Numerical Modeling Engineer (Fusion)

Location: Zurich, Switzerland; on-site

Company

hirify.global is a fusion company developing the hardware and infrastructure for commercial stellarator fusion power plants, including the Alpha and Stellaris machines.

What you will do

• Develop predictive models for superconducting magnet behavior across steady-state and transient operating regimes.
• Model electromagnetic effects including current distribution, inductance, AC losses, and nonlinear material behavior.
• Build thermal and coupled electromagnetic-thermal models for heat generation, conduction, cryogenic cooling, and transient events.
• Implement and validate quench models covering initiation, propagation, and protection strategies.
• Develop custom solvers, reduced-order models, design-sweep automation, optimization, and uncertainty-quantification pipelines.
• Use simulation results and experimental data to guide conductor, coil, stabilization, and protection-system design.

Requirements

• MSc or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, Computational Engineering, or a related field.
• Strong foundation in electromagnetics and physics-based numerical modeling, including FEM and nonlinear coupled systems.
• Experience with multiphysics and transient simulations, such as electromagnetic-thermal coupling and fast transients.
• Proficiency in Python, MATLAB, C++, or a similar scientific programming language.
• Ability to build models from first principles, validate results critically, and translate complex physics into engineering recommendations.
• Ability to work on-site in Zurich, Switzerland.

Nice to have

• Experience with COMSOL, ANSYS, Opera, or other commercial FEM and multiphysics tools.
• Modeling experience with high-current or high-field devices.
• Thermal modeling and heat transfer experience in complex systems.
• Experience with superconductors or high-temperature superconducting magnets.
• Experience building internal engineering tools instead of relying primarily on GUI-based workflows.

Culture & Benefits

• Work in a multidisciplinary team combining stellarator optimization, advanced computation, machine learning, and high-temperature superconducting magnets.
• Own modeling standards and influence core magnet and fusion-plant design decisions.
• Collaborate closely with magnet engineers, quench-protection specialists, and experimental teams.
• Work in a startup environment where tools, processes, and engineering standards are evolving.
• Contribute to the development of clean, carbon-free fusion energy technology.

Hiring process

• Recruiter interview lasting 30–60 minutes.
• 30-minute technical screening.
• Technical panel consisting of three 60-minute interviews.