Lead Fusion Simulation Scientist (Equity Options)

Cambridge Heavy Industries Inc.; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

Job summary

Cambridge Heavy Industries (CHI) is hiring a Lead Simulation Scientist to build the computational backbone of our fusion platform in Cambridge, MA. You will develop hydrocode and PIC simulations, validate against experiments, and translate results into design decisions for lasers, targets, and diagnostics.

You will lead a small team, own the simulation roadmap and HPC compute infrastructure, and collaborate with experimentalists and engineers across CHI to scale our capabilities toward practical

Qualifications

• PhD in physics or a related field with a focus on computational plasma physics, high-energy-density physics, or shock physics.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience running and developing hydrocodes for laser-driven or shock-driven problems.
• Hands-on experience with particle-in-cell codes for laser-plasma or kinetic plasma problems.
• Track record of validating simulations against experimental data, ideally in shock physics or laser–plasma experiments.
• Strong scientific programming skills (C++, Fortran, Python) and experience running parallel codes on HPC clusters.

Responsibilities

• Lead radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of laser-driven, multi-ring shock convergence to predict pressure, temperature, and density histories in the target.
• Select, develop, and maintain equation-of-state, opacity, and material-strength models for target materials under extreme conditions.
• Use simulation to optimize laser pulse shaping, ring sequencing, and target design for compression efficiency and neutron yield.
• Lead kinetic and particle-in-cell simulations of laser–plasma interaction, hot-electron generation, and fusion-relevant plasma conditions.
• Couple PIC and hydrocode results to capture kinetic effects that fluid models miss, and define when each approach applies.
• Validate models against time-resolved experimental data, including high-speed imaging, interferometry, and optical, neutron, or X-ray spectroscopies, and build synthetic diagnostics to guide experiment design.
• Partner with experimental, mechanical, and materials engineers to translate simulation results into chamber, target, and laser-system design decisions.
• Own CHI’s simulation roadmap and compute infrastructure (HPC or cloud), including code selection, workflows, and verification and validation standards.
• Hire and mentor computational scientists as the team grows.

Skills

Hydrocode simulations

PIC simulations

HPC parallel computing

C++/Fortran/Python

Validation & verification

Education

PhD in physics or related field

Tools

FLASH

HYADES

HELIOS

MULTI

xRAGE

CTH

EPOCH

OSIRIS

VPIC

Smilei

WarpX

Job description

Cambridge Heavy Industries (CHI) is hiring a Lead Simulation Scientist to build the computational backbone of our fusion platform in Cambridge, MA. You will develop hydrocode and PIC simulations, validate against experiments, and translate results into design decisions for lasers, targets, and diagnostics.

You will lead a small team, own the simulation roadmap and HPC compute infrastructure, and collaborate with experimentalists and engineers across CHI to scale our capabilities toward practical