---
title: 'Principal HTS Magnet Engineer at Thea Energy'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/principal-hts-magnet-engineer-thea-energy-kearny-ev47n4kqr6s4'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-14'
---

# Principal HTS Magnet Engineer at Thea Energy

- **Company:** Thea Energy
- **Location:** Kearny, NJ
- **Compensation:** $180k–$220k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-09-24
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-14
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/thea.energy/40aec7ec-05df-4ee0-89ff-695abbd314b9

## 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: We are seeking a Principal HTS Magnet Engineer to own the full lifecycle of our large-scale High-Temperature Superconducting (HTS) cabled magnet systems. You will bridge interdisciplinary electrical and mechanical domains, driving everything from early stage design trade studies and cable architectures (CICC stacked REBCO) to manufacturing, assembly, QA test and integration into the device.

Key Responsibilities:

- End-to-End Program Ownership: Lead system design reviews (CDR/PDR), subsystem qualification, site commissioning, and risk mitigation across multi-year fusion hardware projects.
- Cabled HTS Design: Specify and optimize high-current cabled HTS conductors, managing thermomechanical stresses, high-field Lorentz forces, and thermal quench propagation.
- Large-scale manufacturing: Specify and review designs in the 1-10m range and in the 10-100 Tonne range.
- Electro-Mechanical Integration: Direct coupling between high-current electrical power leads, quench detection systems, cryogenic cooling interfaces, and structural mechanical supports.
- Vendor & Lifecycle Management: Oversee technical deliverables for HTS tape/cable vendors, manufacturing facilities, and integration test platforms.

Core Competencies & Requirements: Direct Experience (10 - 15 Years Required)

- Superconducting Systems: Proven track record design and delivery of high-field (10T+) HTS cabled magnets or low-temperature (LTS) Cable-in-Conduit Conductors (CICC) for fusion applications.
- Program Execution: Demonstrated ownership of major lifecycle milestones in complex megaprojects (e.g., W7x, JT60SA, KSTAR, ITER -scale setups, or commercial fusion ventures) with budget ownership  $10M - $50M.
- Failure Analysis & Test Operations: Hands-on leadership of full-scale magnet testing, cryogenic qualification (4.2K–20K), and post-test forensics.
- Start-up experience: Has dealt with the demands of a fast-growing start-up.
- Large-scale magnet manufacturing experience: Demonstrated experience with dealing with the challenges of forgings, composite insulation, solder potting in the 1-10m length scale and aware of the challenges.

Domain Knowledge

- Applied Superconductivity: REBCO 2G-HTS tape mechanics, strain limitations, current distribution, AC losses, and tape-to-cable joint architecture.
- Multiphysics Engineering: FEA modeling coupling electromagnetic forces (Lorentz/Maxwell), structural stress analysis, thermal management, and fluid flow (gaseous/supercritical helium).
- Quench Protection & Diagnostics: Active and passive protection systems, voltage tap arrays, fiber-optic temperature sensors, and high-speed dump circuit interfaces.
- Strategic Risk Mitigation: Mastery of FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) applied to cryogenic system failures, vacuum loss (loss of vacuum/L VAC), and runaway quench scenarios.

Technical & Leadership Skills

- Systems Engineering: CONOPS, requirements, Interface control documentation (ICD), requirements traceability, and cross-functional leadership spanning electrical and mechanical teams.
- Software Tools: Proficiency with ANSYS, COMSOL, OPERA, MATLAB/Simulink, or custom HTS electrodynamic modeling tools.

Education

- B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Physics, or Nuclear Engineering.

## #LI-RD1

Company Benefits:

- 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)

## Other roles at Thea Energy

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