---
title: 'Controls Hardware Engineer at Pacific Fusion'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/controls-hardware-engineer-pacific-fusion-san-leandro-0p5w6jscbnam'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-10'
---

# Controls Hardware Engineer at Pacific Fusion

- **Company:** Pacific Fusion
- **Location:** San Leandro, CA
- **Compensation:** $138k–$207k
- **Posted:** 2026-08-04
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-10
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/pacificfusion/jobs/4354546009

## Job description

## About Pacific Fusion

Pacific Fusion was founded in 2023 with the mission to power the world with abundant, affordable, clean energy.

We are rapidly designing and building a pulser-driven inertial fusion system to achieve net facility gain (more fusion energy output than stored energy input). In parallel, we are developing the key components required to build affordable fusion systems.

Our plans are ambitious. We have raised over $900M so far from incredible investors, resourcing us to deliver on these plans. We are bringing together the best scientists, engineers, and operators from the fusion community, hard tech industry, and other sectors. We are united by a shared sense of urgency to provide clean power for the world, particularly managing climate change while meeting growing global energy demand. You can read more about us in [this letter from our founders](https://pacificfusion.com/updates/founders-letter).

## Why This Role Matters

As a Controls Hardware Engineer, you will be an instrumental part of interfacing between project teams and gathering controls oriented requirements. Primarily you will take those requirements and design significant parts of our main control system. This role requires an individual who has a passion for controls engineering, and would like to grow in hardware design and implementation.

## What You'll Do

- Requirements & System Definition
- Collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams and system stakeholders to develop, document, and validate control system requirements
- Translate functional and safety requirements into detailed control logic, hardware specifications, and test criteria
- Participate in design and hazard reviews to ensure system requirements align with performance, safety, and reliability goals
- Control System Design and Implementation
- Develop control architectures for safety-critical and utility systems
- Design electrical schematics, control panels, and wiring diagrams for 24VDC control and 480VAC drive power systems
- Specify and integrate PLC, HMI, and communication hardware
- Configure and commission VFDs, servo drives, and motion control systems
- Implement and verify safety interlock and process control logic in accordance with SIS and NFPA standards
- Software Development and Integration
- Develop and test PLC programs using structured and modular programming practices
- Conduct system-level integration testing, troubleshooting, and commissioning support
- Work with instrumentation and field devices to ensure proper control and feedback integration
- Compliance and Documentation
- Ensure system designs comply with NFPA 70 (NEC), NFPA 70E, NFPA 79, and SIS/IEC 61511 standards
- Develop technical documentation including I/O lists, control narratives, functional requirements, and validation test procedures
- Support safety validation, risk assessments, and functional testing throughout the system lifecycle
- Collaboration and Technical Leadership
- Serve as a technical point of contact for controls-related aspects of multidisciplinary projects
- Work closely with fabrication, installation, and operations teams to ensure design intent and performance goals are achieved
- Contribute to continuous improvement of design methods, documentation standards, and controls best practices

## What You Bring

- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, or related field
- 5+ years of experience in industrial automation or control system design
- Proficiency with PLC-based systems
- Experience with VFDs, servo drives, and motion control systems
- Familiarity with systems operating at 24VDC and 480VAC
- Strong understanding of NFPA 70/70E/79 and functional safety (IEC

1. standards

- Proven ability to develop system requirements and translate them into detailed design documentation
- Industrial Panel/Cabinet design experience

Bonus Points For

- Experience with safety PLCs and interlock logic design
- Background in large scientific facilities, or other high-reliability environments
- CAD experience, EPLAN experience is a significant plus!

Pay Range: $138,100—$207,100 USD

## TOTAL COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS FOR ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEES

- Industry-competitive salary

- Equity plan

- 6% employer 401k matching

- Generous paid time off (including sick leave, vacation, paid family leave)

- Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance

Actual base salary offered will be determined by: experience, skills, and work location. This range is for base salary, our total compensation includes equity and benefits. We welcome you to apply even if your expectations are outside our listed range.

## EQUAL OPPORTUNTITY

Pacific Fusion is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.

Pacific Fusion is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities in our job application procedures and throughout employment. If you need assistance or any accommodation, please let us know.

## U.S. EXPORT CONTROL COMPLIANCE

This position may require access to information or technology that is subject to U.S. export control laws, such as ITAR or EAR. Under these regulations, we are required to ensure that such access is provided only to individuals who are classified as 'U.S. Persons.'This status includes U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents (green card holders), and asylees and refugees with such status granted, not pending.

## RECRUITING AGENCIES

Pacific Fusion does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters or employment agencies without a fully executed recruitment agreement in place. In the absence of such agreement, Pacific Fusion reserves the right to pursue and hire any candidates without an obligation to pay fees. Agencies are requested not to contact Pacific Fusion hiring managers or employees regarding recruiting services.

## About Pacific Fusion

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Pacific Fusion is developing a pulsed magnetic inertial fusion system designed to deliver affordable, clean, commercial fusion energy by the early 2030s.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A)
- **Headquarters**: Fremont, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: Eric Lander (CEO), Keith LeChien (CTO), Carrie von Muench (COO), Will Regan, Leland Ellison

## Core Business
- **Primary Industry**: Fusion Energy / Renewable Energy Power Generation
- **Target Customers**: Utility companies, large-scale industrial power consumers, and governments seeking clean, baseload energy generation.
- **Mission Statement**: To power a prosperous planet by delivering affordable, reliable fusion power to meet growing global energy demand and address the climate crisis [pacificfusion.com](https://pacificfusion.com/).

## Products & Services
- **Pulsed Magnetic Inertial Fusion System**: A modular fusion power plant design that uses a fast, powerful electrical pulser to rapidly compress small fuel containers (centimeter-scale) of deuterium-tritium fuel. The system is designed to achieve "net facility gain" — producing more fusion energy output than the total stored energy input. The approach is highly modular, enabling affordable manufacturing and rapid iteration using common materials [pacificfusion.com](https://pacificfusion.com/).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed.
- **Key Metric (Total Funding)**: Over **$900 million** raised in Series A funding (announced October 2024) [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/pacificfusion), [wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Fusion).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Led by **General Catalyst**, with participation from **Breakthrough Energy Ventures**, **Ken Griffin** (Citadel founder), **Patrick Collison** (Stripe co-founder), **John Doerr** (venture capitalist), **Mustafa Suleyman** (Microsoft AI), and **Eric Schmidt** (former Google CEO) who joined the board [wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Fusion).
- **Growth Signals**:
    - Headcount has grown **118.8% YoY** to approximately 151 employees [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/pacificfusion).
    - In September 2025, selected Mesa del Sol, Albuquerque, New Mexico, for a **$1 billion research and manufacturing facility**, expected to create 200 permanent jobs and ~1,000 construction jobs [wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Fusion).
    - In December 2025, opened its first build center in Los Lunas, New Mexico [wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Fusion).
    - In June 2026, achieved a key technical milestone: a scaled module prototype delivered **over 440 GW of peak output power** and **~1.1 MV peak voltage** in ultra-fast pulses, demonstrating the performance required for fusion conditions [wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Fusion).

## Competitive Advantages
- **Proven Science, Practical Engineering**: The company is building on decades of government-funded research (including breakthroughs at Sandia and US National Labs in 2022) and using an advanced pulsed power driver (the Impedance-Matched Marx Generator, co-invented by CTO Keith LeChien), which is designed to be simpler and more manufacturable than other fusion approaches [pacificfusion.com](https://pacificfusion.com/), [wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Fusion).
- **Modular and Affordable Design**: The system is made of three highly modular parts (a fast electric pulser, a small fusion chamber, and tiny fuel containers), enabling cheap, rapid iteration and supply chain simplicity [pacificfusion.com](https://pacificfusion.com/).
- **Clear Path to Commercialization**: The company has a defined roadmap with milestone-based funding, a specific goal of achieving net facility gain by 2030, and is already investing heavily in large-scale manufacturing facilities [pacificfusion.com](https://pacificfusion.com/), [wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Fusion).

## Strategic Focus
- **Technical Milestone Execution**: Rapidly building and testing scaled prototypes of their pulser system to demonstrate fusion conditions.
- **Manufacturing Scale-Up**: Building out the $1 billion facility in New Mexico to house the Demonstration System and prepare for commercial production.
- **Talent Acquisition**: Aggressively hiring top-tier scientists, engineers, and operators from the fusion community, national labs, and hard-tech industry (e.g., Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Tesla, SpaceX) [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/pacificfusion).
- **Workforce Development**: Partnering with local universities in New Mexico to create training programs for its future workforce [wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Fusion).

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-Driven Impact**: Employees are united by a "shared sense of urgency" to solve the climate crisis and provide clean, abundant power for the world [pacificfusion.com](https://pacificfusion.com/careers).
- **Award-Winning Culture**: 100% of employees say Pacific Fusion is a Great Place to Work (vs. 57% at a typical US company), earning the company the #60 spot on Fortune's Best Workplaces in the Bay Area™ 2025 list [greatplacetowork.com](https://www.greatplacetowork.com/certified-company/7085506).
- **Core Values**: The company operates on four key values: *Support each other, Pursue the truth, Encourage creative approaches, Commit to impact* [pacificfusion.com](https://pacificfusion.com/careers).
- **Work Environment**: A builder's mentality with a mix of scientists, engineers, and operators. Roles are on-site in Fremont, CA; San Leandro, CA; Albuquerque, NM; and Los Lunas, NM. The culture emphasizes rapid iteration, open communication, and practical engineering.
- **Strong Financial Backing**: With over $900M in funding from top-tier investors, the company is well-resourced to pursue its ambitious timeline.

## Sources
1. [pacificfusion.com](https://pacificfusion.com/)
2. [pacificfusion.com/careers](https://pacificfusion.com/careers)
3. [linkedin.com/company/pacificfusion](https://www.linkedin.com/company/pacificfusion)
4. [wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Fusion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Fusion)
5. [greatplacetowork.com](https://www.greatplacetowork.com/certified-company/7085506)

## Other roles at Pacific Fusion

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- [Summer 2027 Internship- Software Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/summer-2027-internship-software-engineering-pacific-fusion-san-leandro-ca-sjnerfajh3nk) — San Leandro Ca/fremont CA OR Los Lunas, NM
- [Summer 2027 Internship - Electrical Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/summer-2027-internship-electrical-engineering-pacific-fusion-san-leandro-ca-e8vy78c5z1v2) — San Leandro Ca/ Fremont CA OR Los Lunas, NM
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- [Manufacturing Systems  Analyst](https://feeny.ai/job/manufacturing-systems-analyst-pacific-fusion-san-leandro-qk55y71ff0e3) — San Leandro, CA
- [Summer 2027 Internship-Manufacturing Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/summer-2027-internship-manufacturing-engineering-pacific-fusion-san-leandro-09kxn4d8q0pf) — San Leandro, CA / Fremont, CA / Los Lunas, NM
- [Senior Mechanical Engineer - Vacuum Systems](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-mechanical-engineer-vacuum-systems-pacific-fusion-fremont-keva8g47wjzp) — Fremont, CA
- [Senior Manufacturing Engineer - NPI](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-manufacturing-engineer-npi-pacific-fusion-fremont-pmh1tcd60e6v) — Fremont, CA
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