Full-Time
People Operations Partner
Posted on 9/6/2025
Pacific Fusion
51-200 employees
Modular pulsed-fusion energy system
Compensation Overview
$140k - $175k/yr
Fremont, CA, USA
In Person
Open to working in an office 4-5 days a week.
 People & HR (1) |
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- 4-6 years of experience in People Operations, HR Generalist, or equivalent roles in a high-growth startup environment.
- Confident navigating multi-state employment laws and supporting distributed teams.
- Experienced with HR systems (HRIS, ATS) and skilled at managing system administration.
- Generating and optimizing advanced reports with Excel and Google Sheets.
- Detail-oriented, highly organized, and committed to operational excellence.
- Exercises sound judgment and discretion; knows when to maintain confidentiality and when to escalate.
- Approachable, empathetic, and motivated to create a seamless employee experience.
- Strong communicator who brings clarity and thoughtfulness, especially in a multi-office setting.
- Adaptable and comfortable wearing many hats, thriving in ambiguity.
- Open to and enthusiastic about working in an office 4-5 days a week.
- Serve as an administrator for our people systems: Rippling (HRIS) and Notion, ensuring data integrity and smooth day-to-day operations. Responsibilities include maintaining employee data (titles, compensation, status, etc.) and generating reports as needed.
- Act as the primary point of contact for employees on HR policies, benefits, and general questions. Build self-service resources for employees to reduce dependence on live support.
- Execute the full onboarding and offboarding experience in partnership with IT, Talent, and the Payroll team.
- Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment regulations (e.g., EEO, ACA, workers’ comp reporting), and help with reporting as needed.
- Collaborate with Finance/Payroll to execute special payments and bonuses accurately and on time.
- Track, analyze, and report on key people metrics while supporting audits and compliance reviews.
- Provide immigration support through our immigration platform (Envoy Global), and manage our EOR (Deel) as needed.
- Support the operations and administration of programs focused on performance management, employee engagement, and manager development.
- Work on delivering surveys and gathering feedback to support building enhanced offerings and improved employee experiences.
- Contribute to People Team programs, team-wide initiatives and special projects as a flexible and proactive member of the People team.
- Support culture building and trust with employees and leaders while maintaining healthy boundaries, good judgment and uncompromised confidentiality.
- Perform other miscellaneous People Operations projects and items as needed at scale.
- Additional duties as assigned.
- Bonus: Experience working with these specific tools: Rippling, Notion, GSuite, and Slack.
Pacific Fusion works to develop commercially viable nuclear fusion energy. It uses pulsed magnetic inertial fusion to squeeze and heat small deuterium-tritium fuel capsules with fast, high-current pulses inside a compact fusion chamber, aiming to achieve net energy gain where the output exceeds the input. The system is highly modular: a fast electric pulser built from thousands of identical parts, a small fusion chamber, and many tiny fuel containers, enabling affordable manufacturing, rapid iteration, and simpler supply chains. This focus on practical economics helps distinguish it from competitors that may pursue less manufacturable designs. The company’s goal is to deliver limitless, clean, on-demand power to meet growing global energy demand and help address climate change.
Company Size
51-200
Company Stage
Series A
Total Funding
$900M
Headquarters
San Diego, California
Founded
2023
Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- $900M Series A from General Catalyst unlocks on milestones for rapid progress.
- Josh Tech from Tesla leads $1B New Mexico campus at Mesa del Sol.
- CTO Keith LeChien invented capacitors; President Will Regan from Alphabet X.
What critics are saying
- Milestone failures halt funding in 12-24 months due to net gain delays.
- Commonwealth Fusion Systems reaches Q>10 first, stealing talent by 2027.
- New Mexico regulators block tritium operations at Mesa del Sol in 2026.
What makes Pacific Fusion unique
- Pacific Fusion leverages pulsed magnetic inertial fusion with modular fast electric pulsers.
- Design achieves net facility gain using Sandia and Livermore breakthroughs.
- Highly modular system enables affordable manufacturing and simplified supply chains.
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Benefits
Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
401(k) Company Match
Unlimited Paid Time Off
Company Equity
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↑ 0%1 year growth
↑ 3%2 year growth
↓ -2%Pacific Fusion has appointed Josh Tech as head of its New Mexico operations. The former Tesla employee will oversee the company's planned $1 billion research and manufacturing campus at Mesa del Sol. Tech previously held managerial roles at Tesla from 2014 to 2018 and most recently served as chief operations officer of REE Automotive. At Pacific Fusion, he will focus on transforming the company's nuclear fusion ambitions into operational reality. The California-based company has already launched a build centre at Los Morros Business Park in Los Lunas and begun hiring. Pacific Fusion expects to create 200 long-term jobs and generate over $400 million in economic activity within four years. The company recently achieved a breakthrough in developing more cost-effective fusion reactor technology.
New Mexico just expanded its Advanced Energy Tax Credit with HB 154. * Author KE Andrews * Published April 2, 2026 New Mexico is making a bold play for energy manufacturing investment. On March 6, 2026, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed House Bill 154 into law, expanding the state's Advanced Energy Equipment Tax Credit to cover a wider range of technologies, including fusion energy, additional battery and solar components, inverters, and processed critical minerals like lithium and cobalt. For companies in battery manufacturing, renewable energy component production, and critical mineral processing, this update creates new opportunities to offset significant capital costs. The credit itself is straightforward. It provides a tax credit equal to 20% of qualified expenditures on manufacturing equipment used to produce advanced energy products. The credit applies against both corporate and personal income tax liabilities, and it carries a $25 million cap per project. If the credit exceeds a company's tax liability in a given year, the unused portion can be carried forward for five consecutive years. Credits can also be transferred or sold to other taxpayers in increments of $1 million or more. The program was first created in 2024 and runs through 2032. To claim the credit, companies apply through the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD), which reviews applications in partnership with the Economic Development Department. Why HB 154 matters right now. When the Advanced Energy Equipment Tax Credit launched, eligibility was tied directly to the federal Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit from the Inflation Reduction Act. That meant the state credit covered the same categories as the federal program: solar energy components, wind energy components, battery components, and rare earth elements. HB 154 changed that. The bill replaced the federal cross reference with a state specific list of qualifying products. This is significant for two reasons: * Federal energy policy has shifted. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act introduced phase outs and new restrictions on several Section 45X categories, including wind energy credits ending after 2027 and critical mineral credits phasing down starting in 2031. By decoupling from the federal definition, New Mexico ensures its credit remains stable and available regardless of what happens in Washington. * HB 154 added entirely new categories that were never part of the federal 45X framework. The most notable addition is fusion energy equipment. Pacific Fusion, a California based company, announced plans in late 2025 to build a $1 billion research and manufacturing campus in Albuquerque. The inclusion of fusion machines and their essential components in the credit was directly tied to attracting and supporting that investment. The bill also broadened coverage for battery components, solar components, wind components, inverters for solar and wind systems, and processed critical minerals including lithium, nickel, and cobalt. The bill passed with strong bipartisan support, clearing the House 59 to 5 and the Senate 36 to 6. What this means for energy and industrial companies. For companies evaluating where to locate or expand manufacturing operations, New Mexico now offers one of the more targeted state level incentives in the country for advanced energy equipment. The 20% credit on qualified equipment costs stacks with other state programs, including Industrial Revenue Bonds for property tax abatement, the Job Training Incentive Program, and gross receipts tax deductions on manufacturing consumables. The combination of a stable state credit and an expanding eligible technology list positions New Mexico competitively against states like Texas, Georgia, and Arizona that rely more heavily on broader economic development tools rather than credits specifically designed for clean energy manufacturing equipment. New Mexico also brings natural advantages: significant lithium and critical mineral deposits, exceptional solar and wind resources, and two Department of Energy national laboratories (Sandia and Los Alamos) that anchor a strong research and technology transfer ecosystem. The annual statewide cap on certified credits is $25 million, so companies considering a project should plan their timeline carefully. Applications are processed in the order received, and once the cap is reached in a given year, remaining applications roll to the following year. Take the next step. The New Mexico Advanced Energy Equipment Tax Credit is just one piece of a larger incentive landscape that energy and industrial companies should evaluate when making capital investment decisions. If your company manufactures batteries, solar or wind components, inverters, or processes critical minerals, this credit could meaningfully reduce your equipment costs and improve project economics. The credits and incentives team at KE Andrews works with energy and industrial companies every day to identify, quantify, and secure tax credits and incentives at the state and local level. If you want to understand how this credit could apply to your operations or explore what New Mexico's full incentive package looks like for your next project, Keatax would welcome the conversation. Reach out to its team to get started.
At least thirteen fusion energy startups have now raised over $100 million each, marking a significant milestone for the private fusion sector that didn't exist a decade ago. The funding reflects growing investor confidence in companies demonstrating credible physics, achievable hardware milestones and securing commercial commitments. Commonwealth Fusion Systems leads with nearly $3 billion raised, including an $863 million round valuing the company in the tens of billions. It's developing SPARC and ARC, a planned 400-megawatt plant near Richmond, Virginia. Google has committed to purchasing 50% of ARC's output, representing a major commercial validation. Tokamak Energy has raised approximately $336 million for its compact spherical tokamak design. Its ST40 device reached 100 million degrees Celsius plasma temperature. The funded companies span various fusion approaches, including tokamaks, stellarators, z-pinch, field-reversed configurations and inertial confinement designs.
Ignition Computing is working with Pacific Fusion and partners to advance the MHD FLASH simulation code for fusion energy research.
US-based fusion start-up Pacific Fusion says it has raised $900m in a Series A funding round led by General Catalyst "from the best syndicate we could ask for".