Computational Physicist

WHO WE ARE At Proxima Fusion, we're driven by a bold mission – to redefine the future of sustainable energy. Our unique concept, built upon the groundbreaking W7-X stellarator and the latest advances in technology, paves the way for commercially viable fusion power plants. What’s more, our work in stellarator optimization, powered by cutting-edge computation and machine learning, is propelling us into uncharted territories of fusion technology. New higher performance design points are unlocked by high temperature superconducting magnets. To fully grasp this huge opportunity, we’re building a team of extremely dedicated and passionate people who come together driving something extraordinary, radically transforming technology in the world. 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 As a computational physicist at Proxima, you will play a central role in developing and applying state-of-the-art numerical models that characterise the behaviour of fusion plasmas. This is a deeply hands-on technical role to design, implement, and validate simulation tools and numerical methods to answer research questions at the frontier of plasma physics. This role is specifically tailored for someone who will spend the majority of their time building, improving and validating such simulation tools, rather than primarily running existing codes and workflows. You will leverage modern software engineering practices—including the effective use of large language models (LLMs) as development aids—to accelerate code development, refactoring, testing, and documentation, while retaining full ownership of scientific correctness and numerical integrity. The production-quality simulation tools that you build will inform critical design and physics decisions for future fusion power plants. WHAT YOU WILL DO - Design, implement and extend workflows that characterise plasma performance. - Write high performance scientific code both lightweight integrated models, and high fidelity HPC simulations. - Apply modern development tools and workflows, including LLM-based assistants, to improve development velocity, code readability, and testing coverage. - Communicate your results, and collaborate with integrated modellers and engineers to ensure stellarator designs correctly meet the requirements for effective plasma confinement and control. - Validate and benchmark models against theory, and experimental data where relevant. WHO YOU ARE - Hold a PhD or Masters in physics, mathematics, or computational physics. - Proven experience, building numerical tools from first principles, taking problems from governing equations through numerical formulation, implementation, and validated simulation results. - Proficient in one or more of: Python, Julia, C++, Fortran. - Comfortable using LLM-based development tools as part of a modern scientific software workflow, with a clear understanding of their limitations and failure modes. - Proficient in modern software development workflows, and HPC. - Proactive in framing problems, as well as proposing and interrogating solutions. - Motivated to work with and cultivate a diverse team of physicists, numerical modellers, and engineers. INTERVIEW PROCESS - Recruiter Interview (30-60 min) - Technical Screening (30 min) - Technical Panel (3x60 min) - CEO call (30 min) *This role sits at L3 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 purp