About the role
WHO WE ARE
Proxima Fusion is Europe’s fastest-growing fusion company and the continent’s best-funded fusion player, as well as the first spin-out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP). Backed by over €650M and powered by a growing team across Munich, Zurich, and Oxford, we are developing the hardware and infrastructure needed to deliver the world’s first commercial stellarator fusion power plant.
Our concept advances the most mature fusion technology out there, the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, through two next-generation machines: Alpha and Stellaris. Our work combines stellarator optimization, advanced computation, machine learning, and high-temperature superconducting magnets to unlock higher-performance designs that were previously out of reach.
Turning these designs into a functioning fusion power plant requires excellence and ownership across every discipline, from physics and engineering to software, manufacturing, law, and business functions.
BY JOINING OUR TEAM YOU’LL GET TO
- Shape the architecture of a fusion power plant – Own system-level decisions that determine how a first-of-a-kind energy technology is designed, integrated, and ultimately deployed at scale.
- Solve some of the most complex engineering challenges – Work across tightly coupled disciplines (plasma physics, magnets, cryogenics, manufacturing, controls, and more) to resolve critical trade-offs and turn cutting-edge science into a functioning product.
- Design real hardware with a pragmatic, fast-moving team from all over the world – Combine advanced simulation and systems thinking with a strong execution mindset, focusing on practical engineering solutions that accelerate the path to commercial fusion energy.
YOUR IMPACT
Alpha will be the first stellarator to demonstrate net energy. Achieving this milestone requires building a deeply coupled machine, where plasma, magnets, structures, cryogenics, and heating work at the edge of each discipline’s capability. As part of the integrated stellarator design team you will work in between plasma physics and technology and make sure that all stellarator systems are designed according to clear and optimal design criteria. You will ensure that modelling uncertainties are quantified and used appropriately. You will drive projects where overarching design solutions with multi-system trades need to be found.
WHAT YOU WILL DO
- Ensure interfaces, design criteria, load cases and uncertainties are correctly defined: so that engineering design can iterate quickly and with clear assumptions.
- Understand systems interactions: in order to minimize unintended consequences of the main architectural decisions.
- Solve integration challenges: Identify, track, and solve the hardest integration challenges and risks of a machine not achieving its mission requirements.
- Harness simplification opportunities: Identify, track, and address the most promising opportunities that affect the Alpha architecture.
WHO YOU ARE
- You've earned your engineering judgment on complex machines. You hold a PhD or Master's in physics, engineering, or an adjacent field, and you have years of experience in industries where integration challenges are at the heart of the design, such as aerospace or Formula 1.
- You are not afraid of different physics domains. You feel comfortable navigating the different physics regimes of a Stellarator - from waves propagating in a plasma to cryogenic properties of steel.
- You reach for whatever tool fits. Being a pen-and-paper calculation, a simulator you coded last night, or a commercial multiphysics package, the method serves the question, never the reverse.
- You build consensus. You are a low-ego high-clarity communicator who works effectively with multiple technical leads, to bring integration challenges and system-level tradeoffs to a clear decision.
- You commit to a concrete outcome. Every study, tool, and memo you produce ends in an actionable insight and a clear next step, otherwise it didn't happen.
INTERVIEW PROCESS
- Recruiter Interview (30-60 min)
- Technical Screening (30 min)
- Technical Panel (3x60 min)
*This role sits at L3 of our framework, please inquire during the recruitment process for further information.
At Proxima Fusion, our mission is bold: making limitless clean energy a reality. To get there, we need a high-performing, diverse team that brings different perspectives, challenges assumptions, and builds together with purpose. We know that diversity of thought and experience leads to better ideas, stronger execution, and a more resilient team. We don’t look at how you identify, what you look like, who you choose to worship or what ethnicity you are. We care about what you can bring to the table.