Senior Scientist, LPI Modeling & Beam Smoothing

Your Role

• Focused Energy is looking for a Senior Scientist to bring deep theoretical and simulation expertise in laser-plasma interaction (LPI) modeling, beam smoothing, and laser-target coupling to our Science team. This is a role that spans both the laser system and target physics sides of the house, translating laser system capabilities into target physics requirements, and target physics needs into laser beam requirements, an end-to-end view that is critical to refining our roadmap forward.
• You will act as a scientific anchor for the beam smoothing project and a trusted theoretical resource across several teams: supporting implementation work, providing simulation and theory support for LPI research, and contributing to the design and interpretation of experiments. Your work will directly shape beam requirements (picket, drive, beam port design) and the physics roadmap that underpins our path to fusion energy at commercial scale.

What You'll Do

Must-haves

• PhD in plasma physics or an equivalent field.
• 10+ years of post-doc or staff scientist experience.
• Strong theoretical and simulation knowledge of beam smoothing techniques.
• Strong theoretical knowledge of LPI (CBET, SBS, SRS, and/or TPD) and experience with PIC/fluid simulations.
• Knowledge of High-Performance Computing (HPC).
• Excellent programming skills for HPC (OpenMP/MPI) in C++ and/or Python or an equivalent language.
• Strong mathematical background, including linear algebra, dynamical systems, partial differential equations, stochastic differential equations, and numerical modeling.
• Strong background in laser fusion science.
• Excellent communication skills and a strong collaborator across technical teams.
• High capability in prioritization, problem-solving, and adaptability.

Nice-to-haves