---
title: 'Process Design Lead, Fuel Cycle at Helion'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/process-design-lead-fuel-cycle-helion-everett-zjspga7gypv6'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-05'
---

# Process Design Lead, Fuel Cycle at Helion

- **Company:** [Helion](https://feeny.ai/companies/helion)
- **Location:** Everett, WA
- **Compensation:** $147k–$182k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2025-11-20
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-05
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/helion/d9e0e2c2-5fda-44e2-b8f6-693590dd7702/application

**Skills:** Engineering design, Pilot-scale system testing, Process systems integration, Chemical systems engineering, Mechanical systems engineering, Thermal systems engineering, Fluid systems engineering, Bill of design, Risk analysis, Change management

> The Fuel Cycle Engineering Lead guides a multidisciplinary team in architecting and designing fuel cycle systems for Helion's fusion power plant. This role involves setting technical direction for separation, vacuum, and cryogenic processes, driving design risk reduction through pilot-scale testing, and managing pro...

## 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.

What You Will Be Doing:

As Helion’s Process Design Lead, you will guide a multidisciplinary team of engineers responsible for architecting, designing, and delivering the fuel cycle systems that will enable Orion, Helion’s next-generation fusion power plant. You will set the technical direction for core technologies in the fuel cycle involving a variety of separation, vacuum, and cryogenic processes, ensuring they integrate seamlessly into Orion and future fusion platforms. In this role, you will also accelerate Helion’s risk-reduction efforts by identifying and leading projects to address critical technology risks and evaluate emerging fuel cycle approaches. Your leadership will influence the strategy, execution, and growth of Helion’s fuel cycle capabilities as we scale toward commercial fusion. This is an onsite role that reports directly to the Fuel Cycle Manager at our Everett, WA office.

You Will:

- Lead, develop, and empower a multidisciplinary team of engineers owning the architecture, design, procurement, installation, and validation of Orion’s fuel cycle systems
- Drive design risk reduction by partnering with the Fuel Cycle Operations and R&D teams to test and validate design assumptions on in-house pilot scale systems and Polaris, enabling confident system delivery
- Collaborate cross-functionally with Special Projects, Mechanical, Electrical, Controls, and broader engineering teams to define interface requirements, deliver fully integrated system designs, and delegate work appropriately
- Set the standard for design excellence by developing and reinforcing robust processes for fuel cycle system design reviews, bills of design, risk analyses, and mitigations, and management of change
- Translate strategic goals into actionable objectives, managing month-to-month planning, schedules, and priorities to ensure reliable and on-time delivery of high-impact projects
- Mentor and grow engineering talent, fostering technical depth, accountability, and career development

Required Skills:

- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related field
- 5+ years of engineering experience, including 2+ years in an engineering leadership role
- Experience designing, delivering, and integrating pilot- or commercial-scale process systems
- Experience managing a multidisciplinary engineering team in a fast-paced environment
- Experience balancing design work, validation testing, and development projects in parallel
- Strong record of mentorship with demonstrated ability to coach and develop engineers
- Hands-on familiarity with chemical, mechanical, thermal and/or fluid systems engineering
- Comfort operating in a startup environment with change, ambiguity, and rapid execution

#LI-Onsite #LI-TM1

## 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.

## About Helion

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Helion is building the world’s first fusion power plant to deliver clean, reliable, and affordable baseload electricity.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series G – $465M raised in 2026 at a $15.5B post-money valuation, led by Thrive Capital)
- **Headquarters**: Everett, Washington, USA (with additional facilities in Chelan County, WA)
- **Founded**: 2013
- **Founders**: David Kirtley (CEO), Anthony Pancotti, and others

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Fusion energy generation (clean energy / climate tech)
- **Target customers**: B2B – utilities, large-scale energy buyers (e.g., Microsoft, Nucor), and data center operators
- **Mission**: Build the world’s first fusion power generators to provide clean, reliable, and affordable electricity for everyone.

## Products & Services
- **Polaris**: The latest prototype fusion machine – a 19‑meter device with 50 MJ capacitor banks that demonstrated deuterium‑tritium fusion in early 2026. It is a pulsed, field‑reversed configuration (FRC) reactor designed to directly convert fusion energy into electricity (no steam turbine).
- **Orion**: The planned first commercial fusion power plant, targeting 50 MW of electricity to Microsoft data centers by 2029. Modular, factory‑built generators that can be shipped to customers.
- **HERCULES Program**: A $4M initiative funding 20 research institutions to develop enabling technologies for scaled fusion deployment.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: $15.5 B (post‑money Series G, 2026)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding raised – $465 M (Series G) plus prior rounds (undisclosed total). Annual revenue not applicable (pre‑revenue).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Sam Altman (early backer, recently stepped off board), Thrive Capital (lead Series G), Microsoft (first PPA for fusion energy), Nucor (500 MW development deal)
- **Growth Signals**: ~600 employees (up from 51‑200 in earlier years); Polaris achieved first privately‑developed DT fusion demonstration; signed first ever fusion power purchase agreement (Microsoft); expanding manufacturing capacity in Washington.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Direct energy conversion**: Helion’s pulsed FRC design recovers electricity directly from the expanding plasma at >95% efficiency, skipping the inefficient steam cycle used by most fusion concepts.
- **Pulsed approach**: The reactor pulses rapidly (sub‑second), producing fusion energy in bursts that can be synchronized to the grid, and uses solid‑state switches capable of hundreds of millions of pulses.
- **Simpler magnets**: FRC plasma is self‑confining, requiring fewer and lower‑field magnets than tokamaks or stellarators, reducing cost and complexity.
- **Fuel flexibility**: Uses deuterium and tritium (with tritium breeding planned) and ultimately can burn advanced fuels (D‑D, D‑He3) as the technology matures.

## Strategic Focus
- **Commercial deployment**: Delivering 50 MW to Microsoft by 2029 (Orion plant); scaling up manufacturing to produce modular generators in factories.
- **Technology maturation**: HERCULES program to solve tritium breeding, materials, and other enabling challenges; advancing Polaris toward net electricity generation.
- **Partnership growth**: Expanding power purchase agreements and development deals with industrial and tech customers to meet surging demand (especially AI data centers).

## Why Work Here
- **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.

## Sources
1. [helionenergy.com](https://www.helionenergy.com/) – Company overview, funding, technology, updates
2. [helionenergy.com/careers](https://www.helionenergy.com/careers) – Careers page, values, benefits
3. [helionenergy.com/careers/open-positions](https://www.helionenergy.com/careers/open-positions) – Current job listings
4. [scientificamerican.com](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/helion-energy-is-building-a-fusion-power-plant-can-its-technology-deliver/) – In‑depth profile, 600 employees, Microsoft PPA, Polaris details
5. [indeed.com](https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Helion-Energy?campaignid=mobvjcmp&from=mobviewjob&fromjk=9e3fd74c2e72805f&tk=1jrv4ci0di9cp800) – Company size, revenue, 108 jobs

## Other roles at Helion

- [Manufacturing Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/manufacturing-engineer-helion-everett-2151ykfwt769) — Everett, WA
- [Senior Manufacturing Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-manufacturing-engineer-helion-everett-ajdszzvj4trq) — Everett, WA
- [Manager, Electrical Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/manager-electrical-engineering-helion-everett-xc30n5x0s4vt) — Everett, WA
- [Inventory Control Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/inventory-control-technician-helion-everett-g22e4r5tjwjb) — Everett, WA
- [Senior Production Controller](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-production-controller-helion-everett-r0kjhce1yjvs) — Everett, WA
- [Senior Mechanical Engineer, Thermal](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-mechanical-engineer-thermal-helion-everett-m44yqpk3g3z5) — Everett, WA
- [Mechanical Engineer, Fluids](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-fluids-helion-everett-fc4xnhqynnvh) — Everett, WA
- [Principal Applied Plasma Data Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-applied-plasma-data-scientist-helion-everett-33tnj2pdtxam) — Everett, WA
- [Senior Applied Plasma Data Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-applied-plasma-data-scientist-helion-everett-ymgakadsjxcf) — Everett, WA
- [Senior Manager, Software Engineering, Plant Control](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-manager-software-engineering-plant-control-helion-everett-sd9dj8ccv09g) — Everett, WA