Senior Theoretical Physicist - Space Research Technology
Location: Martigny, Switzerland
Company Overview:
INAUTALENT is supporting the International Space Federation (ISF), a pioneering R&D organization based in Cluses (French Alps), in strengthening its team in Switzerland.
ISF is at the forefront of research on gravity-control propulsion and quantum-vacuum energy, aiming at clean and sustainable energy solutions. Through international academic partnerships, ISF pushes the boundaries of fundamental physics to transform energy production and transportation while addressing global ecological challenges.
The organization operates at the intersection of relativity and quantum mechanics, exploring technologies that could redefine our understanding of the universe. Its mission: turning bold scientific concepts into tangible technologies capable of changing the world.
Job Description:
The Senior Theoretical Physicist will help develop ISF's fundamental physics research output: peer-reviewed papers, technical reports, internal working notes, mathematical expositions, and scientific materials that connect the organisation's theoretical work to active experimental and applied programmes.
This is a research and writing role, not a communications or outreach position. You will work closely with the Principal Theoretical Physicist, the Chief Scientist, and a small group of physicists and engineers. Your task will be to understand the existing framework in depth, identify where it needs sharper formulation or stronger support, and help express it in a form that can withstand serious scientific scrutiny.
Theoretical research and development
- Study and internalise ISF's fundamental physics research programme, including its treatment of spacetime geometry, quantum vacuum structure, gravitation, and field dynamics.
- Contribute to the formal development of theoretical arguments, derivations, models, and conceptual bridges between the framework and established physics.
- Identify gaps, ambiguities, assumptions, and promising extensions in existing theoretical materials, and work with senior physicists to resolve them.
- Engage with relevant literature in quantum mechanics, general relativity, quantum field theory, quantum gravity, plasma physics, and related domains to position ISF's work accurately and critically.
Scientific writing and publication preparation
- Draft, revise, and strengthen theoretical physics papers, technical reports, internal working papers, and research expositions.
- Translate complex and unconventional theoretical ideas into precise, structured, mathematically coherent scientific prose.
- Develop sections of manuscripts in collaboration with physicists and engineers, ensuring that claims, notation, assumptions, and references are clear and defensible.
- Prepare supporting materials for peer review, conferences, grant-style scientific communication, and internal research coordination.
Collaboration with the wider research programme
- Work iteratively with the Principal Theoretical Physicist and Chief Scientist on research direction, manuscript structure, and scientific argumentation.
- Support the experimental and applied teams by clarifying theoretical implications, boundary conditions, predictions, and interpretive frameworks.
- Incorporate feedback from internal scientists, engineers, external reviewers, and collaborators into successive drafts without losing conceptual precision.
- Maintain organised theoretical notes and documentation so that a small interdisciplinary team can work from a shared scientific foundation.
Requirements
Essential requirements
- PhD in physics, theoretical physics, mathematical physics, or a closely related field.
- Strong working knowledge of quantum mechanics and general relativity, including the mathematics needed to reason fluently within both domains.
- Demonstrable ability to write advanced scientific material with clarity, precision, structure, and technical accuracy.
- Capacity to learn an unfamiliar theoretical framework quickly, test it critically, and work productively within it.
- Ability to produce sustained, high-quality written output with limited supervision and careful attention to detail.
- Fluency in English for scientific writing and discussion.
Desirable experience
- MSc in physics, theoretical physics, mathematical physics, or a closely related field.
- Research background in theoretical physics, mathematical physics, quantum gravity, quantum field theory, gravitation, vacuum energy, or spacetime geometry.
- Experience writing, co-writing, or editing peer-reviewed papers, preprints, technical reports, theses, textbooks, lecture notes, or comparable scientific material.
- Familiarity with foundational approaches to spacetime, vacuum structure, gravitation, geometric models of matter, or the relationship between quantum mechanics and general relativity.
- Comfort with LaTeX and scientific typesetting workflows.
Benefits
- A rare opportunity to work directly on a live theoretical physics programme that aims to re-examine the relationship between spacetime geometry, quantum vacuum dynamics, matter, and energy.
- Close collaboration with a small group of physicists, engineers, and scientific leadership, with unusually direct exposure to the central theoretical questions of the organisation.
- Intellectual freedom within a privately funded research environment, balanced by the expectation of rigorous reasoning, careful writing, and scientific accountability.
- A focused role with real theoretical substance: the work is to develop and formalise physics, not to package it for marketing.
- A research setting in Martigny, Valais, at the intersection of fundamental theory and applied experimental programmes.
- Swiss employment benefits, including BVG/LPP pension enrolment, and support with Swiss work-permit processes where applicable.
- Competitive salary of 90000-110000 CHF/year.
