---
title: 'Lead R&D Engineer, Tritium-Breeding Blanket at Proxima Fusion'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/lead-r-d-engineer-tritium-breeding-blanket-proxima-fusion-munich-926yr6qtpwm4'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-24'
---

# Lead R&D Engineer, Tritium-Breeding Blanket at Proxima Fusion

- **Company:** Proxima Fusion
- **Location:** Munich, Germany
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-21
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-24
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/proxima-fusion/11e4a8c3-5066-4698-b993-ce7ebaf2175d

## Job description

## WHO WE ARE

Proxima Fusion is Europe’s fastest-growing fusion company and the continent’s best-funded fusion player, as well as the first spin-out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP). Backed by over €650M and powered by a growing team across Munich, Zurich, and Oxford, we are developing the hardware and infrastructure needed to deliver the world’s first commercial stellarator fusion power plant. Our concept advances the most mature fusion technology out there, the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, through two next-generation machines: Alpha and Stellaris. Our work combines stellarator optimization, advanced computation, machine learning, and high-temperature superconducting magnets to unlock higher-performance designs that were previously out of reach. Turning these designs into a functioning fusion power plant requires excellence and ownership across every discipline, from physics and engineering to software, manufacturing, law, and business functions.

## TEAM AND ROLE

- Shape the architecture of the world’s first commercial fusion power plant – Own system-level decisions that determine how a first-of-a-kind energy technology is designed, integrated, and ultimately deployed at scale.
- Solve some of the most complex engineering challenges in industry – Work across tightly coupled disciplines (plasma physics, magnets, cryogenics, manufacturing, controls, and more) to resolve critical trade-offs and turn cutting-edge science into a functioning product.
- Build real hardware with a pragmatic, fast-moving team from all over the world – Combine advanced simulation and systems thinking with a strong execution mindset, focusing on practical engineering solutions that accelerate the path to commercial fusion energy.

## WHY JOIN PROXIMA FUSION

- You will get to work on some of the most complex tech challenges to bring abundant, safe, clean energy to the world.
- You'll get to join and learn from an exceptional selection of accomplished and driven individuals.
- Do your life’s best work and enjoy the journey.
- Get to show that big things are possible in Europe when you assemble the best talent.

## YOUR IMPACT

As Lead R&D Engineer for the Stellaris tritium-breeding blanket, you will build and lead Proxima Fusion’s blanket development from initial concept to first prototype tests. You will translate a defined R&D budget into a small set of parallel breeder-blanket concepts, developed rapidly with external research and industrial partners. Remote maintainability is a fundamental part of the blanket architecture from day one. Each concept must be thought with the power plant architecture in mind and demonstrate how blanket modules can be installed, connected, inspected, replaced and recovered remotely. The objective is to leverage existing public research, challenge the most consequential assumptions, learn from hardware quickly and iterate to a functional blanket concept for our future commercial plant fleet.

## WHAT YOU WILL DO

- Own the blanket design from initial requirements through conceptual design, prototype manufacture and testing, with accountability for budget, schedule and technical outcomes.
- Own the integrated remote-maintenance architecture for each concept, including segmentation, access, handling, service connections, inspection, replacement and recovery from failed operations.
- Own the compliance analysis across neutronics, thermal hydraulics, structural integrity, materials, tritium, decommissioning, safety and remote maintenance.
- Own the rapid fail-fast prototype: select what to test and lead its design, procurement, manufacture, instrumentation, commissioning and test campaign on ambitious timelines.
- Own the translation of test results into updated models, requirements, risk assessments and design decisions.
- Own and build the multidisciplinary, technical design team.

## WHO YOU ARE

- A Master’s degree or higher in mechanical engineering, nuclear engineering, materials science, chemical engineering, physics or equivalent experience.
- Have led the development of complex nuclear, thermal, chemical or energy technology from conceptual design into hardware and testing, under budget and time constraints.
- Able to lead multidisciplinary trade studies without converging prematurely on a preferred solution.
- Strong knowledge in several relevant domains, such as thermal hydraulics, structural mechanics, neutronics, nuclear materials, tritium systems, high-temperature coolants, corrosion, manufacturing or remote handling.
- Able to distinguish between analysis that enables a decision and analysis that merely adds detail.
- Comfortable structuring and managing technical work with external institutes, industrial partners and specialist suppliers.
- Willing to test critical assumptions early, learn from failure and stop weak development paths.
- Able to make clear and defensible engineering decisions under uncertainty.
- Experience with fusion blankets, fission-reactor components, breeder materials, tritium systems or remotely maintained nuclear equipment are an advantage, but are explicitly not necessary.

## INTERVIEW PROCESS

- Recruiter Interview (30-60 min)
- Technical Screening (30 min)
- Technical Panel (3x60 min)

At Proxima Fusion, our mission is bold: making limitless clean energy a reality. To get there, we need a high-performing, diverse team that brings different perspectives, challenges assumptions, and builds together with purpose. We know that diversity of thought and experience leads to better ideas, stronger execution, and a more resilient team. We don’t look at how you identify, what you look like, who you choose to worship or what ethnicity you are. We care about what you can bring to the table.

## About Proxima Fusion

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: A European fusion energy company building quasi-isodynamic stellarator power plants to deliver clean, safe, and abundant energy.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A – €130M raised in June 2025 plus €15M extension in September 2025)
- **Headquarters**: Munich, Germany (additional offices in Zürich, Switzerland and Oxford, United Kingdom)
- **Founded**: April 2023
- **Founders**: Francesco Sciortino, Lucio Milanese, Jorrit Lion, Jonathan Schilling, Martin Kubie

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Fusion energy (energy production)
- **Target customers**: Energy companies, grid operators, and technology partners (B2B / Enterprise)
- **Mission**: “Enabling human ambitions in a future with fusion energy” – providing abundant, clean, and safe energy for all.

## Products & Services
- **Alpha Demonstration Stellarator**: A prototype stellarator designed to demonstrate net energy gain in steady-state, planned for first plasma around 2031.
- **Stellaris Fusion Power Plant Concept**: A peer-reviewed, first-of-its-kind design for a commercial stellarator fusion power plant, targeting grid deployment in the late 2030s.
- **Stellarator Model Coil (SMC)**: A demonstration high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet completed to validate coil technology for Alpha and Stellaris.
- **Core Technology**: Quasi-isodynamic (QI) stellarator design combined with computational optimization, HTS magnets, and rapid prototyping – all leveraged from the record-breaking Wendelstein 7-X experiment.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not publicly available (private company)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding ~€200M (≈$230M) in public and private capital, including pre-seed (€7.5M), seed (€20M), Series A (€130M + €15M extension), and additional grants from the European Innovation Council and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
- **Notable Investors / Partners**: Plural Platform, UVC Partners, redalpine, Bayern Kapital, DeepTech & Climate Fonds, Max Planck Foundation, High-Tech Gründerfonds, Visionaries Club, Wilbe. Strategic partners include the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), and Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI).
- **Growth Signals**: Team grown from founding to 100+ world-class scientists, engineers, and operators; completion of the Stellarator Model Coil; publication of the Stellaris power plant concept; convening an Industrial Development Board to scale European fusion supply chains; appointment of CFO Sergei Galperin (June 2026); integration of AI-driven design methods.

## Competitive Advantages
- **QI Stellarator approach**: Toroidal currents cancel to zero, enabling inherently stable, continuous operation without the plasma disruptions that challenge tokamaks.
- **Direct lineage from W7-X**: As the first spin-out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, the team builds on decades of stellarator research and the world’s most advanced stellarator experiment.
- **Simulation-first + rapid prototyping**: Combines cutting-edge computational design with HTS magnet technology to accelerate development timelines.
- **Top-tier talent pool**: Team members from Max Planck IPP, MIT, SpaceX, Tesla, McLaren, Google X, EPFL, Stanford, Cambridge, and other leading institutions.
- **Deep European ecosystem ties**: Close collaboration with public research institutes, industrial partners, and government funders.

## Strategic Focus
- **Near-term (2026–2031)**: Complete the design and construction of the Alpha demonstration stellarator, demonstrate net energy in steady-state, and advance HTS magnet technology through continued R&D.
- **Mid-term (2030s)**: Scale from Alpha to the Stellaris fusion power plant, targeting first electricity to the grid in the late 2030s.
- **Long-term**: Establish a new clean energy infrastructure by industrializing stellarator power plants and securing supply chains across Europe.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission with impact**: Tackle one of humanity’s greatest challenges – unlimited, clean, and affordable energy.
- **High-performance culture**: Described as a “professional sports team” where success depends on placing the right person in the right role with real ownership from day one.
- **Collaborative environment**: Work alongside exceptional peers from top tech, science, and engineering organizations; take on meaningful responsibility early.
- **Locations**: Offices in Munich (HQ), Zürich (PSI campus), and Oxford (Culham Campus) – likely on-site given the hands-on nature of fusion R&D.
- **Diverse disciplines**: Opportunities for engineers, scientists, operators, and business roles in a fast-growing deep-tech startup.

## Sources
1. [proximafusion.com](https://www.proximafusion.com/)
2. [proximafusion.com/about](https://www.proximafusion.com/about)
3. [proximafusion.com/careers](https://www.proximafusion.com/careers)
4. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/proxima-fusion](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/proxima-fusion)
5. [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxima_Fusion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxima_Fusion)

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