Senior Software Engineer

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 $600 million from investors such as Sam Altman, Mithril, and Capricorn Investment Group 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 are working toward Polaris, which will be the first machine to demonstrate electricity from fusion, making this a great time to join Helion! Bring your skills, experiences, and determination to make a difference in the world. Together, we can make a future with unlimited clean electricity from fusion a reality.

What You Will Be Doing

We are looking for a Software Engineer to help us improve and scale our equipment and diagnostics suite. You will work with Electrical Engineering designers and IT to develop intelligent, next-generation, in-house data acquisition capabilities and electronic instruments. You will also develop strong software infrastructure and pipelines. You will report directly to our Lead Electrical Engineer at our Everett, WA office.

You Will

• Work closely with the physics and engineering teams building Helion’s Fusion Power Plant
• Create and maintain graphical user interfaces to log and display real-time health/performance information for a fusion machine and sub-scale testbeds
• Collaborate to create and implement software algorithms which interface with thousands of distributed sensors
• Take ownership of software architecture, code organization, version control best practices, deployment tools and strategies, and testing
• Explore time series database tools and ways to graph them (i.e. InfluxDB, Grafana) to serve the users of your software
• Apply both engineering first-principles and method-based thinking to challenging problems

Required Skills

• BS or higher in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or Electrical Engineering
• 8+ years of industry experience
• Experience with code organization and version control
• Proficiency in Python, C, and /or C++ within Linux and Windows environments
• Experience with software deployment tools like Docker, and Portainer
• Experience with time series database management software
• Experience working hardware and firmware via a variety of communication protocols including Ethernet, EtherCAT, and UART
• Experience with Publisher-Subscriber / Message Bus architecture
• System-level integration experience and troubleshooting
• Networking troubleshooting experience (Wireshark, logic analyzers, etc.)
• Experience working with Hardware, Firmware, and Software engineers for integration and scope of work

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

$171,000 - $212,000 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.