About the Role

Job Overview:

Pacific Fusion is seeking an exceptional Senior Controls Engineer to join our dynamic team and create the path to commercial fusion energy. You will lead the design, development, and implementation of advanced control systems for our fusion energy systems. This role requires a top-tier combination of technical expertise, problem-solving skills, and a proactive mindset to meet the exciting challenges in the field of fusion energy. As a Senior Controls Engineer, you will lead collaborative and challenging projects and play a vital role in driving the overall development effort.

Responsibilities:

• Lead control system architecture development for a large-scale fusion chamber system, ensuring high-speed, real-time operation.

• Design and implement PLC, FPGA, and high-performance computing solutions for pulse synchronization, diagnostics, and actuator control.

• Develop and optimize real-time feedback control algorithms for positioning systems, cryogenic systems, and target diagnostics.

• Oversee the integration of industrial control systems (ICS), distributed control systems (DCS), and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) for chamber, and facility-wide automation.

• Ensure timing and synchronization of complex subsystems with sub-microsecond accuracy.

• Collaborate with physicists and system engineers to define control strategies for chamber systems.

• Implement machine learning and predictive control approaches to enhance system stability and reliability.

• Support safety interlocks, fault detection, and mitigation strategies in high-power, hazardous environments.

• Drive system commissioning, troubleshooting, and performance optimization through data-driven methodologies.

• Build a control system development team, mentor junior engineers, and contribute to industry-leading research in fusion control engineering.

Qualifications:

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field.

• 10+ years of experience in advanced control system design for large-scale scientific or industrial facilities (fusion, particle accelerators, nuclear, or high-energy physics preferred).

• Deep expertise in real-time control architectures, including FPGA programming (VHDL/Verilog), PLCs (Siemens, Allen-Bradley, Beckhoff), and real-time computing frameworks.

• Strong knowledge of high-speed data acquisition (DAQ), timing synchronization (GPS, White Rabbit, NTP/PTP), and fieldbus protocols (EtherCAT, Modbus, Profibus).

• Experience with high-power pulsed systems, actuator control, or plasma diagnostics.

• Proficiency in control theory, PID tuning, model predictive control (MPC), and adaptive control techniques.

• Programming skills in C, C++, Python, MATLAB, or LabVIEW for control system simulation and deployment.

• Familiarity with SCADA and control frameworks (EPICS, TANGO) in large-scale experimental facilities.

• Demonstrated ability to work in multi-disciplinary teams with physicists, software engineers, and system integrators.

Preferred Qualifications:

• PhD in Control Systems or Robotics with a focus on real-time applications.

• Experience in fusion energy systems, such as inertial confinement fusion (ICF), magnetic confinement (tokamaks, stellarators), or high-power systems.

• Background in hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing.

• Knowledge of radiation-hardened electronics and EMI/EMC considerations in high-energy environments.