Manager, Nuclear Engineering

Helion; Everett (WA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, and Vision plans

31 days PTO (vacation & sick)

10 paid holidays + winter break

Up to 5% 401(k) match

Disability and life insurance

Parental leave support

Annual wellness stipend

Job summary

Helion in Everett, WA is seeking a senior Nuclear Engineering leader to guide the team responsible for neutronics, diagnostics, and radiation-safety work on our fusion roadmap. This onsite role reports to the Director of Plasma and Nuclear Science.

You will mentor engineers, manage delivery of shielding, activation analysis, dose estimation, and diagnostics development while aligning with annual goals and milestone schedules.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience managing a nuclear-engineering-related technical team.
• Experience performing neutronics simulations using MCNP with variance reduction.
• Hands-on experience handling radioactive material and diagnostic detectors.
• Autonomous mentorship and coaching across diverse staff.
• Familiarity with recruiting, timecard management, spend approvals and policies.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Nuclear Engineering team responsible for quantifying fusion yield via diagnostics and neutronics simulations.
• Own and deliver shielding design, activation analysis, dose estimation, and diagnostic development.
• Manage performance of nuclear engineers and conduct hiring actions to grow the team.
• Translate annual goals into tasks and manage month-to-month planning.
• Drive schedule ownership to accelerate milestone completion.

Skills

Nuclear team leadership

MCNP simulations

Radiation sources handling

Mentorship

People management processes

Project scheduling

Tools

MCNP

Neutron detectors

Activation foils

Job description

About Helion

We are 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 $1.5 billion 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 150 million degrees Celsius (13 keV). 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.

What You Will Be Doing

You will lead the Nuclear Engineering team that comprises neutronics, nuclear diagnostics and general nuclear engineering. You will report to the Director of Plasma and Nuclear Science team in this onsite role located at our Everett, WA office.

You will:

• Manage, develop, and assist the subject matter experts responsible for quantifying fusion yield via nuclear diagnostics and simulating radiation environments using neutronics simulation codes.
• Own and manage the delivery of Helion’s nuclear engineering needs such as shielding design, activation analysis, dose estimation, and diagnostic development.
• Manage the performance of nuclear engineers and conduct hiring actions to build the team as scope demands.
• Translate annual goals into objective tasks and manage month-to-month planning towards completing goals and objectives.
• Drive schedule ownership to accelerate the completion of milestones.

Required Skills

• 3+ years of experience managing a nuclear-engineering-related technical team that delivered a high-impact final product, expanding a talent-dense team via a hiring process and owning the schedule for a critical path facet of a milestone project.
• Experience performing neutronics simulations using MCNP as demonstrated via implementing variance reduction techniques and performing simulation-measurement verification for moderately complex geometries.
• Hands‑on experience handling radioactive material including neutron sources (e.g., Cf-252, AmBe, neutron generators), and experience operating diagnostic detectors (e.g., scintillators, He-3, activation foils).
• Successful and autonomous mentorship of employees of a broad range of expertise, experience, and backgrounds, demonstrated via several performance review cycles and successful coaching of direct reports.
• Fluent in some people management systems (e.g., recruiting, timecard management, spend approval, and performance reviews) and applying company policies as described in an employee handbook.

Benefits

Our total compensation package includes benefits, including but not limited to:

• Medical, Dental, and Vision plans for employees and their families.
• 31 days 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.