Vice President - HTS Magnet Engineering

Thea Energy, Inc.; Kearny (NJ); On-site; USD 240,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary range

Comprehensive health benefits

Employee equity stock options

20 days PTO

Job summary

Thea Energy, Inc. is seeking a Vice President of HTS Magnet Engineering to lead the magnet engineering pillar of our planar coil stellarator program.

You will set the long-term strategy, build and scale the organization, and own the budget and roadmap to ensure readiness for production. This executive role requires deep technical credibility in HTS magnets, strong leadership of fast-growing teams, and proven ability to manage multi-million-dollar budgets and strategic partnerships with suppliers

Qualifications

• 15+ years of engineering experience with magnets, cryogenics, vacuum systems, or transformer design.
• Proven track record building and leading large, fast-growing engineering organizations.
• Deep technical credibility in HTS magnets, electromagnetics, or related disciplines.
• Experience owning multi-million dollar engineering budgets, capital planning, and organizational design.
• Strong track record of strategic supplier and partner relationship management.
• Executive communication and stakeholder management with investors/boards/government.
• Ability to scale engineering teams and processes from early-stage to production.
• Bachelor’s degree in physics/engineering; advanced degree strongly preferred.
• Experience in magnetic confinement fusion or highly technical regulated industries.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the long-term technical strategy for HTS magnet engineering.
• Build, lead, and scale the magnet engineering organization.
• Own the magnet engineering budget, headcount plan, and capital investment strategy.
• Set organizational goals and milestones for magnet design, build, and test.
• Provide executive-level technical judgment on magnet specifications and risk management.
• Own strategic vendor, supplier, and manufacturing partnerships.
• Partner with CTO/CEO to align magnet engineering with system design and commercialization.
• Represent magnet engineering to investors, partners, government stakeholders.
• Establish processes, culture, and standards to scale to production.
• Own risk identification and mitigation planning for the magnet program.

Skills

HTS magnets

Electromagnetics

Senior leadership

Budget management

Vendor management

Strategic planning

Investor comms

High voltage systems

Education

Bachelor degree

Advanced degree preferred

Job description

About Thea Energy:

Thea Energy is leveraging recent breakthroughs in stellarator physics and engineering to create a faster and simpler approach to commercializing fusion energy. The company is reinventing the stellarator using computer-controlled arrays of planar coils thereby replacing the intricate, complex modular magnets required in all other stellarator architectures. Thea Energy is on a mission to create a limitless source of zero emission energy for a sustainable future.

Position Overview:

Thea Energy is seeking a Vice President - HTS Magnet Engineering to lead the organization responsible for one of the most critical technology pillars of the company’s planar coil stellarator: high temperature superconducting (“HTS”) magnets. As a senior member of the technology leadership team, the VP will set the long-term technical strategy and organizational structure for magnet engineering, own the function’s budget and roadmap, and ensure magnet development scales in lockstep with Thea Energy’s path to commercial fusion. This is a high-visibility executive role requiring both deep technical credibility and proven leadership of large, fast-growing engineering organizations.

Key Responsibility Areas:

• Define and own the long-term technical strategy and vision for HTS magnet engineering across the company’s fusion program
• Build, lead, and scale the magnet engineering organization, including hiring and developing Directors, Managers, Engineers, and Analysts
• Own the magnet engineering budget, headcount plan, and capital investment strategy, including test and manufacturing infrastructure
• Set organizational goals and milestones for magnet design, build, and test in alignment with overall company strategy and fundraising milestones
• Provide executive-level technical judgment on magnet specifications, design trade-offs, and risk management
• Own strategic vendor, supplier, and manufacturing partnerships critical to magnet hardware delivery at scale
• Partner with the CTO, CEO, and other executive leaders to align magnet engineering with overall stellarator system design, program schedule, and commercialization strategy
• Represent Thea Energy’s magnet engineering capability externally to investors, partners, government stakeholders, and the broader fusion and superconducting magnet community
• Establish organizational processes, culture, and standards that enable the magnet engineering function to scale from first-of-a-kind builds to production
• Own risk identification and mitigation planning for the magnet program at the portfolio level

Ideal Experience & Skillsets:

• 15+ years of engineering experience with magnets, cryogenics, vacuum systems, or transformer design, including substantial experience as a senior engineering executive
• Proven track record building and leading large, fast-growing engineering organizations, ideally in a hardware-intensive startup or advanced technology environment
• Deep technical credibility in HTS magnets, electromagnetics, or related disciplines, with the judgment to guide major design and program decisions
• Experience owning multi-million dollar engineering budgets, capital planning, and organizational design
• Strong track record of strategic supplier and partner relationship management for complex, custom hardware programs
• Exceptional executive communication and stakeholder management skills, including experience with investors, boards, or government partners
• Demonstrated ability to operate at both strategic and technical depth in a fast-paced, rapidly changing environment
• Track record of successfully scaling engineering teams and processes from early-stage to production-ready
• Innate desire to learn, innovate, and critique ideas — including one’s own and the organization’s
• At least a bachelor’s degree in physics, computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, materials engineering, or a related field; advanced degree strongly preferred
• Experience with magnetic confinement fusion, aerospace, medical devices, or other highly technical, regulated industries is ideal

Company Benefits:

• Salary range $240,000-$300,000
• Comprehensive health benefits (e.g. medical/dental/vision)
• Employee equity stock options
• 20 days PTO

Requirements:

• Ability to occasionally lift up to 50 lbs.
• Ability to perform activities such as typing, standing, or sitting for extended periods of time
• Willingness to occasionally travel or work required nights/weekends/on-call
• Ability to work in a facility that contains industrial hazards including heat, cold, noise, fumes, strong magnets, high voltage, high current, pressure systems, and cryogenics

It’s not necessary to meet all of the skillsets outlined above. Please feel free to send us a note and tell us why you would still be a great fit for this role or Thea Energy.

Diversity and Inclusion:

Thea Energy is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating a company of diverse backgrounds. By creating a diverse environment, we will bring new ideas and approaches to solving some of the world’s hardest (and most important) problems. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, family or marital status, age, disability, veteran’s status, or other characteristic protected by applicable laws and regulations.