Techno-Economic Analyst

Commonwealth Fusion Systems•Devens, MA

1d•$107,000 - $160,000•Onsite

About The Position

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) is seeking a Techno-Economic Analyst to play a critical role in evaluating the financial viability and commercial desirability of fusion power plants. This position is responsible for developing and maintaining economic models, conducting sensitivity analyses, and providing insights to design, engineering, and R&D teams. The analyst will also support the business development team in communicating the benefits of fusion energy to customers and stakeholders. CFS is a leading fusion company with significant capital raised, aiming to deliver fusion energy commercially.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Engineering Technologies, Business, Finance, Economics, Math, Physics or a related field
5+ years of relevant industry experience
Exposure to or professional knowledge of energy systems
Experience working on quantitative analysis with probabilistic models
Experience working in cross-functional teams and facilitating collaboration across domains
Experience managing stakeholder relationships, including prioritizing and executing disparate sets of deliverables on tight timelines with clear communication
MS Excel - Mastery
MS Power Point - Proficiency
Probabilistic modeling and forecasting
Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment as well as autonomously to close gaps.
Capable of executing on mid to long-term assignments that are loosely defined
Understand the calculation, derivation, and drivers of variability of key industry metrics including, but not limited to, levelized cost of energy, overnight capital costs, internal rate of return, and utility return on equity
Professional knowledge and understanding of thermodynamics and engineering fundamentals, with ability to solve analytical problems related to energy usage and plant optimization from first principles
Generates work plans, defines milestones for own tasks, and helps define processes that impact direct work. Contributes to process improvement
Strong organizational abilities to manage many various cases and scenarios
Ability to map out and understand complex interconnected systems
Exquisite attention to detail applied across a multitude of systems, ensuring comprehensive analysis and identification of gaps in quality or detail
Reliable and persistent work ethic, seeing tasks through to completion. Stays determined in the face of uncertainty and setbacks
Ability to identify the right level of detail for a given task and flexibility to adapt to modeling both rough, quick estimates for establishing development priorities and detailed, reliable models for finalizing project specifications
Adaptability to a start-up environment, capability to take initiative, develop own tasks and timelines, and solve broad, ambiguous problems
Operates with general guidance from management and increasingly takes independent ownership of developing execution approaches to assigned work
Proven writing and communication ability, and consistent quality of work appropriate for preparing material for a broad external audience
Perform activities such as typing, standing, and sitting, for extended periods of time
Willingness to occasionally travel or work required nights/weekends/on-call
Work in a facility that contains industrial hazards including heat, cold, noise, fumes, strong magnets, lead (Pb), 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 with a focus on energy system modeling and optimization
Comfort with mathematical modeling and tool development in python

Responsibilities

Continue the development of techno-economic modeling at CFS to characterize the future costs and benefits of CFS products including ARC, the world’s first commercial fusion power plant.
Incorporate expectations for learning and experience benefits as the company develops additional power plants.
Establish and maintain company best practices and lessons learned related to analytical methods and models. Systematically work to improve models and analysis over time.
Track and maintain current assessment of ARC competitiveness compared to other energy solutions.
Work closely with the Scientific Software team to maintain the modeling tools and their underlying assumptions over time.
Collaborate closely with Research and Development (R&D), Engineering, Manufacturing, Scientific Software, System Engineers, Finance, Business Development, and external stakeholders to collect primary data, populate techno-economic models, productionalize the model, and validate model fidelity.
Provide support for other functions and other duties as assigned.
Prepare briefing materials, write and publish research results in internal technical reports and public facing presentations, including collaborations with key external partners.
Present and defend analysis and underlying assumptions to a wide range of audiences.
Support Investor Relations, Business Development, Corporate Finance, and Engineering teams as needed, and on-demand with queries and reports.
Support potential customers, sponsors, partners, and investors in diligence processes.
Support management in developing scope, budget, and schedule for new projects based on matching expertise and capabilities to research needs and project opportunities.
Apply quantitative and qualitative research, case studies, literature reviews, and learnings from internal and external subject matter experts to identify key variables and sensitivities important to determining the costs and value of ARC.
Support the evaluation of new R&D opportunities, Open Innovation pathways, technology advancement, and market opportunities.
Identify key areas of risk, uncertainty, and variability within models and develop mitigation strategies with the business to alleviate where possible.
Serve as a feedback loop to the R&D and engineering organizations to understand the key levers to continuously drive down product costs and LCOE.
Synthesize quantitative results to provide insight into potential future technology research and development opportunities and design decisions.
Work closely with procurement to refine estimates for costs for the CFS products and associated systems.