Full-Time
Mechanical Engineer
Updated on 9/3/2026
Thea Energy
51-200 employees
Develops fusion power via planar-coil stellarators
Compensation Overview
$85k - $150k/yr
Kearny, NJ, USA
In Person
Bachelor's
 Mechanical Engineering (1) |
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- A minimum of a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, physics, or a related field.
- Experience designing, building, and commissioning custom systems.
- Experience in mechanical engineering using computer-aided design software such as SolidWorks, CATIA, or NX.
- Experience specifying machining, welding, and/or fabrication requirements.
- Familiarity with geometric dimensioning and tolerancing under ASME Y14.5 and drawing standards.
- Contribute to the design and development of primary and secondary mechanical fusion components and subsystems.
- Produce mechanical engineering designs, drawings, specifications, and parameters from first principles with appropriate tolerances for vendor quoting and manufacturing.
- Design tooling for assembly.
- Perform thermal, structural, and electromagnetic analysis and simulation using Ansys and COMSOL.
- Incorporate design for manufacturing principles and support first builds.
- Support the implementation of tooling and manufacturing.
- Design and execute qualification testing.
- Communicate and collaborate with internal and external stakeholders.
- Ability to decompose and solve complex problems.
- Ability to take initiative and guide the design and analysis of complex components and systems with the aid of peers and team members.
- Ability to execute and flourish in a fast-paced, rapidly changing environment.
- Comfortable working to aggressive deadlines.
- Exceptional work ethic.
- Strong team member with clear communication and collaboration skills.
Thea Energy is developing nuclear fusion technology to provide grid-scale, zero-emission electricity for utilities and large industries. Its approach centers on reimagining the stellarator with flat, planar superconducting coils and software-controlled magnet systems, enabling continuous fusion operation and easier maintenance, while guiding the Eos neutron-source device and the Helios commercial power plant concept. This design differs from competitors by prioritizing manufacturability, lower capital costs, and agile software control over traditional twisted-magnet stellarators, supported by public-private DOE milestones. The company aims to commercialize fusion as a scalable baseload power source and secure long-term power offtake agreements to replace fossil-fuel generation.
Company Size
51-200
Company Stage
Grant
Total Funding
$145.8M
Headquarters
Princeton, New Jersey
Founded
2022
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Thea raised $100 million Series B on May 27, 2026, then extended it August 18.
- ARPA-E awarded $20 million on July 27, 2026, funding domestic HTS magnet production.
- May 13, 2026 full-scale coil operation validated 6T performance for Eos manufacturing.
What critics are saying
- Eos still needs a 2026 site decision, and construction slips break the 2030 schedule.
- Helios depends on unproven 324-coil control at scale, despite 2026 magnet tests.
- Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Helion are chasing grid power first, starving Thea of capital.
What makes Thea Energy unique
- Thea Energy replaces twisted stellarator coils with mass-manufacturable planar superconducting coils.
- DOE certified Helios preconceptual design on January 13, 2026, first Milestone Program awardee.
- Thea is building AI-controlled digital twins with NVIDIA, Synopsys, Argonne, and PPPL.
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Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↓ -1%1 year growth
↑ 0%2 year growth
↑ 5%Thea Energy has received a $20 million award from the US Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) through its SCALEUP programme. The New Jersey-based fusion technology company will use the funding to establish the first domestic production line for modular high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets. The company plans to use approximately 300 planar shaping coils in its first large-scale integrated stellarator system, called Eos. Over the past two years, Thea Energy has iterated its coil designs more than 100 times and validated their performance. The SCALEUP programme supports previous ARPA-E awardees in scaling technologies toward market adoption. The award follows Thea Energy's $100 million Series B funding round.
Thea Energy has announced collaborations with NVIDIA, Synopsys, Argonne National Laboratory and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory to develop a digital twin of its Helios stellarator fusion power plant. The initiative supports the US Department of Energy's Genesis Mission, which aims to accelerate fusion power development using artificial intelligence. The digital twin will integrate AI and computational tools to analyse vast datasets, rapidly evolve plant designs and test system operations more efficiently than traditional methods. NVIDIA will build the platform using Omniverse libraries, whilst Synopsys will provide multiphysics simulation expertise for the breeding blanket system. Thea Energy's planar coil stellarator architecture uses AI for software controls to continuously optimise the system. The company aims to deliver fusion power by 2035, using the digital twin to shorten development cycles and reduce capital requirements.
Thea Energy, a fusion power startup advancing stellarator technology, has raised $100 million in an oversubscribed Series B round led by US Innovative Technology Fund. General Innovation Capital Partners and Linse Capital participated, alongside existing investors including Lowercarbon Capital and Prelude Ventures. The Kearny, New Jersey-based company will use the funding to expand magnet manufacturing capacity, including adding a second facility, and construct "Eos", a large-scale integrated stellarator system. Thea Energy plans to select a site for Eos this year whilst doubling its team size. Founded in 2022 as a Princeton University spin-out, Thea Energy recently became the first company to receive US Department of Energy certification for its Helios power plant preconceptual design milestone. The company aims to begin construction of its first commercial power plant before 2030.
Thea Energy, a Kearny-based company, is advancing its fusion power goals with significant backing, including a recent fellowship from Amazon Web Services and the International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence. A spinout from Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Princeton University, Thea Energy focuses on commercializing stellarator fusion energy. Since its 2022 founding, the company has raised $30 million in investor funding and received additional non-dilutive funding from the U.S.
To build a fusion power plant, engineers are forced to make some difficult choices. Do they go with the simpler design and then, while in operation, force the plasma to behave so it doesn’t snuff itself out? Or do they opt for a complex design that’s challenging to build but leads to happier plasma?Or what if there was a way to do both?Thea Energy is hoping that “both” is the right answer. The startup is betting that software can supplant manufacturing precision in its quest to deliver reliable, inexpensive fusion power. It has recently raised a $20 million Series A, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. Prelude Ventures led the round with participation from 11.2 Capital, Anglo American, Hitachi Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Mercator Partners, Orion Industrial Ventures and Starlight Ventures.There are two main approaches to fusion power: inertial confinement and magnetic confinement. The former made headlines at the end of 2022 for proving that net-positive fusion power isn’t just science fiction by using massive lasers to vaporize a fusion fuel pellet.Many startups, though, are using some variation of the former