Health Physicist

Fuse • Albuquerque, NM

3d • Onsite

About The Position

You are the lead Health Physicist on site, responsible for the technical radiation-protection program: source terms, shielding, instrumentation, dosimetry, surveys, and the operational decisions that flow from them. This is a hands-on lead role.

Requirements

• Master's degree in Health Physics, Nuclear Engineering, Radiological Sciences, Physics, or a related field.
• Certification by the American Board of Health Physics (CHP).
• 5+ years of operational health physics experience in environments with non-trivial neutron and photon fields, with at least 2 years in a tritium-handling environment.
• Demonstrated production-grade proficiency with at least one major transport code: MCNP, MCNPX, PHITS, GEANT4, or FLUKA.
• Working knowledge of 10 CFR 835 or 10 CFR 20, DOE-STD-1098, DOE-HDBK-1129, and 20.3 NMAC.
• Hands-on experience with tritium bioassay programs, internal-dose assessment, and ICRP biokinetic models for HTO.
• Experience leading activation analysis and authoring defensible "safe to handle" decisions on activated hardware.
• This role may require the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance.
• 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.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with pulsed radiation sources such as DPF, Z-pinch, ICF drivers, or pulsed accelerators and the dosimetry challenges they create.
• Prior role specifying or commissioning a radiation-instrument fleet for a new facility.
• Track record partnering with R&D physicists and engineers as a working collaborator, not a downstream reviewer.
• Prior responsibility for DoD/DOE environmental monitoring programs and safety protocols.
• Experience integrating radiation controls with non-radiological hazards including HV, vacuum, cryogenics, and lasers, and with broader EHS systems.
• Familiarity with PDM/PLM and document-control practices, including change control for procedures and drawings.

Responsibilities

• Independently verify shielding designs developed by physics and engineering — geometry, source definition, tally choice, variance reduction, and uncertainty. Catch the errors before the concrete is poured.
• Run MCNP, PHITS, or GEANT4 transport calculations for the fusion generators, target chambers, beamlines, diagnostic ports, and shielded penetrations.
• Build and maintain validated source-term models: D-T neutron yield and spectrum, capture and inelastic gammas, bremsstrahlung, and characteristic line emission.
• Perform activation analysis on hardware in the neutron field and produce contact dose-rate vs. cool-down curves that operations can plan around.
• Specify the radiological instrument fleet from first principles. Match detector physics to field characteristics: pulsed vs. continuous response, neutron energy range, photon discrimination, deadtime behavior, and true dose-equivalent response across the spectrum we produce.
• Select personal dosimetry technology appropriate for mixed neutron/photon fields and tritium-intake monitoring.
• Be responsible for the calibration program for high-end instruments to a standard that survives regulator review.
• Be the technical authority on whether hardware and areas are safe to touch or enter. Survey activated and potentially contaminated hardware, evaluate against release criteria, and document the basis.
• Develop and be responsible for activation-based clearance procedures: wait times, dominant nuclides over time, allowable contact handling, and packaging for off-site transfers.
• Conduct radiological surveys before, during, and after non-routine operations.
• Author radiological work permits with credible dose estimates derived from your own field characterization.
• Sit in design reviews with physicists and engineers from the start, not at the end.
• Partner with the RSO: you produce the technical basis; they translate it into licensed scope, procedures, and regulatory submissions.
• Train operators, engineers, and physicists on what their dosimeters and area monitors are actually telling them, including their limitations.

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.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior