SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Proxima Fusion, Europe's fastest-growing and best-funded fusion company, is seeking a Scientist to validate predictive plasma models against experimental data and establish the credibility of the company's modeling stack ahead of its Alpha stellarator's first plasma.
You will work at the intersection of modeling and experiment, using Proxima's integrated modeling framework (FUS3) and Bayesian plasma state estimation workflow to analyze data from the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator. Your core responsibilities include:
- Validating predictive plasma models (neoclassical and turbulent transport, 3D equilibrium, ECRH deposition, pellet fueling, bootstrap current, iota evolution) against W7-X experimental data, producing reproducible validation reports with quantitative metrics and regression tests
- Reconstructing plasma state from diagnostic measurements (Thomson scattering, interferometry, CXRS, ECE, XICS, bolometry, magnetics) using time-dependent Bayesian workflows with calibrated uncertainties
- Working directly with raw and pre-processed diagnostic data, owning forward models, noise models, and profile fits
- Validating across discharge databases and W7-X magnetic configurations to map model applicability and parameter trends
- Acting as technical interface to W7-X and IPP: scoping data requests, spending time on site in Greifswald, and proposing experiments targeting model gaps
- Converting diagnostic studies into requirements for Alpha's diagnostic set and realistic uncertainty models
- Extending the modeling stack with mappers from experimental archives into IMAS, synthetic diagnostics, and reproducible analysis workflows
- Helping establish the between-shot analysis loop for Alpha's operational phase
Proxima Fusion is developing next-generation stellarator fusion power plants (Alpha and Stellaris) backed by over €650M in funding, with teams across Munich, Zurich, and Oxford. The role combines advanced simulation, systems thinking, and pragmatic engineering to accelerate the path to commercial fusion energy.
You will be expected to travel regularly to Greifswald and later to the Alpha site.
REQUIREMENTS:
- PhD in plasma physics, fusion science, or closely related discipline
- Hands-on experience with experimental data from a magnetic confinement device (diagnostics, calibrations, systematic errors)
- Experience reconstructing plasma state from measurements (profile fitting, integrated data analysis, equilibrium reconstruction, power and particle balance analysis)
- Strong grounding in transport, equilibrium, and heating physics
- Rigorous approach to uncertainty quantification; validation claims must include error bars on both sides
- Comfortable writing and maintaining scientific software with version control, testing, and reproducibility practices
- Effective communication with physicists, diagnosticians, engineers, and experimentalists; ability to work productively in external collaborations
- Self-directed; able to identify and execute needed work
- Willingness to travel regularly to Greifswald and later to Alpha site
NICE TO HAVE:
- W7-X experience (operations, diagnostics, data analysis, familiarity with W7-X data archive and Minerva)
- Stellarator physics background
- Bayesian inference, uncertainty quantification, or machine learning applied to experimental data
- Experience with integrated modeling and transport codes (FUSE, OMFIT, ASTRA, TRANSP, JINTRAC, or similar) and neoclassical (SFINCS, DKES, NEO) or gyrokinetic (GENE, CGYRO, GX) codes
- Julia and Python programming (FUS3 is written in Julia)
- Familiarity with IMAS data model
- Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools
- Track record of published validation studies or successful experimental proposals
