Chief Technologist – Tritium

About the job

Chief Technologist – Tritium 
Abingdon Rd, Culham, UK
Full-time
Department: H3AT
Salary: £70,696 to £75,414 + excellent benefits including outstanding pension
Confirmed Grade: Level 7
Site Location: UKAEA Culham, Oxfordshire

By 2050, the planet could be using twice as much electricity compared to today. Are you interested in strategically contributing to shape the future of the world’s energy? If so, read on.

Fusion, the process that powers the Sun and Stars, is one of the most promising options for generating the cleaner, carbon-free energy that our world badly needs. UKAEA are at the forefront of realising energy from fusion, working with industry and research partners to deliver the ground-breaking developments that will underpin tomorrow's fusion power stations with the aim of bringing fusion electricity to the grid.

Who are we looking for?

We are seeking an ambitious and inspirational Chief Technologist to provide strategic leadership for our H3AT research programme, represent the department within the international fusion community and work with external organisations and industry to develop new opportunities. Tritium Advanced Technology (“H3AT”) is one of the world’s leading centres for tritium research and operations management and performs both fundamental and applied research into the use of tritium as a fuel for fusion reactors and associated technology. 

Each day presents technical challenges of high complexity, therefore we are looking for someone with demonstrable experience in setting and realising technical strategy in an R&D environment. You will be comfortable challenging and influencing at a senior level and must be able to define project scope, taking them from innovation through to implementation within budget.

What will you be responsible for? 

- Collaborating with Technical Leads, Project Managers and Researchers, to maintain an overview of the entire research portfolio of H3AT
- Managing multi-discipline teams to ensure appropriate completion of work and development, covering the full range of people responsibilities
- Developing proposals for new projects and collaborations with external parties
- Managing, reviewing and progressing projects to successful completion, taking responsibility and ownership to achieve quality outcomes
- Ensuring the work of the UKAEA is communicated across the international scientific community, including conferences, peer review publications and general promotional awareness
- Keeping abreast with grant opportunities, interacting with other organisations at a high level to create collaborative proposals

Qualifications
Essential skills, experience and competence required

- Demonstrable experience in setting and realising technical strategy in an R&D environment
- Demonstrable experience in effectively challenging and influencing at senior management and senior external stakeholder level
- Demonstrable capability and judgement to initiate and develop technical programmes, influencing internal and external resource managers and delivering results
- Demonstrable ability to rationalise complex interactions between UK and international R&D programmes and the funding of competing research streams 
- PhD or equivalent qualification in a relevant scientific or technical discipline
- An internationally recognised expert in a relevant field, with a strong existing network across industry and academia
- Budget Management awareness of and input into budgets. In operational roles, identify capital expenditure required

What we offer

- A competitive salary  
- A culture committed to being fully inclusive, supported by a Being Inclusive Strategy and Inclusion Ambassadors 
- An Employee Assistance Programme and trained Mental Health First Aiders, with a full calendar of health and wellbeing initiatives 
- Flexible working options including family friendly policies  
- Emergency leave (paid) 
- 30.5 days’ annual leave increased with length of service (including privilege days and 3 days between Christmas and New Year) plus bank holidays
- Wide range of career development opportunities (e.g professional registration, internal promotions, coaching and mentoring programme)  
- Outstanding defined benefit pension scheme  
- Annual corporate bonus scheme  
- Relocation allowance (if eligible) 

We welcome applications from under-represented groups, particularly from individuals from black and other ethnic minority backgrounds, including nationality and citizenship, people with disabilities, (visible and hidden) and women. The Executive team, with support from our EDI ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’ (EDI) partner and Inclusion Ambassadors, is actively promoting EDI and taking steps to increase the diversity of our people through reinforcing best practice in recruitment and selection, and revaluating approaches where it is clear we can remove barriers to success. We are easily accessible by car and are a 10-minute walk from Culham Railway Station in Oxfordshire.

Please be advised that this vacancy is due to close on 07/04/2022. We may close earlier than this date if large or sufficient numbers of applications are received.

Please note, all employees working at the UK Atomic Energy Authority will be required to complete an online Disclosure Certificate application as part of their clearance – The Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks will show the details of all current criminal convictions (convictions considered unspent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974) or will confirm that there are no such convictions.

Note for applicants who are applying for employment with UKAEA either from outside the United Kingdom or who have spent time outside the United Kingdom in the last five years. Please visit the UK Government’s website. If the country you are resident in or have resided in is not listed on this website or that the UK Government is not aware of how to obtain a criminal records check from that state then we are unable to process your application.