---
title: 'Control Systems Engineer, Advanced Controls and Integration at Thea Energy'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/control-systems-engineer-advanced-controls-and-integration-thea-energy-kearny-6q9nayrf0gf7'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-14'
---

# Control Systems Engineer, Advanced Controls and Integration at Thea Energy

- **Company:** Thea Energy
- **Location:** Kearny, NJ
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-06-21
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-14
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/thea.energy/880c534f-1816-452f-a2e1-a9df1138202d

## Job description

About Thea Energy: Thea Energy is leveraging recent breakthroughs in stellarator physics and engineering to create a faster and simpler approach to commercializing fusion energy. The company is reinventing the stellarator using computer-controlled arrays of planar coils thereby replacing the intricate, complex modular magnets required in all other stellarator architectures. Thea Energy is on a mission to create a limitless source of zero emission energy for a sustainable future.

Position Overview: Thea Energy is seeking a Control Systems Engineer to support the design and integration of the control system for the Integrated Eos Stellarator. This role will contribute to subsystem control definition, distributed control implementation, dynamic modeling, and advanced control development across plant and machine systems. The Control Systems Engineer will work closely with subsystem teams, vendors, and collaborators to develop control logic, interface definitions, model-based analyses, and implementation packages that support reliable and scalable operation of Eos.

This position is intended for a strong hands-on controls engineer who can bridge advanced control methods and practical plant implementation. The role is expected to grow with the program and may expand over time toward broader subsystem ownership or architecture responsibilities.

Key Responsibility Areas:

- Develop control strategies, operating modes, control narratives, and sequence logic for assigned Eos subsystems.
- Support distributed control system design through preparation of control logic diagrams, I/O architecture, design-basis documentation, and subsystem interface definitions.
- Build and maintain dynamic models of plant and subsystem behavior using MATLAB, Simulink, Python, or similar tools to inform control design, operating setpoints, and transient analysis.
- Support design and tuning of classical and advanced control algorithms for thermal, fluid, electrical, and process systems.
- Coordinate with internal subsystem owners and external vendors to translate design requirements into implementable PLC, DCS, HMI, and supervisory control solutions.
- Prepare technical documentation including block diagrams, interface descriptions, validation plans, control philosophies, and test support packages.
- Contribute to integration of control functions across power supply systems, cryogenic systems, vacuum systems, utilities, plant support systems, and future plasma-related control interfaces.
- Support verification, commissioning preparation, issue resolution, and design reviews during conceptual and preliminary design phases.

Ideal Experience & Skillsets:

Required Qualifications:

- Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Control Systems, Nuclear Engineering, Physics, or a related discipline.
- Two or more years of experience in control system development for complex industrial, energy, process, nuclear, aerospace, or scientific systems.
- Strong background in dynamic system modeling and control design, including classical and modern control methods.
- Strong proficiency with MATLAB and Simulink.
- Experience with Python or other technical programming environments.
- Familiarity with PLCs, DCSs, HMIs, SCADA, or other industrial control environments.
- Ability to prepare and communicate technical documentation clearly across cross-functional engineering teams.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to operate effectively in a multidisciplinary organization.

Preferred Qualifications:

- Experience with first-of-a-kind energy systems, advanced reactors, fusion systems, or other high-reliability engineered systems.
- Experience with vendor coordination and implementation oversight for control logic or subsystem controls.
- Experience with MIMO control, optimization-based control, robust control, estimation, or data-driven control methods.
- Familiarity with Linux, Git, and configuration-managed engineering workflows.
- Experience with thermal-hydraulic, power system, or process system dynamic modeling.
- Exposure to safety-related control functions, interlocks, or regulated plant environments.

Requirements:

- Ability to occasionally lift up to 50 lbs.
- Ability to perform activities such as typing, standing, or sitting for extended periods of time.
- Willingness to occasionally travel or work required nights/weekends/on-call.
- Ability to work in a facility that contains industrial hazards including heat, cold, noise, fumes, strong magnets, high voltage, high current, pressure systems, and cryogenics.

Company Benefits:

- Salary range $120,000-$160,000
- Comprehensive health benefits (e.g. medical/dental/vision)
- Employee equity stock options
- 20 days PTO

It’s not necessary to meet all of the skillsets outlined above. Please feel free to send us a note and tell us why you would still be a great fit for this role or Thea Energy.

Diversity and Inclusion: Thea Energy is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating a company of diverse backgrounds. By creating a diverse environment, we will bring new ideas and approaches to solving some of the world’s hardest (and most important) problems. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, family or marital status, age, disability, veteran’s status, or other characteristic protected by applicable laws and regulations.

## About Thea Energy

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Thea Energy is developing a simplified, economical stellarator fusion energy system using arrays of mass-manufacturable planar magnets and dynamic software controls.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Startup; founded in 2022)
- **Headquarters**: Kearny, New Jersey, USA
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Founded with technology developed at Princeton University (specific founder names not publicly listed on main site).

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Fusion Energy / Clean Energy / Climate Tech
- **Target customers**: Utilities, grid operators, industrial energy users, and governments seeking baseload, zero-emission power generation.
- **Mission**: "To create a limitless source of zero emission energy for the future of humanity." [thea.energy](https://thea.energy/)

## Products & Services
- **Eos (Neutron Source Stellarator)**: A near-term commercial neutron source designed to achieve world-leading fusion performance and de-risk their first fusion power plant. [thea.energy](https://thea.energy/)
- **Helios (Fusion Power Plant)**: The company’s first planned full-scale fusion power plant, intended for commercial electricity generation. [thea.energy](https://thea.energy/)
- **Software-Defined Magnetics Platform**: The core technology differentiator—replacing complex, expensive 3D magnet coils with arrays of simpler, mass-manufacturable planar magnets controlled by a sophisticated software stack. This transfers hardware complexity into the digital realm. [thea.energy](https://thea.energy/)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Total Funding**: Not publicly disclosed.
- **Key Metric**: Private startup; notable for its technological breakthrough rather than public revenue. The company has active job postings (41 roles listed on Indeed) and is in a high-growth hiring phase. [indeed.com](https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Thea-Energy/about)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Announced a collaboration with **NVIDIA**, **Synopsys Inc**, **Argonne National Laboratory**, and **Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL)** to build the first digital twin of a stellarator fusion power plant using AI physics and engineering. [indeed.com](https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Thea-Energy/about)
- **Growth Signals**: Rapidly growing team; active hiring across engineering, supply chain, finance, and marketing roles; partnership with major tech and national lab players; progression from a science project (Eos) toward a commercial power plant (Helios).

## Competitive Advantages
- **Planar Magnet Arrays**: Replaces the prohibitively complex and expensive 3D coils of traditional stellarators with simple, mass-manufacturable planar magnets. This radically reduces cost and manufacturing complexity. [thea.energy](https://thea.energy/)
- **Software-First Approach**: Transfers the geometric complexity from hardware to a dynamic software control system, leveraging decades of progress in computing and controls to simplify the physical build. [thea.energy](https://thea.energy/)
- **Stellarator Advantage**: The stellarator is the only magnetic confinement system that creates all required fields with superconducting coils, enabling steady-state operation (no plasma disruptions), which is a key advantage over tokamaks. [thea.energy](https://thea.energy/)

## Strategic Focus
- **Commercialization of Eos**: Achieving near-term fusion performance and commercial operation with their neutron source stellarator.
- **De-risking Helios**: Using Eos as a stepping stone to validate technology and reduce risk for their first full-scale fusion power plant.
- **Digital Twin Development**: Leveraging AI and simulation (with NVIDIA, Synopsys, Argonne, PPPL) to accelerate design, operation, and optimization of their fusion systems.
- **Scaling the Organization**: Building out a multi-disciplinary team spanning fusion science, engineering, supply chain, and business functions.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-Driven Work**: Opportunity to work on one of the biggest challenges facing humanity—creating limitless, zero-emission energy. [thea.energy](https://thea.energy/careers/)
- **Culture**: Described as dynamic, flexible, and adaptive, balancing strong individual autonomy with a collective team spirit. Employees are empowered to take ownership of their career growth. [thea.energy](https://thea.energy/careers/)
- **Diversity & Inclusion**: Explicitly committed to building a diverse workplace and encourages applications even if candidates don't meet every listed requirement. [thea.energy](https://thea.energy/careers/)
- **Work Model**: Roles are listed as **On-site** in Kearny, NJ (for most technical and corporate roles) and some internships. [jobs.lever.co/thea.energy](https://jobs.lever.co/thea.energy)
- **Benefits**: Competitive salaries, health benefits (medical/dental/vision), employee equity, 20 days PTO, paid holidays and sick time, paid parental leave, 401k, life and disability insurance, and office perks. [thea.energy](https://thea.energy/careers/)

## Sources
1. [thea.energy](https://thea.energy/)
2. [thea.energy/about-us](https://thea.energy/about-us/)
3. [thea.energy/careers](https://thea.energy/careers/)
4. [jobs.lever.co/thea.energy](https://jobs.lever.co/thea.energy)
5. [indeed.com](https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Thea-Energy/about)

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