitor bank architecture, coordinating cross‑functional teams across electrical, mechanical, firmware, and controls. You will drive design, qualification, and production readiness for pulsed power modules destined for megajoule energy capacity weekly.

You will guide cost, schedule, and reliability decisions at scale, partner with manufacturing, and build a high‑performing team.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, or a related field.
• 10+ years developing complex electromechanical hardware.
• 4+ years leading multidisciplinary engineering teams (Electrical, Mechanical, Firmware, Thermal).
• Track record of taking hardware from prototype through production and DFM-ready design decisions.
• Experience in cost, schedule, and reliability ownership at program scale.

Responsibilities

• Own the architecture of Orion’s capacitor bank and interfaces between bank, core, and controls.
• Lead and mentor a cross-functional team designing and qualifying pulsed power modules.
• Drive manufacturable design and partner with manufacturing to scale production.
• Own cost, schedule, and reliability for the module portfolio and set qualification bars.
• Collaborate with Research, Science, and Controls to keep designs ahead of operations.
• Build and scale the engineering team, setting design standards for production.

Skills

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Problem solving

Electrical engineering

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Electrical Eng, Mechanical Eng, Physics

Job description

Overview

Helion is a fusion power company based in Everett, WA, with the mission to build the world's first fusion power plant, enabling a future with unlimited clean electricity. Our vision is a world with clean, reliable, and affordable energy for everyone. Since Helion’s founding in 2013, we have raised $1.5billion from long‑time investors such as Sam Altman, Mithril, and Capricorn Investment Group as well as new investors including Thrive Capital, LightSpeed Venture Capital, SoftBank, and others to propel us forward. Our current prototype, Polaris, has reached record‑breaking plasma temperatures of 150million degrees Celsius (13keV). Helion is continuing to iterate and on the path to the world’s first fusion power plant, Orion. This is a pivotal time to join Helion; you will tackle real‑world challenges with a team that prizes urgency, rigor, ownership, and a commitment to delivering hard truths – values essential to achieving what no one has before. Together, we will change the future of energy, because the world can’t wait.

Responsibilities

You will own the organization that architects, designs, qualifies, and produces hardware for Orion, our first fusion power plant.

• Own the architecture of Orion’s capacitor bank and its interdependencies with the machine core: requirements, decomposition, and the interfaces that let the bank, core, and controls behave as one machine.
• Lead and mentor a cross‑functional team of electrical and mechanical engineers designing and qualifying pulsed power circuit modules for each section of the machine with ownership spanning pulsed power electrical design, mechanical and thermal solutions, and the high‑precision low‑voltage control interfaces that command them.
• Drive manufacturable design: partner day‑to‑day with manufacturing engineering to move modules from prototype test to production at the rate required to build megajoules of pulsed power energy capacity per week.
• Own cost, schedule, and reliability for the module portfolio: make the architecture and design trades, set the qualification bar for hardware that must survive million‑pulse campaigns and be accountable for hitting the objectives on a schedule you influence.
• Work day‑to‑day with Research, Science, and Controls to keep module designs ahead of what the physics and operations teams learn from running machines.
• Build the team: hire, develop, and set the design‑review and engineering standards that let the organization move from prototype to production without losing rigor.

In your first year, you will baseline the Orion bank architecture, stand up the qualification program for the first production modules, and have production‑intent hardware under test.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, or a related field.
• 10+ years developing complex electromechanical hardware, including 4+ years leading multidisciplinary engineering teams (Electrical, Mechanical, Firmware, Thermal).
• A track record of taking hardware from prototype through qualification into production, and of the design‑for‑manufacture judgment that makes that transition fast.
• Technical depth in at least one of: power electronics or pulsed energy systems, high‑reliability electromechanical design, or high‑volume hardware production with fluency across the others.
• Demonstrated ownership of cost, schedule, and reliability at program scale, including making and defending hard trades.
• Cross‑functional leadership strength: this role succeeds through tactical and strategic partnership with research, science, controls, and manufacturing.
• Experience scaling engineering teams and processes through a prototype‑to‑production transition.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision plans for employees and their families.
• 31days of PTO (21 vacation days and 10 sick days).
• 10 Paid holidays, plus company‑wide winter break.
• Up to 5% employer 401(k) match.
• Short‑term disability, long‑term disability, and life insurance.
• Paid parental leave and support (up to 16 weeks).
• Annual wellness stipend.
• Helion is an equal‑opportunity employer and values diversity at our company. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. If you need assistance or an accommodation during the interview process, please let us know.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Helion is an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. If you need assistance or an accommodation during the interview process, please let us know.