Meet the Engine Behind the Machine: the People Who Keep Fusion on Schedule

Building a stellarator is an engineering challenge. But building a stellarator on time, on budget, and at the pace the world actually needs, that's an operations problem. At Proxima Fusion, an entire team exists to solve it. Think procurement, financing, government relations, and a universe of other things in between (we’re not exaggerating and the scope of it changes on a daily basis). Lennart Bock, Strategy and Operations at Proxima, puts it simply:

"Proxima Fusion's operations team handles procurement, financing, and government relations. Making sure that the technical teams can focus on the very hard technical challenge while we are focusing on the very tough challenges of actually building the surrounding support system, building the company that is actually able to deliver at speed."

That support system runs on money, and money runs on people who track every euro of it and create financial systems every bit as intricate as the machine we're building.

Malav Shah, Financial Controller, takes care of the money at Proxima and makes sure that everybody can get what they need to do a good job. Machine parts. Conference travel. Investor reporting. Zoom out from the day-to-day, and you realise this is just the base of the financial infrastructures that need to hold up as we scale. Malav's role as Financial Controller shows what financial operations careers look like inside a scaling deep tech startup: building systems for a company several times its current size.

“A lot of my work with our CFO is less about what gets us through today and more about how it’ll need to change tomorrow. At the pace we’re growing, the best systems are the ones already built for the next version of us.”

Sergei Galperin, CFO, adds to that: “In a company growing as quickly as ours, moving really fast just means you remain in place. To really move forward requires a concerted team effort to build scalable financial infrastructures, the kind that can support a company ten times our size before we actually are one. And obviously, use AI as a sparring partner along the way.” 

That same discipline extends beyond finance, where someone has to make sure the big picture - leadership alignment, incoming capital, investor confidence - moves at the speed that is required to compete internationally.

Ellen Smeele, Chief of Staff, spends her weeks split between fundraising, investor relations, and internal alignment, often literally on a plane between the two. A common path for people moving from banking, consulting, or venture into an operating role at a startup. Speed is her job description.

"Some weeks I travel quite a lot. So next week, for example, I'm going to Boston where there's a big fusion event where I'll be talking with investors as well on the panel, where I’ll be discussing fusion and how we can accelerate it, especially on the financing side.

I spend a lot of time on our fundraising. So I speak with investors, but also make sure that the financing rounds happen at the pace that Proxima sets. And we always want things to happen fast. That's important."

Between fundraising and financial control, John Nicholas, Strategic Project Manager, is the connective tissue. He makes sure there is one “single source of truth.” Every stakeholder, from European level funding to venture capital, needs to work off the same numbers.

"I'm a finance business partner. So anything that combines the technical aspects of the company and the financial aspects, I'd be very much involved. So anything from financial projections for our fundraising to looking at potential M&A deals, to looking at potential joint ventures."

All about carving your own path

What others would consider a lot of operational freedom, for us it’s an operating model. John describes what it actually looked like to join: no script, no shadowing period.
"I didn't know what to expect. I joined and from day one, it was: 'Do you know how to do this?' 'Yes, I can figure it out.' 'Okay, it's yours now.' And you just grow with the company from there."

Ellen puts the same idea in terms of scope rather than ownership. The job isn't handed to you fully formed, meaning you can push its edges yourself.
"Everybody's constantly pushed to do new things and try something new, you can just do it. And all of a sudden you learn so many more things and there's an endless amount of possibilities.”

Not corporate, on purpose

What makes it all work keeps surfacing in the same shape: the pull of being the ones who put fusion on the grid. And what sustains the pace is intensity people choose on purpose. 

"I think the intensity is a real thing, which is something I actually signed up for. Coming from more of a corporate nine to five mold, I felt like that wasn't necessarily the best fit for me. Here, you need to deliver on your tasks. Sometimes it takes a bit longer, sometimes a bit shorter. But it feels like I have a lot of freedom and I get a lot of responsibility." - John

The autonomy everyone speaks of holds up because of the deep specialization each person brings, and a shared understanding that everyone is quietly building the structures and systems in the background that make the impossible possible in the first place. "Let's see if we can do it against all odds." - Ellen

"I think what excites me the most about this job is that it directly and indirectly helps us reach fusion. Not just as Proxima, but in the world. Fusion is really hard, we know that, but working towards one goal, and everybody combining these energies together, doing what they're good at and contributing their own little part in the progress towards fusion, that's what excites me the most." - Malav 

"We're all very ambitious. We're all very driven. We want to change the future and people that are thriving in this environment are usually just like that. We like to pursue hard goals. We like to overcome hard challenges. We like to work together doing so." - Lennart 

We take enormous pride in the people who work with us. Proxima is the sum of its parts, adding up to something much bigger than any of them alone. If you want to become part of our mission, check out our careers page, or send us an open letter about why you want to help bring fusion energy to the world. This is for people from finance, operations, strategy, and consulting backgrounds (and beyond!) considering a move into a fast-growing fusion energy company.

Frequently Asked Questions

What operations and finance roles does Proxima Fusion hire for?
Proxima Fusion hires for roles including Strategy and Operations, Financial Controller, CFO, Chief of Staff, and Strategic Project Manager, supporting the company's technical teams as it scales.

Do I need a fusion or engineering background to work in operations at Proxima Fusion?
Not for every role. While technical teams need physics, engineering, or fusion expertise, Proxima Fusion also hires across operations, finance, strategy, procurement, and manufacturing. Roles built for people with backgrounds in consulting, corporate finance, automotive, aerospace, or other industries, not necessarily fusion or physics.

What does a Chief of Staff or Strategic Project Manager do at a fusion energy startup?
At Proxima Fusion, these roles connect fundraising, investor relations, financial planning, and technical project execution, acting as the connective tissue between the company's technical and business sides.

What's it like working in operations at a fast-scaling startup like Proxima Fusion?
Roles come with significant autonomy and fast growth in scope. Our team describe being given ownership from day one, with responsibilities expanding quickly as the company scales.

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