OpenStar Technologies

OpenStar Technologies is on a mission to repeat the feats of Maui and capture the power of the Sun. By mastering fusion, the process that powers the stars, we can generate safe, clean, carbon-free, baseload electricity in a way that is economically scalable to the challenge of mitigating climate disaster and giving birth to the next industrial revolution. The team is currently made up of 30 talented engineers and physicists, based in Wellington, New Zealand.

At OpenStar Technologies, our culture is founded on a commitment to making a positive impact on the world. We empower every member of our team with meaningful responsibility, fostering an environment where creativity and innovation thrive in pursuit of our collective mission.

Job Description

In this role, you will be joining our High-Temperature Superconducting (HTS) Subsystems team. You will work on improving the reliability and miniaturisation of embedded electronics for fusion-relevant applications. At OpenStar, we design and produce embedded systems that will function as the brains of our levitated superconducting magnet used to confine plasma. This system will be exposed to the harsh environment of vacuum, cryogenics, and eventually high energy radiation as our prototypes get ever closer to fusion. We will not be able to communicate with the system while it is floating inside a high-temperature plasma; hence the key performance metrics of the device will include its reliability and total heat load.

Key tasks will include (but not limited to)

• Understand current operating constraints and existing solutions and work towards expanding functionality and robustness for a MKII solution.
• Develop a low-power monitoring system for system health and long-term data collection.
• Investigate high energy radiation tolerant embedded systems for operation in fusion-relevant environments.

Responsibilities

• Learning
  
  • You will learn about HTS power supplies, HTS concepts and the requirements for traditional semi-conducting electronics in the system.
• Quality control and system robustness
  
  • You will contribute to the development of testing regimes which will subject the system to operational environments to ensure that the systems are reliable to a negotiated standard.
• Experimentation and iteration
  
  • You will prototype designs incorporating the necessary HTS technologies in specific environments.
  • Research on redundant aerospace-grade embedded control systems.
  • prototypes, analyse results and iterate as required.
• Leadership
  • Depending on your experience, this role will involve opportunities to lead a team.

Requirements

To be considered, you must have:

• At least 3 years of professional experience working with electronics and embedded systems.
• Professional experience in any of the following disciplines:
  • Electronics engineering
  • Avionics engineering
  • Electrical engineering
  • Mechatronics Engineering
    
• Proven experience building robust systems that operate in harsh environments.
• Experience with the integration of embedded electronic systems.

Employment Details

Employment type: Full-time - permanent employment

Compensation: Competitive cash salary + employee stock option plan

Leave: 25 days per annum

Health Insurance: Southern Cross (Wellbeing One & Keeping Well Module)

Location: At OpenStar, we believe in our employees' ability to structure their work in a way that works best for them. We are flexible on hours and working from home. However, given the critical nature of this role and its impact on company culture, it must be undertaken primarily at OpenStar Technologies' facilities in Wellington, New Zealand.

This opportunity boils down to the chance to work on something truly meaningful. The scariest thing about the climate crisis today is that, for all of our bluster and protest, there are very few of us who actually have a chance to do meaningful work solving this problem. Carbon-free energy is an absolute necessity if we want to be able to recognise the world that our children and grandchildren inherit. Please join us in making this a reality!

Only applicants who are eligible to work in New Zealand will be considered for this position. For security reasons relating to OpenStar’s development of technologies that may be considered dual-use, and New Zealand’s status as a participating state of the Waasenaar Agreement (WA), background checks will be undertaken prior to any employment offers being made to an applicant. These checks will include nationality checks. This is because New Zealand, as a participating state to the WA, applies export controls to dual-use technologies with the objective of preventing unauthorised transfers or re-transfers, including intangible transfers. Participating states and information on the WA may be found here: https://www.wassenaar.org/about-us/