Director - Divertor and Plasma Material Interactions

Thea Energy

Kearny, NJ

Posted on: 2026-11-03

Category: energy

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Employment type:

Full time

Experience required:

Director

Salary

Salary not provided

About the company:

Thea Energy is building an economical and scalable fusion energy system utilizing arrays of mass manufacturable magnets and dynamic software controls. Commercial fusion energy can uniquely provide a abundant source of zero-emission power for a sustainable future. Thea Energy is leveraging recent breakthroughs in computation and controls to reinvent the stellarator, a scientifically mature form of magnetic fusion technology. Thea Energy was founded in 2022 as a spin-out of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Princeton University, where the stellarator was originally invented. Thea Energy is currently designing its first integrated fusion system, Eos, based on its planar coil stellarator architecture which will produce fusion neutrons at scale and in steady-state.

About Thea Energy:

Thea Energy is leveraging recent breakthroughs in stellarator physics and engineering to create a faster and simpler approach to commercializing fusion energy. The company is reinventing the stellarator using computer-controlled arrays of planar coils thereby replacing the intricate, complex modular magnets required in all other stellarator architectures. Thea Energy is on a mission to create a limitless source of zero emission energy for a sustainable future.

Position Overview:

Thea Energy is seeking a Director - Divertor and Plasma Material Interactions to lead the research, design, engineering, prototyping, and qualification of Thea Energy’s divertor and first-wall systems across both the Eos and Helios development programs. This leader will lead an interdisciplinary team that will advance the technical basis for device design of three tightly coupled areas:

• Core-edge integration
• Plasma edge and divertor physics
• Plasma material interactions (PMI)

As part of a rapidly growing team, you’ll be part of the organizational build-up of a leading
fusion energy company. This role will have a high degree of autonomy and must be able to
move quickly to resolve technical issues in a timely manner.

It’s not necessary to meet all of the skillsets outlined above. Please feel free to send us a note and tell us why you would still be a great fit for this role or Thea Energy.

Diversity and Inclusion:

Thea Energy is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating a company of diverse backgrounds. By creating a diverse environment, we will bring new ideas and approaches to solving some of the world’s hardest (and most important) problems. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, family or marital status, age, disability, veteran’s status, or other characteristic protected by applicable laws and regulations.

Key Responsibility Areas:

Strategic Leadership & Program Execution

Own the technical roadmap and milestones for core-edge optimization, heat exhaust solutions, plasma-facing systems, and particle exhaust subsystems from pre-conceptual design through hardware fabrication and operational commissioning.

Lead and mentor a world-class team of edge-plasma physicists, materials scientists, and thermal-mechanical engineers.

Set budget, staffing, and vendor strategies, balancing rapid in-house prototyping with key institutional partnership

Divertor Design & Boundary Physics Integration

Direct the physics and engineering design of the world’s first planar-coil stellarato X-point divertor, managing heat fluxes exceeding 10 MW/m2 under steady-state operation.

Oversee comprehensive SOL and edge transport modeling using industry-standard codes to predict strike-point heat flux profiles, detachment dynamics, impurity transport, and neutral pumping efficiency.

Establish active boundary control schemes using magnetic shaping coils and localized gas/impurity puffing to ensure robust radiative detachment and protect divertor targets.

Plasma-Material Interactions & Advanced Materials Qualification

Direct development of the technical basis for plasma facing material selection for long-pulse, low-core-fuel dilution operation on Eos and Helios.

Lead research initiatives into novel PFC solutions, such as renewable boundary surfaces, liquid metals, or aggregate pebble concepts where appropriate for longterm power plant life cycles.

Formulate testing campaigns for plasma erosion, sputtering, blistering, and helium/deuterium/tritium retention, both with and without sustained neutron fluence.

Ideal Experience & Skillsets:

Education & Experience

Ph.D. or Master’s degree in Nuclear Engineering, Plasma Physics, Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related discipline.

10+ years of direct experience in the design, development, or operation of plasmafacing components, divertor systems, or boundary physics in magnetic confinement fusion devices (tokamaks or stellarators)

Technical Expertise

Deep domain knowledge in steady-state plasma exhaust physics, SOL transport, divertor detachment, and high-heat-flux engineering.

Proven familiarity with edge/scrape-off layer simulation codes (e.g., EMC3-EIRENE, SOLPS, SOLEDGE) and FEA/CFD multiphysics tools (e.g., ANSYS, COMSOL) applied to extreme thermal and electromagnetic loads.

Clear understanding of the operational trade-offs between physics performance (core purity, H-mode retention, low and engineering survivability (thermal margins, erosion lifetimes, remote replacement constraints).

Core Competencies

Decisive technical judgment: ability to balance scientific rigor with the aggressive timelines of private fusion commercialization.

Exceptional cross-disciplinary communication skills, with the ability to convey complex plasma-boundary trade-offs to hardware engineers, executives, and investors.

Preferred Qualifications

Direct experience with stellarator magnetic topology (island divertors, nonaxisymmetric strike-lines) or advanced tokamak divertors (Super-X, snowflake, Xpoint target geometries).

Demonstrated experience integrating diagnostic instrumentation (Langmuir probes, infrared thermography, bolometry, spectroscopy) into active plasma environments.