Senior Manager, Diagnostic Support Equipment

About Commonwealth Fusion Systems: 

Commonwealth Fusion Systems is on a mission to deliver the urgent transition to fusion energy.

Combining decades of research, top talent, and new technologies, we’re designing and building commercially viable fusion power plants. And working with policymakers and suppliers to build the energy industry of the future. 

We’re in the best position to make it happen. Since 2018, we’ve raised nearly $3 billion in capital, making us the largest and leading private fusion company in the world.

Now we’re looking for more thinkers, doers, builders, and makers to join us. People who’ll bring new perspectives, solve tough problems, and thrive as part of a team. 

If that’s you and this role fits, we want to hear from you.

Join the power movement as Senior Manager, Diagnostic Support Equipment

The SPARC Diagnostics Team is responsible for fielding instrumentation to measure the plasma for real-time control and to enable scientists to investigate burning plasmas.  A majority of the team is focused on the instrumentation that observes the plasma directly and are SPARC’s “eyes and ears”.  This position is to lead the team that is the “arms and legs”, providing common engineering solutions to enable a wide variety of diagnostics to be cost-effectively fielded in the vacuum vessel, on the cryostat, in the Tokamak Hall and in one of five dedicated Diagnostic Lab spaces.  This support equipment is highly interface constrained and helps to provide solutions between instrumentation systems or with other structural members (e.g. the building or free-standing pressure vessels).  It includes the design and deployment of large concrete and steel structures for radiation shielding, small and large equipment platforms and solutions for cabling and small diameter piping.  When viewed from outside, the distinction between support equipment and scientific instrumentation effectively vanishes, but internal to the Diagnostics Team this breakdown helps to facilitate speed and quality.

The Senior Manager of the Diagnostic Support Equipment (DSE) team is expected to provide team leadership to ~10 direct and indirect staff members as well as carry out responsibilities of an individual contributor on an as needed basis to facilitate the on-time delivery of DSE hardware.  The role of the Manager will evolve over the course of the SPARC project as we move from design to operation, but is envisioned to have the Primary Responsibilities listed below.  Candidates will work as part of an integrated team that includes many instrumentation leads as well as science staff from inside and outside of CFS.  Experience working on a tokamak or fusion plasma diagnostics is not required and CFS welcomes applications from non-tokamak or non-fusion backgrounds that can help deliver SPARC’s diagnostic capabilities.

• Proactively identify where challenges faced by one or more instrumentation teams can be best solved by your team creating or modifying a common set of parts
• Work with teams inside of CFS to path-find how to qualify the designs of Diagnostic Support Equipment systems that are unique or first-of-a-kind for the Tokamak Hall or Diagnostic Labs
• Provide technical oversight to help ensure your team’s completion of their component design and communicate risks and needs to the SPARC Project
• Shepherd the completion of assembly DSE systems, communicating safety concerns, risks and rework needs to the broader Diagnostic Team
• Provide line-management support to your team, which presently consists of the system leads and dedicated engineers and designers
• Assist the DSE system leads in maintaining communication and well-defined interfaces with others, both inside and outside of Diagnostics Team
• Identify where the overall complexity in SPARC Diagnostics could be reduced through shared design solutions, and act as decision maker for changes
• Ensure the planning and delivery of your team’s components to ensure diagnostics can achieve Commissioning and Operations milestones on-schedule

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant engineering field (mechanical, aerospace, civil or nuclear), with advanced degrees improving the job execution
• Experience in design, fabrication and installation of equipment similar to what is needed for SPARC: equipment platforms, cabling/piping, concrete and steel structures for radiation shielding
• Prior experience with line management is encouraged, but candidates at a minimum must demonstrate leadership experience, e.g. leading a team to accomplish a goal/mission or to deliver a product
• Responsibly managing a budget at the 1-10 M$ level

• Ability to occasionally lift up to 50 lbs
• Perform activities such as typing, standing, or sitting for extended periods of time
• Willingness to travel or work required nights/weekends/on-call occasionally
• Work in a facility that contains industrial hazards including heat, cold, noise, fumes, strong magnets, lead (Pb), high voltage, high current, pressure systems, and cryogenics

#LI-Onsite

At CFS, we excel in fast-paced environments, driven by our values of integrity, execution, impact, and self-critique. As we grow, we’re eager to bring on mission-driven folks who offer diverse perspectives and fresh ways to tackle challenges.

We value diversity deeply and are proud to be an equal opportunity employer by choice. We consider all qualified applicants equally, regardless of race, color, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, protected veteran status, religion, physical or mental disability, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, or any other basis protected by law.

This role requires compliance with U.S. laws concerning the export of controlled or protected technologies or information (collectively, “Export Control Laws"). Any offer of employment will be contingent on the need for compliance with such Export Control Laws.