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 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
#LI-Onsite #LI-MT1
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
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
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. If this job isn't the one, we have many other openings that may be a fit.
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. If we reach out to you to begin an interview process, we will also ask if you require any reasonable accommodation at that time.
Top Skills
Similar Jobs
What you need to know about the San Francisco Tech Scene
Key Facts About San Francisco Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 365,500; 13.9% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Google, Apple, Salesforce, Meta
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, fintech, consumer technology, software
- Funding Landscape: $50.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins
- Research Centers and Universities: Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; University of San Francisco; Santa Clara University; Ames Research Center; Center for AI Safety; California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
