Head of Licensing & Regulation

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 - Lead Proxima Fusion’s licensing and regulatory strategy across Alpha and Stellaris. - Define a clear and credible regulatory pathway for Alpha, Proxima’s net-energy-gain stellarator in Munich. - Lead regulatory and site-feasibility work for Stellaris, Proxima’s first-of-a-kind fusion power plant planned at Gundremmingen with RWE. - Translate complex and unfamiliar regulatory requirements into practical, executable plans. - Identify licensing risks, critical dependencies, approval milestones, and potential regulatory blockers early. - Simplify regulatory complexity and remove unnecessary obstacles from the programme. - Build constructive relationships with regulators, public authorities, external partners, and technical experts. - Represent Proxima in regulatory discussions and establish credibility with key decision-makers. - Coordinate closely with engineering, finance, operations, and programme leadership. - Ensure technical and commercial decisions are aligned with licensing requirements. - Support site-selection, permitting, environmental, safety, and regulatory-readiness activities. - Develop regulatory positions, submissions, evidence packages, and engagement strategies. - Create a licensing approach that supports speed without compromising safety, quality, or credibility. - Help demonstrate that ambitious industrial projects can be permitted and delivered quickly in Europe. - Report directly to the COO and provide clear recommendations on regulatory strategy, risk, and progress. WHAT YOU WILL DO - Own Proxima Fusion's licensing and regulatory strategy for Alpha, engaging with the relevant German federal, state, and local authorities. - Lead the licensing and regulatory dimension of the site feasibility evaluation for Stellaris at Gundremmingen, working in close partnership with RWE. - Identify the simplest, fastest viable path through licensing and permitting requirements, cutting bureaucratic overhead without ever compromising safety or compliance. - Build durable, trust-based relationships with regulators, government bodies, and industry stakeholders, and represent Proxima Fusion in policy forums and industry working groups to help shape a modernized fusion regulatory framework. - Partner closely with engineering so that facility design decisions and licensing requirements inform each other early, with finance and operations on the cost, schedule, and resourcing implications of different regulatory pathways, and with legal counsel to identify and mitigate regulatory risk. - Build and lead a licensing and regulatory function as Proxima Fusion scales across multiple sites and jurisdictions. WHO YOU ARE - Substantial experience navigating licensing and regulatory environments for complex industrial or energy infrastructure projects. - A bias toward speed and pragmatic action, driven to prove that Europe can build fast. - A demonstrated instinct for finding simplicity where others see only complexity, and for reducing bureaucratic friction rather than adding process. - Comfortable and effective working directly with regulators and government bodies, building credibility and trust over time. - Highly collaborative, with the ability to connect naturally across engineering, finance, and operations, as well as with external partners and regulators. - An excellent communicator and relationship-builder, fluent in English, with German a strong plus. - Experience in nuclear fission and/or fusion licensing is a plus, though not required. - Based in, or willing to relocate to, Munich. INTERVIEW PROCESS - Recruiter Interview (30-60 min) - Technical Screening (30 min) - Technical Panel (3x60 min) - CEO call (30 min) *This role sits at "L4" 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.