Director, Integrated Target Design

Xcimer Energy is advancing Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) by combining decades of scientific progress with a breakthrough laser architecture designed for practical and scalable fusion power. Our mission is to deploy commercial fusion plants quickly enough to accelerate global decarbonization, and also reduc the cost of electricity. Backed by leading investors, Xcimer brings together experts in laser physics, fusion science, and advanced manufacturing with a proven history of rapid execution. With a uniquely positioned team and technology, we are urgently working to deliver clean, abundant fusion energy with the speed to address climate change. Please join us in building a future powered by laser driven inertial confinement fusion (ICF).

This is a full-time, onsite role based at our headquarters in Denver, CO.

As the Director of Integrated Target Design at Xcimer, you will lead the interdisciplinary group of scientists and engineers that optimize all aspects of target physics for our new laser architecture. Your main responsibilities will be to guide efforts in advanced simulations and experiments, as well as the recruitment, mentoring, and development of the team. As a technical expert, you will provide day-to-day guidance to your team and participate in cross-function discussions across ICF disciplines. In close partnership with the program leads, you will translate high-level priorities and objectives into actionable plans, and build the culture and collaborations needed to reach the highest possible levels of fusion performance. At Xcimer, you can expect the resources and opportunity to build on decades of prior work in ICF and realize its ultimate potential for producing energy.

The ideal candidate would have significant understanding of inertial confinement fusion (ICF), the associated workflows, and existing high-energy-density-facilities and institutions.

• Build, grow, and lead the Integrated Target Design group, including recruiting, hiring, onboarding, managing, mentoring, and the professional development of staff.
• Convert program priorities into detailed work scopes, schedules, and task assignments for the team.
• Evaluate near-term capability and resource needs and communicate them to program leadership to support effective staffing and toolchain development.
• Uphold and enforce Xcimer’s cultural values of humble ambition, accountable trust, respectful critique, and rigorous urgency.
• Ensure the high‑quality execution of all work by removing obstacles and maintaining clear priorities for the team.
• Work with the Theory and Computation group to ensure modeling capabilities align with design needs.
• Collaborate with the Diagnostic Physics Division (Imaging and Spectroscopy) to ensure researchers have the diagnostic support, interfaces, and coordination needed for high-quality execution of experiments.
• Participate as a technical authority in cross‑functional discussions with laser engineering, target fabrication, chamber engineering, diagnostics, etc.
• Provide day-to-day technical guidance to team members in implosion physics, LPI, symmetry control, and energy coupling strategies.
• Review and validate team outputs for technical quality and consistency Contribute to technical collaborations with national labs, universities, external vendors, and testing facilities.
• Establish department-wide practices, documentation standards, review processes, and quality control appropriate for industrial fusion systems.

• Ph.D. in Physics or Engineering, or a related technical field, with knowledge of ICF.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and develop scientific or technical teams.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to convey complex arguments to diverse staff in a matrixed organization.
• Ability to manage execution in a fast-moving, interdisciplinary environment, with evolving priorities.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident, or lawfully admitted as a refugee or granted asylum.

• Deep expertise in inertial confinement fusion, capsule and hohlraum design, laser-plasma instabilities, hydrodynamics, or a related field.
• Familiarity with radiation‑hydrodynamic modeling workflows, methods in physics validation, and developing or supporting experimental platforms at HED facilities (NIF, OMEGA, Z, or similar).
• Experience in multi‑institutional experimental collaborations.
• Familiarity with topics of interest to IFE including target fabrication, DT filling, cryogenic handling, and/or target injection and delivery.