Engineering Manager - Heating & Current Drive

Fusion energy offers the potential for significant quantities of low-carbon, inherently safe, abundantly fuelled, baseload energy, supporting sustainable climate action and energy independence. While the technical challenge remains high, confidence is increasing, and the rewards of realising fusion are almost incalculable. Anticipated to come online for commercial purposes in the middle of this century, fusion offers a viable means to sustainable net zero in the UK and globally, as well as to increased energy security. The UK is currently a world leader in fusion research and development and in the drive to realise commercially viable energy from fusion, a sector with an estimated value of £tns per year.

STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) is the UK’s flagship national programme to deliver a prototype fusion energy plant, targeting 2040, and a path to commercial viability of fusion. STEP is deliberately bold and ambitious and seeks people who want to be part of a world-changing endeavour and who have credible and relevant experiencing in delivery.

STEP is currently led by the UK Atomic Energy Authority, which has breadth and depth of expertise in fusion science, engineering and operations built over decades. Over the next year, leadership will transition to a new Company, UK Industrial Fusion Solutions Ltd. (UKIFS) to focus on the delivery of the prototype and, in so doing, the development of a fusion supply chain. From the next government investment gate, UKIFS will lead a collaborative team of industrial Whole Plant Partners who bring expertise in engineering and construction, plus UKAEA who will remain as strategic Partner providing fusion expertise

The Role:

Pioneering Fusion Energy Technologies: A Leadership Opportunity in Plasma Fusion Heating and Current Drive

UK Industrial Fusion Solutions (UKIFS) is spearheading the global scientific and technological advancements critical to realising clean, abundant, and inherently safe fusion energy. Our flagship STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) programme takes us beyond the purely scientific challenges – it demands unprecedented breakthroughs in a range of technologies including, critically, plasma heating and current drive systems.

We are seeking an Engineering Manager for Heating and Current Drive (HCD) to help lead a newly formed, strategically significant research and design division. Reporting directly to the Head of Heating & Current Drive, you will work across UKIFS’s design activity, in close collaboration with UKAEA and other partners, driving sustainable growth. You will be instrumental in providing an optimised design for the STEP heating and current drive system, primarily based on advanced microwave technologies, and in driving the commercial exploitation of associated R&D.

You will assist in leading and integrating a critical, multidisciplinary team from across UKIFS, UKAEA (our Fusion Partner), and future Engineering Partner, fostering a "single-team" culture. Your core responsibility will be to help define and deliver the microwave systems for UKIFS heating and current drive technology requirements, including:

1. R&D Programme Definition and Delivery: Research and development for each heating and current drive sub-system (power supplies, gyrotrons, transmission lines) required for STEP, rigorously targeting optimal efficiency, cost, and reliability.

2. Test Rig Design and Interface Management: Oversee the design of sophisticated test rigs necessary to achieve R&D goals, ensuring seamless interface with engineering and construction teams. This includes informing requirements for microwave test facilities for component development and supporting microwave physics studies on the MAST-U tokamak.

3. Commercial Exploitation and Partnership: Help partner with UKAEA and industry to ensure microwave technology breakthroughs for STEP yield near-term economic benefit to the UK, actively seeking opportunities to grow the UK microwave technologies supply chain and seeding commercial pathways for microwave technologies in adjacent sectors.

You will be the engineering interface between the STEP heating and current drive research programme and external partners, forging robust, high-level relationships with leading industrial consortia, academic institutions, and international research laboratories. You will operate within a dynamic, commercially-driven environment, adeptly navigating the inherent scientific and technical uncertainties of this pioneering technological endeavour. As a key member of the HCD Team, you will critically prioritise research areas, demonstrating scientific and technological agility and integrated problem-solving to achieve optimal, holistic design solutions for the STEP Prototype Plant (SPP).

Accountabilities will include: 

Lead HCD System Design:

• Manage interfaces with wider SPP sub-systems and the fusion plasma.
• Conceptual and preliminary design lead for the STEP heating and current drive system.
• Day to day management and leadership of the design and the design team.
• Support effective governance and decision making. Provide timely and accurate reporting and engage in mechanisms that hold you, as Engineering Manager, to account for delivery.
• Organise assurance processes such as stage gate reviews, as required.

Manage R&D for Optimised HCD:

• Direct the R&D to advance STEP HCD sub-systems towards high efficiency, reliability, and cost minimisation.
• Develop and justify annual budgets and ensure milestone targets are met through high-level technical oversight of external contracts.

Manage Economic Benefit & Innovation:

• Ensure appropriate Benefits Realisation Strategy is in place and monitor longer term delivery of benefits against the Business Case.
• Foster a culture of world-class research and innovation, driven by real-world microwave technology applications.
• Actively seek commercial opportunities in adjacent sectors, manage intellectual property, and champion patent publications.

Disseminate Research Outcomes:

• Keep the Head of Heating & Current Drive informed of critical discoveries.
• Provide technical updates and reports to internal leadership and external bodies.
• Encourage and facilitate the widespread publication of research results in top-tier peer-reviewed journals and high-impact presentations at international conferences, solidifying UKIFS's global scientific reputation.

Establish Strategic Partnerships:

• Build strong "one-team" scientific and engineering relationships with UKAEA and future Engineering Partners in microwave systems. Identify opportunities for private sector and university contributions and establish necessary relationships with key international facilities.
• Identify and manage stakeholder relationships and need for senior level support. Manage internal and external relationships as appropriate.

Exemplary Leadership:

• Provide effective leadership and management controls in accordance with UKIFS corporate standards.
• Embody a leadership mindset that fosters a positive, inclusive, and collaborative team environment championing responsible research and innovation.
• Lead by example, making informed, ethical decisions that balance scientific ambition with organisational goals demonstrating The Seven Principles of Public Life - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).  
• Embrace and embody our organization's culture, values, and mission in all aspects of your work
• Provide support, guidance and coaching for the project team. Show commitment to personal development.
• Promote effective individual and team performance.

Embody a Leadership Mindset

• Regardless of your formal position, you embody a leadership mindset and a set of leadership behaviours.  You embrace and embody our organisation's culture, values, and mission in all aspects of your work.
• Foster a positive and inclusive team environment that aligns with our cultural values.
• Contribute to maintaining a respectful and collaborative workplace, valuing diversity, and promoting teamwork.
• Act as a cultural ambassador, representing our organisation's values and professionalism in interactions with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders.
• Lead by example, demonstrating integrity, professionalism, and ethical behaviour.
• Make informed decisions and solve problems effectively, considering diverse perspectives and organisational goals.

The above is not intended to be an exhaustive list of activities and you may be required to undertake other reasonable tasks or duties requested.

Essential:

• An honours degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering/Microwave Engineering or a related discipline or other equivalent and relevant qualifications or experience.
• Proven experience working with large-scale research facilities.
• Excellent strategic and innovative scientific and/or engineering thinking, with a proven ability to define and drive research agendas.
• Demonstrable ability to set strategic research direction, inspire, and motivate large research teams.
• Outstanding communication skills, capable of influencing at all levels, formulating coherent scientific arguments, articulating complex ideas clearly, and actively listening.
• Experienced leadership of a research team.
• A profound understanding of the need for scientific compromise and optimisation within a diverse, complex, and evolving programme.
• An agile and adaptive approach to planning for and responding to the dynamic nature of pioneering research.
• Demonstrable commitment to responsible research and ethical innovation, and to working in compliance with modern safety, health, environment, and quality assurance standards.
• Proven ability to foster an inclusive working environment that values diverse scientific perspectives and to manage conflict constructively.

Beneficial:

• Research experience within a commercial environment.
• Direct experience in the design, construction, and / or operation of microwave systems, preferably in high-power or fusion-relevant applications.
• Experience leading a multi-disciplinary team of scientists and engineers.
• Experience working with diverse stakeholders (academic, industrial, governmental).
• Experience in intellectual property generation and its strategic management (e.g., writing patents).
• Membership of relevant learned societies.

We welcome applications from under-represented groups, particularly women in STEM and individuals from British black and ethnic minority backgrounds, and individuals with disabilities. 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 organisation. We reinforce best practices in recruitment and selection and evaluate approaches to remove barriers to success.

UKIFS is committed to being accessible. Please email [email protected] if you have any questions or require help or adjustments to compete on a fair basis, for example, changes to the way we interview or share information.

This role requires employees to complete an online Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), including the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks for criminal convictions. Whilst not required at this time, there is a possibility of an SC Clearance being required in the future. If a candidate already holds an SC clearance, that clearance can be transferred to UKIFS.

As we work towards our mission and goals, guided by our principles, STEP has six behaviours that are intended to capture the spirit of how we work: 

• We champion safety 
• We all matter 
• We act as one 
• We embrace change 
• We are pioneering 
• We deliver 

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 following link for information on criminal records checks: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants 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.