Principal Electrical Engineer at Helion (Everett, WA)
Helion· Everett, WA· $235k–$270k·
Role details
Medical, Dental, And Vision Plans · 31 Days Of PTO · 10 Paid Holidays · Up To 5% Employer 401(K) Match · Short Term Disability · Long Term Disability · Life Insurance · Paid Parental Leave
Helion at a glance
Helion is building the world's first fusion power plant to deliver clean, reliable baseload electricity straight from fusion, no steam turbine required.
Helion designs and builds pulsed, field-reversed-configuration fusion machines that fire and compress plasmas to fusion temperatures and then recover the energy directly as electricity, skipping the steam-turbine step used by most other fusion and nuclear designs. Its long-term fuel is deuterium plus helium-3, aimed at smaller, cheaper, factory-buildable plants that supply always-on carbon-free power to the grid.
$1.5B raised · latest: Series G · $465M · 2026 · backed by Thrive Capital, Sam Altman, Dustin Moskovitz (Good Ventures), Reid Hoffman
Summary
The Principal Electrical Engineer designs, commissions, and optimizes high-power electrical systems for fusion generators, including energy delivery, recovery, and grid-tie infrastructure. This role involves leading design reviews, managing project costs and schedules, and mentoring junior engineers within an onsite...
Job description
About Helion
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 $1.5 billion from long-time investors such as Sam Altman, Mithril, and Capricorn Investment Group as well as new investors including Thrive Capital, LightSpeed Venture Capital, SoftBank, and others to propel us forward. Our current prototype, Polaris, has reached record-breaking plasma temperatures of 150 million degrees Celsius (13 keV). Helion is continuing to iterate and on the path to the world's first fusion power plant, Orion.
This is a pivotal time to join Helion. You will tackle real-world challenges with a team that prizes urgency, rigor, ownership, and a commitment to delivering hard truths – values essential to achieving what no one has before. Together, we will change the future of energy, because the world can't wait.
Why This Role Matters
Fusion happens in the power electronics, and at the frontier of what Helion is building, the hardest problems don't have textbook answers. As a Principal Power Electronics Engineer, you'll own those problems — the highest-risk, least-defined pulsed-power and power-conversion challenges the program faces — and set the technical direction that the rest of the electrical organization builds on. Your judgment will shape the architecture that determines whether Polaris and Orion can put fusion electricity on the grid, and your depth will raise the whole team's ceiling.
What You Will Be Doing
- Own the most complex, ambiguous, high-impact power electronics problems across pulsed power, power conversion, and the control and protection of high-energy systems.
- Set technical direction and standards for the electrical organization — architectures, design methods, and the "golden standard" for how demanding hardware gets built and validated.
- Generate and negotiate requirements at the org and program level, and use schedule and technical risk to shape the broader roadmap toward Orion and mass production.
- Be the go-to technical authority in one or more core areas (pulsed power, high-voltage design, power conversion, device application), and the person others bring their hardest problems to.
- Multiply the team: mentor senior engineers, lead the hardest design reviews, and influence senior leadership on where the real technical risks are.
Required Skills
- A degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field, or equivalent experience, with extensive (typically 12+ years) power electronics design experience.
- Recognized depth in one or more core areas — pulsed power, high-voltage design, power conversion, magnetics, or high-power device application.
- A track record owning complex, under-defined electrical systems end-to-end and setting technical direction that others follow.
- Deep experience with high-voltage or pulsed-power systems, or with comparable high-energy power electronics (for example, utility-scale, traction, aerospace, or defense power systems).
- The ability to influence senior leadership on technical and schedule risk, and a demonstrated record of mentoring and elevating experienced engineers.
#LI-Onsite #LI-KL1
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
Helion is an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. If you need assistance or an accommodation during the interview process, please let us know.
Why work at Helion
- Culture: “Urgency, rigor, ownership, and hard truths” – a mission‑driven environment focused on solving the hardest problems in fusion engineering.
- Work: Hands‑on with real hardware (capacitors, magnets, plasma diagnostics) across mechanical, electrical, and physics disciplines.
- Location: Based in the Pacific Northwest (Everett & Chelan County) with immediate access to skiing, hiking, and water sports.
- Benefits: Premier medical/vision/dental (fully employer‑paid options), HSA contributions, wellness stipend, 5% 401(k) match, stock options, up to 12 weeks paid parental leave + 4 weeks for birthing parents, 21 vacation days, 10 sick days, 11 holidays + winter break.
- Hybrid/Remote: Not explicitly stated; roles appear to be on‑site in Washington (given the hardware‑focused nature).
- Open Roles: Engineers (mechanical, electrical, simulation, controls), magnet analysts, experimental scientists, technicians, machinists – over 100 positions listed.