Principal Materials Engineer - Structural Integrity

Overview of Responsibilities

This role requires employees to complete an online Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) including The Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks for criminal convictions.

The Role

We are seeking applicants with experience in applying materials data to underpin structural and/or functional performance claims for fusion engineering components, with a focus on in-vessel components found in conventional tokamak designs. The successful candidate will understand materials data requirements based on intended operating conditions, how to best obtain this data (via a combination of experimental and numerical approaches), and how to propagate materials data uncertainty into performance assessments.

Additional Responsibilities:

• Leading programmatic research and development activities that seek to improve upon conventional assessment methodologies from adjacent industries (e.g., nuclear fission, aerospace) to ensure these are compatible with the material technologies used in fusion engineering and design.
• Acting as an authority on one of more technical areas within UKAEA.
• Leveraging relationships with external stakeholders, including academic partners and industrial end users, to apply for and win funding opportunities for multi-year collaborative research programmes.
• Defining and planning for long-term collaborative research programmes.
• Delivering high-complexity tasks through supervision of large teams (typically above 5.0 FTE), to agreed expectations (time and budget).
• With a particular interest in strong background in existing procedures, codes, and standards for high-integrity components (e.g., ASME BPVC, RCC-MRX, BS 7910, R5/R6).

Qualifications

Essential skills:

• A PhD (or similar level of experience in a structured research environment) in a computational, mathematical, engineering or physical science discipline or equivalent experience.
• Multiple years' experience working in a technology-driven field.
• Experience of working on major projects or programmes as a technical lead.
• Good interpersonal skills, with experience of working in diverse, multidisciplinary teams.
• Ability to communicate effectively in both technical and non-technical terms.
• Ability to plan and prioritise workload.

Desirable skills:

• Knowledge of and experience using conventional codes and methods for the assessment of high-integrity components.
• Experience of model validation and uncertainty quantification to predict component performance in fusion relevant environments.
• Knowledge of both deterministic and probabilistic methods supporting component lifetime assessment.
• Demonstrable recognition as a nationally/internationally renowned expert in one or more topics relevant to fusion technology.
• Previous experience of working in the fusion industry.
• Commercial awareness and evidence of delivering innovative solutions to industry.

Additional Information

A full list of our benefits can be found here https://careers.ukaea.uk/life-at-ukaea/employee-benefits/

We welcome applications from under-represented groups, particularly individuals from black and other ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities, and women. Our Executive team, supported by our 'Equality, Diversity and Inclusion' (EDI) Partner and Inclusion Ambassadors, actively promotes EDI and takes steps to increase diversity within our organization. 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.