Burning Plasma Physicist

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. TEAM AND ROLE - Shape the architecture of the world’s first commercial fusion power plant – Own system-level decisions that determine how a first-of-a-kind energy technology is designed, integrated, and ultimately deployed at scale. - Solve some of the most complex engineering challenges in industry – Work across tightly coupled disciplines (plasma physics, magnets, cryogenics, manufacturing, controls, and more) to resolve critical trade-offs and turn cutting-edge science into a functioning product. - Build real hardware with a pragmatic, fast-moving team from all over the world – Combine advanced simulation and systems thinking with a strong execution mindset, focusing on practical engineering solutions that accelerate the path to commercial fusion energy. WHY JOIN PROXIMA FUSION Working with us, you have the chance to: - Own critical aspects of burning plasma physics that govern the viability and performance of steady-state fusion reactors. - Develop and apply state-of-the-art kinetic and hybrid simulation tools to assess plasma and reactor performance. - Translate your results directly into stellarator design decisions with reactor-scale consequences. - Contribute to the European initiative leading the critical path to a fusion power plant. - Collaborate closely with theorists, computational physicists, and engineering teams in a highly interdisciplinary environment focused on building real fusion devices. YOUR IMPACT In a fusion reactor, fusion-born alpha particles play a central role in plasma self-heating and overall reactor performance. Their confinement, transport, and interaction with collective plasma instabilities directly determine whether a burning plasma can remain stable, efficient, and economically viable. At reactor scale, energetic particle driven Alfvénic activity can enhance fast ion losses, exacerbating plasma loads on the first wall and other in-vessel components. As such, this interaction is critical to include in the design of reactor relevant magnetic configurations and their corresponding operational scenario. As an Burning Plasma Physicist at Proxima, you will lead efforts to understand, model, and optimize energetic particle behavior in reactor-scale stellarator plasmas. Your work will focus on fast-ion confinement, energetic particle transport, and bulk plasma interactions mediated through Alfvénic activity. You will develop and apply advanced numerical tools to assess alpha particle confinement, characterize instability-driven transport, and guide stellarator optimization toward robust burning plasma operation. This role offers a rare opportunity to shape the physics foundations of a commercial stellarator power plant. Your work will directly influence plasma performance, reactor operating limits, and the ability of future devices to achieve reliable steady-state fusion power. By connecting first-principles plasma physics to reactor design decisions, you will help define the path toward practical burning plasma operation in optimized stellarators. WHAT YOU WILL DO - Lead the development, validation, and application of advanced energetic particle transport workflows for assessing burning plasma physics in reactor-scale stellarator plasmas. - Investigate energetic particle driven instabilities, including Alfvén eigenmodes and related EP–MHD interactions, and assess their impact on plasma performance. - Ensure alpha particle confinement remains within the tolerable limits of plasma facing components under reactor-relevant operational scenarios. - Work closely with stellarator optimization teams to incorporate energetic particle physics constraints into magnetic configuration design. - Develop reduced-order models and analysis workflows to accelerate reactor design studies and scenario optimization. WHO YOU ARE - Hold a postgraduate degree in plasma physics, or a related discipline. - Have strong expertise in energetic particle transport, burning plasma physics, or kinetic plasma instabilities. - Bring experience studying EP–MHD interactions, including Alfvén eigenmodes, fast-ion driven instabilities, or related wave-particle interaction physics. - Have experience using advanced simulation tools for kinetic, orbit-following, gyrokinetic, or hybrid MHD modeling. - Be proficient in scientific programming languages such as Python, Julia, C++, and/or Fortran. - Be comfortable working across disciplines, collaborating closely with physicists and engineers to solve open-ended reactor design challenges. - Take initiative, communicate clearly, and be motivated by solving open-ended physics challenges critical to commercial fusion energy. 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.