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Senior Thermal Analyst

Everett, WA

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 Thermal Analyst to oversee interdisciplinary analyses of high-field electromagnet designs and other structural designs required for Helion's fusion generator prototypes. You will solve tough diverse problems that are critical to demonstrating the viability of fusion energy, while also laying the groundwork for high-reliability commercialized hardware. You will report directly to our Mechanical Engineering Manager at our Everett, WA office.

You Will:

  • Own and improve Helion's analysis workflow for critical thermal systems and hardware
  • Run transient thermal structural finite-element models to write margins for critical designs
  • Collaborate with a many-sided diverse engineering teams to improve unique hardware designs
  • Learn from in-house experts to expand your skillset into electrical and thermal structural analysis
  • Hands-on testing to correlate and improve thermal (electro-magnetic, structural) analyses

Required Skills:

  • Bachelor's degree in science/engineering, with 8+ years of hands-on hardware-focused engineering experience
  • Experience using nonlinear finite element thermal modeling analyses technique to calculate performance margins, improve design cycle iteration time, and push for impactful design changes
  • Experience taking complex analysis problems from formulation through hardware testing and model correlation
  • Ability to positively improve complex structural hardware designs, rather than just work on analysis
  • Experience with structural finite-element analysis using tools such as ANSYS Fluent and FEMAPCOMSOL Multiphysics
  • Expert level understanding of mechanics of materials and thermal dynamics (e.g. transient models) solid mechanics and structural dynamics (modal, transient)
  • Experience using principles of fatigue, crack initiation and propagation to prevent failures

#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

$155,000 - $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.

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