Senior Automation Technician

About Helion

We are 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. Our vision is a world with clean, reliable, and affordable energy for everyone.

Since Helion's founding in 2013, we have raised $1.5 billion from long-time investors such as Sam Altman, Mithril, and Capricorn Investment Group as well as new investors including Thrive Capital, LightSpeed Venture Capital, SoftBank, and others to propel us forward. Our current prototype, Polaris, has reached record-breaking plasma temperatures of 150 million degrees Celsius (13 keV). Helion is continuing to iterate and on the path to the world's first fusion power plant, Orion.

This is a pivotal time to join Helion. You will tackle real-world challenges with a team that prizes urgency, rigor, ownership, and a commitment to delivering hard truths – values essential to achieving what no one has before. Together, we will change the future of energy, because the world can't wait.

What You Will Be Doing

In this role, you'll support the reliability, uptime, and continuous improvement of manufacturing controls systems used to build high-voltage capacitors and integrated modules for Helion’s fusion reactor systems. We’re looking for a Senior Controls Technician to troubleshoot complex automated equipment, support controls-related maintenance and commissioning, and partner with Controls Engineering and Factory Development teams to improve system architecture, maintainability, and readiness for scale.

This is an onsite role in Everett, WA reporting to the Supervisor of Technical Maintenance, and may require schedule flexibility as operations grow toward multi-shift and eventual 24/7 coverage.

You Will

• Maintain, troubleshoot, and restore complex automated manufacturing equipment, including PLC/HMI-controlled systems, instrumentation, drives, sensors, safety circuits, robotics, and SCADA interfaces.

• Support production uptime through rapid diagnosis of electrical, controls, network, and automation faults while following lockout/tagout, electrical safety, and established escalation practices.

• Perform controlled minor updates to PLC/HMI logic, parameters, alarms, recipes, and operator interfaces to support equipment operation, maintenance, and reliability; escalate larger changes through engineering change control.

• Support controls checkout, commissioning, validation, and handoff for new or modified equipment in partnership with Controls Engineering, Factory Development, equipment vendors, and system integrators.

• Improve maintainability by documenting faults, root causes, corrective actions, procedures, and troubleshooting guides in the CMMS and relevant controls documentation.

• Identify recurring controls issues, weak architectures, obsolete components, and support gaps; help define practical improvements that reduce downtime, improve technician leverage, and prepare systems for production scale.

• Other duties as required.

Required Skills

• 5+ years of experience supporting industrial automation, controls, or production equipment in a manufacturing or industrial environment.

• High school diploma or equivalent required; technical degree, apprenticeship, military technical training, or formal controls training may be considered in place of some direct experience.

• Strong hands-on troubleshooting ability with PLC/HMI-controlled equipment, electrical controls, instrumentation, sensors, drives (VFD and Servo), industrial networks, electrically and pneumatically controlled valves and machine safety systems.

• Ability to read and understand electrical schematics and process diagrams

• Experience supporting robotics and SCADA/HMI platforms used in automated manufacturing environments; examples may include Fanuc, Ignition, FactoryTalk, Rockwell/Studio 5000, Siemens/TIA Portal, or similar systems.

• Ability to safely troubleshoot energized industrial systems when appropriate, while following lockout/tagout, electrical safety (NFPA 70E), arc-flash, machine guarding, and site safety procedures.

• Ability to document troubleshooting steps, root cause, corrective actions, procedures, and minor controls changes clearly to support handoff, repeatability, and future maintenance.

• Ability to work assigned schedules as operations evolve, including day, swing, night, rotating, overtime, weekend, or on-call coverage as needed.

• Ability to lift up to 49 pounds unassisted, stand and walk during shifts up to 12 hours, and regularly bend, lift, stretch, and reach below the waist and above the head.

#LI-ONSITE #LI-SA1

Benefits

Our total compensation package includes benefits, including but not limited to:

• 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

Helion is an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. If you need assistance or an accommodation during the interview process, please let us know.