Location
San Leandro, California
Employment Type
Full time
Department
Engineering / Technical Ops.
Compensation
OverviewApplication
About Fuse
We are building one of the most potentially consequential companies of the century. Our mission is to accelerate the world's transition to fusion energy while safeguarding humankind. This is not a normal company. This is not a normal job. We are committed for the long term to win.
About The Role
Fuse is establishing a dedicated in-house manufacturing facility for high-voltage pulsed-power capacitors. The program requires production of hundreds of thousands of 40–160 nF, 100 kV double-ended capacitors, previously produced only by a handful of specialized manufacturers worldwide. As the Capacitor Manufacturing Engineer, you'll bring deep hands-on expertise in high-voltage film capacitor fabrication to commission, qualify, and operate this facility from the ground up — a founding engineering role with direct impact on the core pulsed-power infrastructure.
Core Responsibilities
Facility Setup & Process Engineering
- Lead the setup and commissioning of the capacitor manufacturing facility, including procurement and qualification of winding, impregnation, encapsulation, and high-voltage test equipment.
- Establish the manufacturing process from raw film through finished, tested capacitor.
Film Winding & Dielectric Stack Assembly
- Develop and optimize winding parameters for metallized polypropylene (PP) film or film/foil electrode systems for high-voltage, low-inductance pulse applications.
- Define winding tension, layer counts, geometry, and metallization strategies to improve performance and service life.
Vacuum Impregnation & Encapsulation
- Develop and qualify vacuum pressure impregnation (VPI) and encapsulation processes to eliminate voids, suppress partial discharge, and maximize dielectric strength.
- Ensure terminal integration and mechanical robustness under repetitive discharge stress.
High-Voltage Testing & Quality Control
- Establish production acceptance testing, including capacitance, dissipation factor (tan δ), DC hipot, partial discharge, and pulse discharge life testing.
- Build quality controls and statistical process tracking to improve yield and identify failure modes as production scales.
Materials & Supply Chain
- Qualify suppliers and establish material standards for dielectric film, metallization, electrodes, impregnants, and capacitor hardware.
- Evaluate alternative materials and processes that could improve energy density, reliability, or temperature performance.
Continuous Improvement & Scale-Up
- Drive the transition from pilot production to high-volume manufacturing.
- Implement automation across winding, testing, and packaging to improve yield, throughput, and unit cost.
Minimum Qualifications
- B.Sc. or M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, Manufacturing/Process Engineering, or a related field.
- 2+ years of hands-on experience in high-voltage film capacitor manufacturing, including winding, impregnation, encapsulation, and high-voltage testing.
- Deep knowledge of polypropylene film dielectrics, metallization processes, and partial discharge physics at high field strengths.
- Demonstrated experience with vacuum pressure impregnation (VPI) systems and epoxy/resin process chemistry.
- Proficiency in high-voltage test methods, including capacitance bridge, tan δ, DC hipot, and partial discharge measurement (IEC 60270).
- Experience establishing or managing a manufacturing quality system (ISO 9001 or equivalent) for electrical components.
Preferred Qualifications
- Prior experience at a pulsed-power capacitor manufacturer.
- Familiarity with double-ended low-inductance capacitor architectures designed for pulse-discharge applications.
- Experience with automated winding-machine programming and mechanical setup, including mandrel, tension control, and traversing.
- Knowledge of capacitor life modeling under repetitive pulse stress, including voltage reversal, peak current, and dI/dt.
- Familiarity with dielectric film casting or metallization processes is a strong plus.
What We Value
- Give a shit. Build things you're proud of.
- Take responsibility. If something is broken and you can fix it, fix it. See things through.
- Move fast. Make decisions, learn quickly, and keep moving forward.
- Think bigger. Simplify relentlessly. Don't default to the safe answer.
- Disagree and commit. The best idea wins. Once a decision is made, we move.
- Desire to win. This is hard. Expect intensity. We are here to win.
- Plan B is to make Plan A work.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
- Relocation assistance for roles that require it.
- Flexible time off. Take what you need, no accrual tracking.
- 2 weeks of paid time off built into the end of each year, subject to team and business needs.
- Supportive leave of absence policies.
- Paid leave for new parents.
ITAR Requirements
To conform to U.S. Government technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.
Equal Opportunity
Fuse is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Fuse is governed on the basis of merit, competence, and qualifications and will not be influenced by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, ancestry, immigration status, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability, or any other legally protected status.
Compensation Range: $105K - $155K
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