Director of Laser Engineering (Fusion Energy)

Location: Denver, Colorado; full-time onsite at headquarters. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or nationals, permanent residents, or lawfully admitted refugees or asylees.

Salary: $220,000–$260,000 per year, with the final base salary determined by experience, education, knowledge, and skills.

Company

hirify.global develops inertial fusion energy systems and advanced laser architecture to deliver scalable fusion power plants supporting global decarbonization.

What you will do

• Lead the Laser Engineering department, including hiring, onboarding, mentoring, and performance development.
• Define the technical roadmap for laser system development, maturation, scaling, and industrial deployment.
• Oversee the design, integration, testing, validation, and commissioning of large-scale laser systems.
• Evaluate laser architectures and experimental results, make system-level technical decisions, and identify improvement opportunities.
• Collaborate with optics, optomechanical, pulsed power, materials science, controls, manufacturing, and systems engineering teams.
• Transition prototype and research systems into reliable, manufacturable, production-ready laser infrastructure while managing vendors, risks, troubleshooting, and corrective actions.

Requirements

• Advanced degree in engineering, physics, optical engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or a related technical field; an MS or PhD is preferred.
• At least 10 years of experience designing, developing, and delivering industrial laser systems.
• Experience leading engineering teams, technical organizations, or major technical programs.
• Strong understanding of laser system architectures, integration, performance, reliability, and manufacturability.
• Experience scaling laser systems from laboratory or R&D environments into industrial or production settings.
• Strong communication, leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and hands-on technical decision-making skills.

Nice to have

• Direct experience with pulsed gas laser systems.
• Experience with large-scale or high-energy laser architectures and high-power laser infrastructure.
• Experience supporting manufacturing, integration, commissioning, or field deployment.
• Experience in fast-growth startup or scale-up engineering environments.

Culture & Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus basic and supplemental life insurance.
• Short- and long-term disability coverage and paid parental leave.
• 401(k) with a company match of up to 6% and equity eligibility.
• Flexible paid time off, paid sick time, 13 company-paid holidays, and an annual paid company shutdown.
• Collaborative, fast-paced environment focused on fusion science, tough technology, manufacturing, and rapid execution.