Materials Engineer

Materials Engineer
Abingdon Road, Culham, Abingdon
Full-time
Salary: £38,620 (inclusive of MPP) + excellent benefits including outstanding pension
Site Location: UKAEA Culham, Oxfordshire
Confirmed Grade: Level 4
Department: Materials (MRF)

Company Description

By 2050, the planet could be using twice as much electricity compared to today. Are you interested in contributing and helping 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 leads the way in realising fusion energy, partnering with industry and research for ground-breaking advancements. Our goal is to bring fusion electricity to the grid, supported by tomorrow's power stations. In pursuit of our mission, UKAEA embraces core values: Innovative, Committed, Trusted, and Collaborative.

Salary: £38,620.

As an employee of UKAEA, you will benefit from:

- Outstanding defined benefit pension scheme, details of which can be found at the end of this advert.
- Corporate bonus scheme of 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 of Christmas closure and 2.5 privilege days, in addition to UK bank holidays.
- Wide range of career development opportunities.
- A vibrant culture committed to equality and being fully inclusive.

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

Job Description

Are you looking for an exciting opportunity to make a difference? Join our team and contribute to the future of fusion energy. As a Materials Engineer, you will work within the Materials Division to support the delivery of commercial fusion by:

- Engineering and scoping new material compositions and microstructures in pursuit of “fusion-grade” structural and functional systems.
- Modelling and experimentally validating the ability of selected materials to survive the anticipated fusion environment.
- Maintaining the Materials Research Facility, a national user facility for the advanced characterisation of radioactive materials.

This role will involve supporting key projects with micro-mechanical testing of materials at high temperatures and post-irradiation. This role is open to people across all sectors, but expertise in FIB milling and nanoindentation is essential.

Additional Responsibilities

- Managing multiple projects and planning experiments.
- Operation of advanced equipment for characterising and testing the performance of materials at high temperatures and after irradiation.
- Delivery of technical and scientific outputs (papers, posters and reports).
- Presenting results at conferences, both domestically and internationally.
- Assisting in the management of data, including metadata.
- Exploiting skills and knowledge to support the activities of the wider non-Metallics team.

Qualifications
Essential Requirements:

- Degree in material science or equivalent.
- Postgraduate research in materials science demonstrated either through work experience in the materials field in industry, or a MSc / PhD degree.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Self-motivated and capable of working in a team.

Additional Information

For a full list of benefits and to apply, select the apply button to be taken through to the UKAEA careers pages.

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.

For applicants applying from outside the United Kingdom or those who have spent time outside the UK in the last five years, please visit the UK Government website for information on criminal records checks. 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.