Senior Nuclear Materials 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).

As we turn up operations for Polaris, which will be the first machine to demonstrate electricity from fusion, it's a great time to join Helion! Together, we can make a future with unlimited clean electricity from fusion a reality.

What You Will Be Doing

You will help Helion develop designs and materials suitable for high radiation environments by analyzing and advising engineers on radiation effects on a range of materials. You will report to our Director of Materials at our Everett, WA office.

You will

• Advise engineering design decisions based on radiation effects (due to neutrons and photons) on materials used within the radiation shield vault, e.g., metals used in magnet coils, dielectrics used for structure, and polymers used for cable jacketing
• Partner with neutronics engineers to predict dpa, analyze, model, and predict macroscopic effects on material properties including thermal conductivity, electrical resistivity, and mechanical strength. Assess system-level radiation risk
• Perform literature reviews on radiation effects on materials of interest and distill the information into summaries for non-nuclear engineers, reactively. Maintain a database of radiation effects on materials
• Operate in an environment with obstacles and changing requirements
• Partner with other internal Helion teams, external vendors, national laboratories, and universities to gather the required capabilities. Develop your network and represent Helion at technical meetings and conferences

Required Skills

• A professional understanding of radiation effects on materials, typically demonstrated by a degree in nuclear engineering, materials science, physics, or related discipline and 6+ years of hands-on work
• 4+ years of experience handling radioactive material
• 4+ years of experience working on non-aqueous corrosion and environmentally assisted degradation mechanisms (e.g., stress corrosion cracking, creep, accelerated fatigue)
• 4+ years of experience working on neutron interactions leading to e.g., material transmutation or helium bubble generation
• 4+ years of experience performing data analysis with a common coding language (Python, MATLAB, C++), data presentation, technical communication, and writing. Data presentation should include rigorous consideration of uncertainty and statistics

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

$130,000 - $180,000 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.