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Fuel Cycle Operations Engineer

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 Fuel Cycle Operations Engineer to commission, operate, test, and evaluate process equipment for Helion’s fusion fuel cycles. You will support Polaris operations and lead testing and evaluation of fuel cycle technologies like permeation membranes, cryogenic pumps, metal foil pumps, cryogenic distillation columns, and thermal diffusion columns. You will be a key culture driver on a small but growing team and report directly to our Fuel Cycle Operations Lead at our Everett, WA, office. 

You Will:

  • Perform operations supporting Polaris including fueling, exhaust processing, and purification
  • Be trained as a Tritium Authorized User enabling you to safely work around and handle tritium
  • Learn new process equipment and become the subject matter expert for those processes
  • Lead equipment ownership transition from design to operations teams during commissioning
  • Identify key process scalability criteria, design tests, collect data, and evaluate performance
  • Communicate findings at biweekly meetings to inform design team and iterate on test path

Required Skills:

  • Bachelor’s in Chemical/Nuclear/Mechanical Engineering, Physical Sciences, or equivalent on the job experience
  • 5+ years of hands-on experience operating and testing process equipment at bench/pilot scale
  • Strong understanding of operation theory including heat and mass balances, fluid flow, instrumentation, controls, safety, and P&IDs/PFDs
  • Demonstrated experience designing and leading test campaigns to gather key data, ultimately elucidating fundamental system behavior

#LI-Onsite #LI-TM1

Total Compensation and Benefits

Helion's compensation package includes a competitively benchmarked base salary, meaningful equity grants, and comprehensive benefits. Final compensation is determined through a holistic evaluation of your experience, qualifications, and our commitment to internal equity - ensuring fairness and transparency across our teams. We are committed to fostering a fair and equitable environment in every aspect of our operations, including compensation.

This is an exempt salaried role.

Annual Base Pay

$100,000 - $135,000 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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