Senior Plasma ML Scientist — Differentiable Physics

Socket.dev; Everett (WA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plans

PTO 31 days

401(k) match

Disability insurance

Parental leave

Wellness stipend

Job summary

Helion is seeking a Principal Applied Plasma Data Scientist to accelerate experimental FRC plasma modeling through physics‑grounded ML. The role focuses on differentiable physics frameworks, PINNs, and surrogate models, integrated with simulation and diagnostic pipelines, reporting to Experimental Science Manager in Everett, WA.

You will collaborate with plasma physics and pulsed‑power experts to expand model fidelity and support experimental design.

Qualifications

• PhD in Physics, Engineering, Applied Math, Computational Science, Machine Learning, or related field with emphasis on physics‑grounded modeling.
• 10+ years of industry or research‑lab experience applying ML in experimental, simulation‑driven, or scientific R&D environments.
• Expertise with physics‑informed or physics‑constrained ML methods (differentiable physics, PINNs, surrogate modeling, reduced‑order models).
• Experience integrating ML with scientific‑computing workflows, simulation tools, or diagnostics.
• Proficiency in scripting for data parsing, model analysis, and visualization (MATLAB, Python; Fortran or HPC exposure valuable).
• Familiarity with magnetic diffusion, circuit coupling, or plasma‑dynamics modeling in pulsed‑power or electromagnetics systems.

Responsibilities

• Develop and validate ML frameworks for FRC plasma dynamics with physics‑grounded approaches.
• Integrate ML models with simulation tools and diagnostic pipelines for hybrid modeling workflows.
• Reproduce experimental plasma conditions in ML workflows to interpret diffusion, circuit response, and diagnostics.
• Generate analysis scripts for post‑processing and visualization of ML predictions vs experimental results.
• Collaborate with plasma physics and pulsed‑power experts to improve modeling fidelity.
• Communicate results through reports and presentations to research stakeholders.

Skills

Physics-grounded ML

PINNs

Surrogate modeling

Differentiable physics

ML integration with simulations

Data visualization

Scripting: Python/MATLAB

HPC exposure

Education

PhD in Physics/Engineering/Math/CS

Tools

MATLAB

Python

Fortran

HPC toolchains

Job description

Helion is seeking a Principal Applied Plasma Data Scientist to accelerate experimental FRC plasma modeling through physics‑grounded ML. The role focuses on differentiable physics frameworks, PINNs, and surrogate models, integrated with simulation and diagnostic pipelines, reporting to Experimental Science Manager in Everett, WA.

You will collaborate with plasma physics and pulsed‑power experts to expand model fidelity and support experimental design.