Senior R&D Engineer (Tools and Methodologies)

Senior R&D Engineer (Tools and Methodologies)

Salary: £57,117 (inclusive of Specialist Allowance)

Onsite working is expected for 3 days minimum each week, though we actively support requests for flexible working.

This role is based at Culham, Oxfordshire.

Employees are required to complete an online BPSS programme, including Disclosure & Barring Service checks and possibly an open‑source data search.

The Role

As a Senior R&D Engineer (Tools and Methodologies) you will play a pivotal role in UKAEA’s test rigs and facilities projects, developing and applying best‑practice tools and methodologies to enable the successful delivery of engineering solutions to high‑impact fusion challenges. You will work closely with engineering and science teams to support the adoption of the most appropriate approaches to maximize value from testing and from verification and validation activities – providing training, facilitating workshops, preparing guidance material and championing best practice. The teams you work within will be highly cross‑disciplinary and will involve supporting systems engineers to ensure that programme needs are met.

Key Accountabilities

• Provide strategic leadership in the use of appropriate tools and methodologies to design and development teams, including establishing mechanisms to disseminate guidance on their selection and use.
• Develop and adapt new tools and methodologies for testing, verification and validation, and technology development; including proposing related research projects.
• Expand your own network by seeking work with external collaborators (including universities, public‑sector research establishments and industry in fusion and related fields) to complement UKAEA’s internal capability, offering access to additional expert knowledge and facilitating new project proposals.
• Use your initiative to identify opportunities for high‑impact transfer of relevant best practice or technologies from non‑fusion sources, performing research and preparing project proposals.
• Proactively identify and coordinate work packages for the development of junior team members, including industrial placement students, graduates and apprentices.

Requirements

• An experienced practitioner of best‑practice engineering and organisational tools (e.g., Robust Engineering, Six Sigma, Systems Engineering, TQM).
• Degree or higher (or equivalent training/experience) in engineering, physics, chemistry, technology or a similar science.
• Highly self‑motivated with demonstrated initiative.
• Demonstrable ability to manage R&D work packages.
• Strong verbal and written communication and stakeholder‑management skills.
• Experience in a project or otherwise leadership role.

Benefits

• Outstanding defined benefit pension scheme, details of which can be found at the end of this advert.
• Corporate bonus scheme up to 7% and a Relocation allowance (if eligible).
• Flexible working options, including family‑friendly policies.
• Employee Assistance Programme and trained Mental Health First Aiders.
• Generous annual leave allowance starting with 25 days, plus 3 days Christmas closure and 2.5 privilege days, in addition to UK bank holidays.
• A vibrant culture committed to equality and being fully inclusive.

Equal Opportunity

We welcome talented people from all backgrounds who want to help us achieve our mission. We encourage applications from under‑represented groups, particularly women in STEM, people from Black, British, Caribbean and African, Pakistani and Bangladeshi British, and other ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities, and neurotypical individuals. Our Executive team, supported by our Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and Wellbeing, actively promotes inclusion and takes steps to increase diversity within our organisation. We reinforce best practices in recruitment and selection and evaluate approaches to remove barriers to success.

Please note that vacancies are generally advertised for 4 weeks but may close earlier if we receive a large number of applications.

If your country of residence or previous residence is not listed on the website or if the UK Government does not have information on obtaining a criminal records check from that state, we regret to inform you that we cannot process your application.

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