Senior Scientific Software Engineer

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 over $2 billion in capital – more than any other fusion energy company in the U.S.

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 a Senior Scientific Software Engineer

The Scientific Software team at CFS develops software that helps us understand and build superconducting magnets and tokamaks. The primary project for this role will be an open-source pulse planning, simulation, and physics collaboration framework for tokamaks. We seek an experienced software engineer (Senior to Principal level) to help establish the architecture of this simulation framework. Researchers will use this framework to develop new physics models or control/estimation algorithms and virtually test them on the SPARC or ARC tokamaks. We hope to foster collaboration between CFS and physics/controls/machine learning researchers at partner universities and corporate research groups by making the sim framework open-source. Thus, the simulation framework must be easy to use and add modules to while also being interoperable with CFS’s internal tokamak control software and test infrastructure. An ideal candidate would have made software that many other developers built upon and show an aptitude for learning about the project's physics aspects.

What you'll do:

• Help create an open-source pulse planning, simulation, and physics collaboration framework for tokamaks
• Make software interfaces that meet the needs of multiple internal teams and outside collaborators (discover needs, build consensus, then implement)
• Help scientists incorporate their models/algorithms into high-quality software
• Implement CI/CD processes to reduce maintenance overhead and error rates

What we’re looking for:

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field preferred
• Worked on software built upon by many other developers (e.g., an open-source physics library or an internal service used by other teams)
• Programming language: Python, including type hinting
• Completed a large project either in a strongly typed language or rigorously using the type hinting features of Python
• Able to independently set up a new software project, including CI/CD processes, linting, unit testing, and software documentation
• Basic understanding of numerical methods, linear algebra, and differential equations
• Able to understand the basics of the project’s physics aspects (e.g., undergrad-level electromagnetics and fluid dynamics))

Bonus points:

• Programming languages: C++, Rust, or experience with low-level performance and memory management
• Concurrency and parallelization
• Simulation and systems architecture
• Packaging and distribution of software to third parties, dependency management, and plugin systems
• Developer and contributor engagement

Essential Requirements:

• Perform activities such as typing or sitting for extended periods of time
• Dedication to safety to mitigate industrial hazards that may include heat, cold, noise, fumes, strong magnets, lead (Pb), high voltage, and cryogenics
• Willingness to travel or work required nights/weekends/on-call occasionally
• #LI-Remote