Manager, Machine Maintenance and Integration

About the role

Helion is a fusion power company based in Everett, WA, with the mission to build the world's first fusion power plant, enabling a future with unlimited clean electricity. Since founding in 2013, Helion has raised $1.5 billion from investors including Sam Altman, Mithril, Capricorn Investment Group, Thrive Capital, LightSpeed Venture Capital, and SoftBank. The current prototype, Polaris, has reached record-breaking plasma temperatures of 150 million degrees Celsius (13 keV), and the team is iterating toward the world's first fusion power plant, Orion.

This is an onsite role located at the Everett, WA office reporting to the Senior Manager of R&D. The Manager, Machine Maintenance and Integration leads the teams that maintain, repair, and upgrade Helion's experimental and large-scale fusion machines. The role owns the work control, maintenance, and reliability programs that allow multiple teams to work safely and effectively on the machines, balancing urgent repairs, preventive maintenance, integration work, and upgrades while developing processes that scale across machines.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop maintenance engineers and technician shift managers, building effective coverage, shift handoffs, onboarding, and qualification programs
• Own the machine maintenance and work-control program from intake and planning through execution, verification, testing, closeout, and return to service
• Partner with Operations to prioritize repairs, preventive maintenance, upgrades, and integration work; develop executable work packages and manage maintenance schedules, resources, spares, vendors, and contractor support
• Champion a strong safety culture by reinforcing stop-work authority and ensuring effective pre-job briefs, energy controls, work permits, configuration management, management of change
• Build a data-driven preventive maintenance and reliability program using equipment history, failure analysis, and performance metrics to reduce recurring issues and improve machine availability
• Oversee machine upgrades and integration readiness from scope and resource planning through installation, commissioning, and operational turnover, while ensuring new hardware is safe, testable, maintainable, and scalable across multiple experimental machines

Requirements

• 2+ years of people-management experience, including leading technicians, engineers, supervisors, or technical leads while building effective coordination across shifts
• 5+ years in maintenance, engineering, or operations within a complex, fast-paced, or high-growth operating facility
• Demonstrated ability to translate changing operational priorities and requests from multiple teams into realistic work plans, including equipment modifications and upgrades
• Hands-on understanding of hardware installation, testing, maintenance, repair, and commissioning, with the ability to read technical drawings and evaluate technical work plans
• Working knowledge of work authorization, lockout/tagout, work permits, configuration management, management of change, and return-to-service requirements for equipment with significant stored energy
• Experience managing preventive maintenance, equipment reliability, and structured failure investigations using a computerized maintenance management system, with the ability to surface risks and communicate technical tradeoffs clearly
• Bachelor's degree in engineering or a related technical field

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision plans for employees and their families
• 31 Days of PTO (21 vacation days and 10 sick days)
• 10 Paid holidays, plus company-wide winter break
• Up to 5% employer 401(k) match
• Short term disability, long term disability, and life insurance
• Paid parental leave and support (up to 16 weeks)
• Annual wellness stipend

Pay

Compensation Range: $182K - $214K