Techno-Economic Analyst

Commonwealth Fusion Systems•Devens, MA

9d•Onsite

About The Position

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) is developing commercially viable fusion power plants to support the transition to fusion energy. The Techno-Economic Analyst develops and improves models used to evaluate the financial viability and commercial desirability of fusion power plants, including ARC. The role includes conducting sensitivity analyses, identifying improvement opportunities, and informing design, engineering, and R&D decisions about economic impacts. As part of the business development team, the analyst helps communicate fusion energy’s benefits to customers and other stakeholders. The role works across internal functions and with external stakeholders to collect data, populate and validate models, assess competitiveness against other energy solutions, and improve modeling tools and assumptions. The analyst also prepares and presents research and analysis, supports diligence and project planning, and helps identify risks, cost drivers, and opportunities to improve product costs and levelized cost of energy.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Engineering Technologies, Business, Finance, Economics, Math, Physics, or a related field.
At least 5 years of relevant industry experience.
Exposure to or professional knowledge of energy systems.
Experience conducting quantitative analysis with probabilistic models.
Experience working in cross-functional teams and facilitating collaboration across domains.
Experience managing stakeholder relationships, prioritizing and delivering different work products on tight timelines, and communicating clearly.
Mastery of MS Excel and proficiency in MS PowerPoint.
Knowledge of probabilistic modeling and forecasting.
Ability to work collaboratively and independently to close gaps and execute loosely defined mid- to long-term assignments.
Understanding of the calculation, derivation, and variability drivers of industry metrics such as levelized cost of energy, overnight capital costs, internal rate of return, and utility return on equity.
Professional understanding of thermodynamics and engineering fundamentals, with the ability to solve analytical problems related to energy usage and plant optimization from first principles.
Ability to generate work plans, define milestones, help define processes that affect assigned work, and contribute to process improvement.
Strong organizational skills for managing multiple cases and scenarios.
Ability to map and understand complex interconnected systems.
Exceptional attention to detail across systems and ability to identify quality or detail gaps.
Reliable, persistent work ethic and determination when facing uncertainty and setbacks.
Ability to choose the appropriate level of modeling detail, from quick estimates to detailed models for final project specifications.
Adaptability to a startup environment, including taking initiative, developing tasks and timelines, and solving broad, ambiguous problems.
Ability to take increasingly independent ownership of execution approaches under general management guidance.
Proven writing and communication ability and consistent work quality suitable for materials intended for broad external audiences.
Ability to type, stand, and sit for extended periods.
Willingness to occasionally travel or work required nights, weekends, or on-call.
Ability to work in a facility with industrial hazards, including heat, cold, noise, fumes, strong magnets, lead, high voltage, high current, pressure systems, and cryogenics.

Nice To Haves

Experience with detailed process modeling of emerging technologies and techno-economic models of new technologies and systems.
Cross-functional experience in energy system engineering, business development, and financial modeling.
Experience developing probabilistic models focused on energy system modeling and optimization.
Comfort with mathematical modeling and tool development in Python.

Responsibilities

Develop and improve techno-economic models that characterize the costs and benefits of CFS products, including ARC.
Incorporate learning and experience benefits as CFS develops additional power plants.
Establish and maintain company best practices and lessons learned for analytical methods and models, and systematically improve models and analysis.
Track and maintain assessments of ARC’s competitiveness compared with other energy solutions.
Work with the Scientific Software team to maintain modeling tools and their underlying assumptions.
Collaborate with R&D, Engineering, Manufacturing, Scientific Software, System Engineers, Finance, Business Development, and external stakeholders to collect data, populate models, productionalize them, and validate model fidelity.
Prepare briefing materials, write and publish research results in internal technical reports and public-facing presentations, including work with external partners.
Present and defend analyses and underlying assumptions to a wide range of audiences.
Support Investor Relations, Business Development, Corporate Finance, and Engineering with queries and reports as needed.
Support customers, sponsors, partners, and investors during diligence processes.
Support management in developing project scope, budgets, and schedules based on expertise, capabilities, research needs, and opportunities.
Use quantitative and qualitative research, case studies, literature reviews, and internal and external expertise to identify key variables and sensitivities affecting ARC’s costs and value.
Support evaluation of R&D opportunities, Open Innovation pathways, technology advancement, and market opportunities.
Identify model risks, uncertainties, and variability, and develop mitigation strategies with the business where possible.
Provide feedback to R&D and Engineering on levers for reducing product costs and levelized cost of energy.
Synthesize quantitative results to inform future technology R&D opportunities and design decisions.
Work with Procurement to refine cost estimates for CFS products and associated systems.