Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) has the fastest, lowest cost path to commercial fusion energy.
CFS collaborates with MIT to leverage decades of research combined with groundbreaking new high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet technology. HTS magnets will enable compact fusion power plants that can be constructed faster and at lower cost. Our mission is to deploy these power plants to meet global decarbonization goals as fast as possible. To that end, CFS has assembled a team of leaders in tough tech, fusion science, and manufacturing with a track record of rapid execution. Supported by the world’s leading investors, CFS is uniquely positioned to deliver limitless, clean, fusion power to combat climate change. To implement this plan, we are looking to add dedicated people to the team who treat people well, improve our work by adding multifaceted perspectives and new ways of solving problems, have achieved outstanding results through a range of pursuits, and have skills and experience related to this role.
The SPARC Software team seeks an exceptional software engineer to develop real-time, high-rate software for the SPARC tokamak. SPARC senses thousands of physical measurements while controlling millions of amps to superconducting magnets and millions of watts of RF power to the plasma. These closed-loop systems must control at rates substantially greater than 1 kHz and must sample some parameters in the MHz range. These systems must interface with the SPARC plasma control system, data system, and other plant systems running on industrial control platforms.
As a member of the embedded software team you will be a hands-on technical leader, in charge of writing excellent quality, production-ready code for mission-critical real-time systems. You will collect functional requirements from plant and tokamak engineers, operations engineers, and plasma physicists and produce software solutions to meet these requirements.
You will work with simulation and test engineers to integrate your software into software testbeds, hardware testbeds, and the SPARC tokamak. The culmination of your team’s work will control SPARC through first plasma, fusion operations, and the first time a controlled fusion reaction produces more energy than is consumes.
This team member will:
- Develop real-time, high-rate software platforms and associated toolchains
- Contribute to the software development lifecycle for control and data acquisition software across SPARC
- Write and maintain the documentation of SPARC software functional requirements from design engineers, operations engineers, and plasma physicists
- Work with instrumentation and controls engineers to specify hardware components and integrated systems for fast control and measurement systems
- Support SPARC system integration, commissioning, and plasma fusion operations
The ideal candidate will have most, if not all, of these requirements:
- Engineering degree in related field, such as computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, etc.
- Experience in developing software in C, C++, rust, or similar compiled language.
- Understanding of the fundamentals of embedded and real-time software systems.
Additional experience and/or qualifications:
- Broad embedded system software development experience including bare-metal code, driver development, OS platform development, and real-time application development
- Low-latency network communication
- C++, Python (compiled systems programming and interpreted scripting languages)
- Linux
- Microcontroller or FPGA development
- Networking (IP/UDP/TCP)
- Software/hardware interfaces (ADCs/DACs, UARTs, Ethernet, etc.)
- Ability to occasionally lift up to 50 lbs
- Perform activities such as stooping, climbing, typing, standing, sitting, etc. for extended periods of time
- Adhere to safety protocols for safety hazards for heat, cold, and noise
- Willingness to occasionally travel or work required nights/weekends/on-call
- #LI-Onsite
CFS team members thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and have demonstrated exceptional results through a range of different pursuits. We all tightly align with our company values of integrity, execution, impact and self-critique. As we grow, we are looking to add talented people who are mission driven and bring diverse perspectives and new ways of solving problems.
At CFS, we deeply value diversity and are an equal opportunity employer by choice. We consider all qualified applicants equally for employment. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, protected veteran status, religion, physical or mental disability, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, or any other basis protected by law, ordinance, or regulation.
