Intern - Scientific Software Engineer - Summer 2027

Commonwealth Fusion Systems•Devens, MA

13d•$25 - $38•Onsite

About The Position

Commonwealth Fusion Systems is seeking a Scientific Software Engineering Intern to contribute to scientific software used by its engineering teams. The internship is 13–18 weeks and involves 40–50 hours per week, with an hourly rate based on the intern’s year in school. Interns may work onsite in Devens, Massachusetts; onsite interns are responsible for their own transportation and housing. Project assignments and technical requirements vary according to team needs. Opportunities are available to currently enrolled college students from bachelor’s through PhD levels, and interns must be authorized to work in the United States for any employer. The intern will port high-performance electromagnetics kernels to GPUs, beginning with the Biot–Savart magnetic-field calculation in cfsem, CFS’s open-source Rust library. Work includes developing cross-platform GPU kernel variants with Python bindings, validating scientific accuracy against existing unit tests and CPU implementations, benchmarking GPU performance against optimized multithreaded Rust CPU kernels, and recommending where GPU acceleration is beneficial. The intern will integrate the kernels with cfsem’s existing Python interface and contribute merged work to a public Rust/Python project used by CFS engineers. The role requires occasional willingness to travel or work nights, weekends, or on-call. It also involves extended periods of typing, standing, or sitting and a commitment to safety around potential industrial hazards, including heat, cold, noise, fumes, strong magnets, lead, high voltage, and cryogenics. The position is subject to compliance with U.S. export control laws.

Requirements

Be currently enrolled in college; opportunities are available to students from bachelor’s degree through PhD levels.
Pursue an engineering degree focused on Computer Science.
Have contributed to a multi-person software project.
Have experience with the Rust programming language.
Have software performance engineering experience through a class, project, or internship.
Demonstrate exceptional results through a range of pursuits.
Show high self-motivation and drive to execute quickly, with excellent troubleshooting and problem-solving skills.
Be authorized to work in the United States for any employer.
Be willing to travel or work required nights, weekends, or on-call occasionally.
Be able to perform activities such as typing, standing, or sitting for extended periods.
Demonstrate dedication to safety around potential industrial hazards.

Responsibilities

Port the Biot–Savart magnetic-field calculation and other high-performance electromagnetics kernels in cfsem to cross-platform GPU kernel variants.
Develop Python bindings for the GPU kernel variants and make them available through cfsem’s existing Python interface.
Validate GPU kernel scientific correctness against cfsem unit tests and CPU implementations.
Benchmark GPU speed and accuracy against optimized multithreaded Rust CPU kernels.
Report performance results and recommend where GPU acceleration is worthwhile.
Contribute and ship merged changes to the public Rust/Python project.
Follow safety practices to mitigate potential industrial hazards.