Senior Design Engineer

Tbwa Chiat/Day Inc; Everett (WA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a pioneering company at the forefront of fusion energy as a Senior Design Engineer. This role offers a unique opportunity to lead the design of capacitors for cutting-edge fusion generators, directly contributing to the mission of delivering clean electricity to the world. You will collaborate with talented technical teams, influence design strategies, and drive the transition from prototype to mass manufacturing. With a commitment to innovation and sustainability, this position allows you to tackle complex challenges and make a tangible impact on the future of energy. If you're ready to push boundaries and transform the energy landscape, this is the perfect opportunity for you.

Benefits

Medical, Dental, and Vision Plans

31 Days of PTO

401(k) Match

Short and Long-term Disability Insurance

Paid Parental Leave

Annual Wellness Stipend

Qualifications

• 8+ years of electromechanical design experience with a focus on rapid execution.
• Hands-on experience in prototyping and testing in iterative environments.

Responsibilities

• Own capacitor design from prototyping to mass-manufacturing.
• Collaborate across teams to optimize capacitor design for fusion generators.

Skills

Electromechanical Design

Rapid Prototyping

Manufacturing Process Scaling

Physics-based Design Principles

Communication Skills

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering

Job description

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 over $1 billion from long-time investors such as Sam Altman, Mithril, and Capricorn Investment Group and new investors SoftBank and Lightspeed to propel us forward. Our last prototype, Trenta, completed 10,000 high-power pulses and reached plasma temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius (9 keV). Now, we're turning up operations for Polaris, working towards delivering the world's first fusion power plant.

More than ever, it's a pivotal time to join us and have the opportunity to solve real challenges to create a better energy future. You will see first-hand how we value urgency, rigor, ownership, and hard truths, knowing it will take each to do what no one has before. Joining us, you will push the boundaries of what's possible and transform humanity for the better - because the world can't wait.

What You Will Be Doing:

We are hiring a Senior Design Engineer to own the design of capacitors used for energy storage in Helion’s fusion generators. This position provides a unique opportunity to collaborate across technical teams to optimize complex electromechanical design. You will accelerate Helion’s transition from rapid prototyping to generator mass manufacturing, delivering on Helion’s mission of providing clean electricity for the planet.

You will:

• Own capacitor design from requirement derivation, prototyping and testing, through to mass-manufacturing
• Work across technical teams to deeply understand how capacitors are used within our pulsed power circuits to optimize capacitor design requirements for Helion’s top-level generator goals
• Design, prototype, and test new capacitor designs to increase energy density, drive down cost, reduce electrical losses, improve manufacturability, and enable rapid manufacturing scaling
• Perform detailed capacitor design and qualification testing in support of near-term fusion generator builds, and owning resolution of capacitor anomalies during generator test operations
• Partner with our world class supply chain, manufacturing engineering, and production teams to scale Helion’s capacitor manufacturing from 10 MJ to 100,000 MJ per year in the next decade
• Enable high volume capacitor production via creative capacitor design and incorporation of mass manufacturing process
• Develop Helion’s long-term capacitor design strategy, including mitigating future vendor and supply chain risks, and incorporating emerging technologies to maintain Helion’s technological lead

Required Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, with a minimum of 8 years of electromechanical design experience, and a love of rapid execution and hard problems
• Demonstrated success in cradle-to-grave ownership of electromechanical assemblies
• Hands-on engineering experience in a rapid prototyping and testing, highly iterative environment
• Hands-on engineering experience in scaling throughput or rate of a manufacturing line
• Ability to apply physics based first principles to challenge design requirements and assumptions
• Experience communicating with and influencing partners across organizational lines
• Exceptional communication and successful partnership with supply chain and production teams

Compensation and Benefits

At Helion, we are committed to fostering a fair and equitable environment in every aspect of our operations, including compensation. We ensure all our roles are competitively benchmarked and our total compensation package includes a base salary, comprehensive benefits, and equity grants, giving you a true stake in Helion's success. Final compensation is determined through a holistic evaluation of your experience, qualifications, and our commitment to maintaining internal equity, ensuring fairness and transparency across our teams.

This is an exempt salaried role.

Annual Base Pay: $150,000 - $200,000 USD

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)
• 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

NOTE: Underrepresented people are less likely to apply unless they meet 100% of the job's requirements. We believe in hiring people, not checklists, and encourage you to apply even if you do not check all of the boxes.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information.

Apply for this job

First Name *

Last Name *

Email *

Phone *

Resume/CV *

LinkedIn Profile

Website