---
title: 'Strategy and Business Development Manager at Proxima Fusion'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/strategy-and-business-development-manager-proxima-fusion-munich-tafkpeh1405g'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-31'
---

# Strategy and Business Development Manager at Proxima Fusion

- **Company:** Proxima Fusion
- **Location:** Munich, Germany
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-29
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-31
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/proxima-fusion/a73ada21-5744-454b-aaf6-45c032668abb

## 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.

## 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

Proxima will sell fusion electricity in the late 2030s. Our Business Development team shapes our growth strategy by identifying and executing organic and inorganic business opportunities on the way there. You will own deals along our playbook, from market scan to a clear go/no-go from leadership, with an initial focus on inorganic ones (e.g. M&A, JV). This is a highly cross-functional role: you will work directly with the Business Development Lead and the Head of Business Operations, and partner with our finance, legal, engineering and supply chain teams.

## WHAT YOU WILL DO

- Own the front of the funnel: Build market reports, competitive landscapes, and company and technology assessments that inform where Proxima invests and which new products it develops.
- Drive clear decisions: Write investment memos and business cases that lead to a go/no-go from the leadership team and Board, working with our engineering teams to ground the analysis in technical reality.
- Run project workstreams: Lead expert calls, customer interviews and data room screening, and develop trusted relationships with colleagues and external partners along the way.
- Support post-deal integration: Integrate acquisitions and set up joint ventures together with the teams involved, and track that they meet the original business case.
- Strengthen the function: Help define how the team runs strategic projects, and systematically deploy AI tools to speed up research, screening, and drafting.
- Source new opportunities: Represent Proxima Fusion at conferences and industry events, grow a network, and feed new ideas into the pipeline, from acquisitions and partnerships to new product lines.

## WHO YOU ARE

- Strategy and deal experience: 2-3 years in tier-1 strategy consulting, private equity, venture capital, or a fast-paced startup, ideally with exposure to deep tech or energy industries.
- Technical fluency: Comfortable working on technical topics, preferably with a STEM degree (engineering, physics or similar).
- Relationship building: You earn trust with a wide range of counterparts (engineers, founders, family-owned businesses) and enjoy bringing their views together into a shared conclusion.
- Clear communication: You are a good listener and communicate clearly with founders, suppliers, and senior stakeholders. Fluent English is required; German is a plus.
- Independent problem-solving and judgement: You structure an ambiguous question, run the analysis, and come back with a recommendation. You show initiative, seek out other perspectives, and know when to draw on others’ expertise.
- Modeling and writing craft: Strong market modeling and memo-writing skills; you can build a valuation, a business plan, and a two-page document that helps leadership make a decision.
- Startup mindset: Curious, proactive, detail-oriented and comfortable with pace and ambiguity. You welcome feedback, enjoy working with others to help the team succeed, and are excited by fusion energy and the industrial base behind it.
- Don't tick all the boxes? We would still like to hear from you!

## INTERVIEW PROCESS

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

*This role sits at "L2" of our framework, please inquire during the recruitment process for further information. 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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