Principal Chemical Engineer
Commonwealth Fusion Systems
Other Engineering
Devens, MA, USA
Posted on Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) has the fastest, lowest cost path to commercial fusion energy.
CFS collaborates with MIT to leverage decades of research combined with groundbreaking new high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet technology. HTS magnets will enable compact fusion power plants that can be constructed faster and at lower cost. Our mission is to deploy these power plants to meet global decarbonization goals as fast as possible. To that end, CFS has assembled a team of leaders in tough tech, fusion science, and manufacturing with a track record of rapid execution. Supported by the world’s leading investors, CFS is uniquely positioned to deliver limitless, clean, fusion power to combat climate change. To implement this plan, we are looking to add dedicated people to the team who treat people well, improve our work by adding multifaceted perspectives and new ways of solving problems, have achieved outstanding results through a range of pursuits, and have skills and experience related to this role.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) has the fastest, lowest cost path to commercial fusion energy.
CFS is collaborating with MIT to leverage decades of research combined with new groundbreaking high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet technology. HTS magnets will enable compact fusion power plants that can be constructed faster and at lower cost. The mission is to deploy fusion power plants to meet global decarbonization goals as fast as possible. CFS has assembled a team of leaders in tough tech, fusion science, and manufacturing with a track record of rapid execution. Supported by the world’s leading investors, CFS is uniquely positioned to deliver limitless, clean, fusion power to combat climate change. To execute this plan, we are looking to add talented people to the team who are mission-driven and treat people well, improve our team by adding diverse perspectives and new ways of solving problems, have demonstrated exceptional results through a range of different pursuits, and have skill sets and experience that relate to this role.
ARC will be the first machine to produce electricity from fusion energy, serving as the cornerstone to a new industry. ARC will strongly leverage the work that’s been done for SPARC in developing HTS magnets and other key tokamak systems. However, because of its mission to deliver power to the grid, the ARC tokamak has a few systems not included on SPARC, such as the Blanket System, which uses FLiBe to breed tritium and capture heat. The Blanket System group within R&D is a growing team that is delivering key scientific and engineering results to push the technical readiness level of these new enabling technologies higher.
The Blanket System team at CFS is looking to grow the team as we expand our operations into larger-scale, FLiBe-based test loops. As the Blanket System team develops and builds larger systems, maintaining strong controls on our salt and its chemistry becomes increasingly important. The Blanket System team is looking for a Principal Chemical Engineer to lead the development of chemistry control and salt purification systems. This engineer will need to work collaboratively with internal teams at CFS as well as with key external partners to reach ARC’s ambitious technical targets.
The Blanket System team has a strong practice of carrying engineering risk where appropriate while attentively and aggressively managing safety risk, and is looking for an engineer who will actively contribute to this culture.
This team member will:
- Design, Build, and test chemistry control technologies for molten salt, specifically as related to hydrogen behavior and redox control
- Scale-up benchtop-level processes to power-plant-relevant quantities of salt
- Own technology selection and development for key chemical processes relevant to the salt blanket including around: salt production, salt purification, enrichment, online chemistry control, and tritium extraction
- Identify, communicate, and manage risks around large-scale salt chemical processing. Develop hardware testing strategies to quantify and mitigate key risks
- Act as technical expert to provide input on salt processing both internally and externally
- Work closely with other CFS teams including:
- - Supply Chain team to manage development of external supply chains of molten salts
- - Safety team to manage chemical hazards (including beryllium) in existing and new experimental test articles
- - ARC Design Team
The ideal candidate will have most, if not all, of these requirements:
- BS in Chemical, Mechanical, or Nuclear Engineering or a related field
- 7+ years of experience in the engineering of integrated thermofluid and chemical processing systems, from conceptual design through commissioning
- Experience with R&D hardware development
- Experience with scale-up of novel chemical processes
- Experience traveling to manage vendors at their sites, willing to travel occasionally
- Ability to work effectively in a multidisciplinary team of engineers, scientists, technical staff and others
- Ability to clearly express and critique ideas
- Great communication and organizational skills
- Strong problem solving skills, ability to approach new problems with creativity
Additional preferred experience and/or qualifications:
- MS or PhD in Chemical, Mechanical, or Nuclear Engineering or a related field
- Experience with high temperature systems and/or molten salt systems, especially molten fluorides.
- Experience with corrosive or other extreme environment processes
- Experience with Front-End-Loading (FEL) engineering design cycle, or equivalent
- 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
- Willingness to travel or work required nights/weekends/on-call occasionally
- #LI-Onsite
CFS team members thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and have demonstrated exceptional results through a range of different pursuits. We all tightly align with our company values of integrity, execution, impact and self-critique. As we grow, we are looking to add talented people who are mission driven and bring diverse perspectives and new ways of solving problems.
At CFS, we deeply value diversity and are an equal opportunity employer by choice. We consider all qualified applicants equally for employment. We do not discriminate on the basis 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, ordinance, or regulation.