RF Heating & Power Balance Lead

Starforge

Full-time

Garching, Germany

Posted on Oct 12, 2026

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Munich, Garching · Full-time · On-site, remote work possible

About Starforge

Starforge is on a mission to make fusion energy a practical utility by factory-manufacturing modular, fleet-deployable fusion reactors. We are fusion's Henry Ford moment.

Our first reactor product line, Unit One, is a 250 MWe spherical tokamak, built from demountable high-temperature superconducting magnets and designed in modular blocks so that every component can be factory-manufactured as well as replaced on site.

Our team comes from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, MIT, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Tokamak Energy, KIT, Lilium, and GE.

Come and join us in building the future.

Build Unit One as our RF Heating & Power Balance Lead

Unit One needs external power to start, heat and sustain its plasma. Being a compact spherical tokamak, it has little room for a central solenoid, so radio frequency waves have to carry much of the current drive as well. Every megawatt of heating comes out of the plant's own output, so the efficiency of these systems decides how much electricity Unit One actually delivers. This is your chance to decide how a fusion reactor comes to life, from the first spark of plasma to every megawatt it sends to the grid.

You will be our first heating hire and own radio frequency heating, current drive and the plant power balance end to end. You will report to the Head of Physics and Reactor Design, and work closely with our physics, in-vessel, magnet and electrical owners and our external research partners.

What you'll do

Define Unit One's heating and current drive, starting from a blank page: which radio frequency systems (ion cyclotron, electron cyclotron or others), at what power andfrequency, and for which jobs, from plasma start-up to current drive, heating and profile control

Set the requirements for each system with plasma physics, in-vessel and magnets

Own the power balance of the whole plant: heating, cryogenics, magnets, and every other load

Define and own the interfaces to the vacuum vessel, blanket, in-vessel components, electrical supply and control systems

Integrate heating and current drive into Unit One and carry the designs towards factory manufacturing, supplier qualification and production-ready documentation

Build and lead the heating team, growing it as the program moves from design to prototypes to factory production, with a strong safety and quality culture

What we're looking for

PhD or MSc in plasma physics, physics, electrical and RF engineering or a related field, or equivalent experience

Hands-on use of wave propagation and absorption codes and integrated scenario modelling

Working knowledge of radio frequency sources, transmission lines and launchers, such as gyrotrons, amplifiers, and antennas

Able to build a plant-level power balance and explain its trade-offs to engineers and non-specialists

Comfortable making design calls with incomplete information and documenting the reasoning, in clear written and spoken English

Bonus points:

Demonstrated work on radio frequency heating or current drive for a fusion experiment

Heating, current drive or non-inductive start-up on a spherical tokamak

Work with industrial radio frequency or microwave suppliers

Power plant systems studies

Experience in a nuclear or other regulated environment

What we offer

Ownership of how a fusion reactor is heated, driven and powered, from conceptual design onwards

Office and lab in Munich and Garching, with remote work possibility

We welcome applications from senior and early-career scientists and engineers, and from people moving into fusion from radio frequency and microwave engineering, aerospace, particle accelerators or power electronics. If you meet most of the must-haves and the work excites you, apply.

How to apply

Send your CV and a short note on one heating or current drive scenario you modelled or built, and what you would do differently today, via this form.