Alpha Plasma Microwave Modeler

Proxima Fusion

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 * Shape a first-of-a-kind machine: Alpha will be the first stellarator to achieve net energy, requiring a deeply coupled design where plasma, magnets, structures, cryogenics, and heating all work as one system, each pushed to the edge of what it can deliver alone. * Own the coherence of the design: As part of the integrated design team, you'll turn fast-moving engineering feedback into architecture decisions that improve performance, margin, and cost. * Be accountable for the outcome: You'll be responsible for whether Alpha's concept resolves into an elegant and efficient design. WHAT YOU WILL DO * Hold the whole machine in view. Keep Alpha converging on its top-level mission requirements while detailed decisions land at a fast pace. * Close the loop between architecture and engineering. Address feedback from the subsystem teams and detailed engineering design, and fold it back into the machine architecture fast, and with judgment about what actually moves the needle. * Hunt the uncertainties that drive the design. Identify the large model uncertainties baked into our design process, quantify them, and decide where to spend margin and where to reclaim it. * Find the levers. Use first-principles estimates and reduced models to locate the changes that cut cost or unlock performance, then scope them alongside the teams who'll build them. WHO YOU ARE * You've earned your 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, semiconductors, or Formula 1. * Your view goes across physics. You're as comfortable reasoning about Lorentz forces on a coil as about microwave-plasma coupling, and you know when a back-of-envelope calculation beats a week of simulation. * 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 iterate to win. You treat fast iteration as the way real machines actually get designed, learning and incorporating feedback from every loop. * You make things land. Every study, tool, and memo you produce ends in an actionable insight and a clear next step, otherwise it didn't happen. * You build in code like an engineer, not a scripter. Git, CI/CD, and the PyData stack are comfortable tools for you. 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.

Proxima Fusion

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. TEAM AND ROLE * Shape the architecture of the world’s first commercial 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 in industry – 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. * Build 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. WHY JOIN PROXIMA FUSION Working with us, you have the chance to: * Own critical aspects of burning plasma physics that govern the viability and performance of steady-state fusion reactors. * Develop and apply state-of-the-art kinetic and hybrid simulation tools to assess plasma and reactor performance. * Translate your results directly into stellarator design decisions with reactor-scale consequences. * Contribute to the European initiative leading the critical path to a fusion power plant. * Collaborate closely with theorists, computational physicists, and engineering teams in a highly interdisciplinary environment focused on building real fusion devices. YOUR IMPACT In a fusion reactor, fusion-born alpha particles play a central role in plasma self-heating and overall reactor performance. Their confinement, transport, and interaction with collective plasma instabilities directly determine whether a burning plasma can remain stable, efficient, and economically viable. At reactor scale, energetic particle driven Alfvénic activity can enhance fast ion losses, exacerbating plasma loads on the first wall and other in-vessel components. As such, this interaction is critical to include in the design of reactor relevant magnetic configurations and their corresponding operational scenario. As an Burning Plasma Physicist at Proxima, you will lead efforts to understand, model, and optimize energetic particle behavior in reactor-scale stellarator plasmas. Your work will focus on fast-ion confinement, energetic particle transport, and bulk plasma interactions mediated through Alfvénic activity. You will develop and apply advanced numerical tools to assess alpha particle confinement, characterize instability-driven transport, and guide stellarator optimization toward robust burning plasma operation. This role offers a rare opportunity to shape the physics foundations of a commercial stellarator power plant. Your work will directly influence plasma performance, reactor operating limits, and the ability of future devices to achieve reliable steady-state fusion power. By connecting first-principles plasma physics to reactor design decisions, you will help define the path toward practical burning plasma operation in optimized stellarators. WHAT YOU WILL DO * Lead the development, validation, and application of advanced energetic particle transport workflows for assessing burning plasma physics in reactor-scale stellarator plasmas. * Investigate energetic particle driven instabilities, including Alfvén eigenmodes and related EP–MHD interactions, and assess their impact on plasma performance. * Ensure alpha particle confinement remains within the tolerable limits of plasma facing components under reactor-relevant operational scenarios. * Work closely with stellarator optimization teams to incorporate energetic particle physics constraints into magnetic configuration design. * Develop reduced-order models and analysis workflows to accelerate reactor design studies and scenario optimization. WHO YOU ARE * Hold a postgraduate degree in plasma physics, or a related discipline. * Have strong expertise in energetic particle transport, burning plasma physics, or kinetic plasma instabilities. * Bring experience studying EP–MHD interactions, including Alfvén eigenmodes, fast-ion driven instabilities, or related wave-particle interaction physics. * Have experience using advanced simulation tools for kinetic, orbit-following, gyrokinetic, or hybrid MHD modeling. * Be proficient in scientific programming languages such as Python, Julia, C++, and/or Fortran. * Be comfortable working across disciplines, collaborating closely with physicists and engineers to solve open-ended reactor design challenges. * Take initiative, communicate clearly, and be motivated by solving open-ended physics challenges critical to commercial fusion energy. INTERVIEW PROCESS * Recruiter Interview (30-60 min) * Technical Screening (30 min) * Technical Panel (3x60 min) *This role sits at L2 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.

Proxima Fusion

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. TEAM AND ROLE * Shape the architecture of the world’s first commercial 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 in industry – 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. * Build 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 We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Plasma Physicist to join our stellarator design team at Proxima Fusion. We are designing a net-energy stellarator as a research and engineering platform on the path toward a fusion power plant. This role is crucial to driving our mission to design, build, and operate the device. As a Plasma Physicist, you will lead the conceptualization and development of key scientific analysis workflows and contribute to novel research in magnetic confinement fusion. Proxima Fusion is committed to publishing its scientific results to accelerate the entire fusion ecosystem, openly collaborating with academic partners, and contributing to public trust in fusion energy. WHY JOIN PROXIMA FUSION * You will get to work on some of the most complex tech challenges to bring abundant, safe, clean energy to the world. * You'll get to join and learn from an exceptional selection of accomplished and driven individuals. * Do your life’s best work and enjoy the journey. * Get to show that big things are possible in Europe when you assemble the best talent. WHAT YOU WILL DO * Contribute to the definition of requirements and conceptualize the design of critical stellarator components such as heating systems and divertors. * Develop and enhance our physics and engineering simulation stack. * Collaborate with partners from public institutions to foster innovation and knowledge exchange. * Mentor team members and guide them in achieving project milestones. WHO YOU ARE * We are looking for high performers who love challenges and see these as learning opportunities. * It is important not to be afraid to experiment, take risks and learn from mistakes. We believe in continuous iterations and getting things done. * Hold a PhD in Plasma Physics, Nuclear Engineering, or a related field, with a focus on magnetic confinement fusion—preferably on a toroidal confinement device. * Have demonstrated expertise in one or more of the following areas: core transport, plasma heating, MHD, edge physics, or scenario development. * Possess strong problem-solving skills and the ability to make informed decisions in a fast-paced environment. * Have excellent communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively within a multidisciplinary team. 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.