Job 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 realizing 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.

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 up to 7% and a Relocation allowance (if eligible).
• Flexible working options including family friendly policies and the right to request flexible working from the start of your employment.
• 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
• Wide range of career development opportunities
• A vibrant culture committed to equality and being fully inclusive

What to expect in our recruitment process:

For a step-by-step overview of how we hire from application to offer please see our Recruitment Process page: careers.ukaea.uk/join-us/recruitment-process

The salary for this role is £43,702 (inclusive of a Specialist Allowance) . O nsite working is expected for 3 days a week, however, we actively support requests for flexible working.

This role can be based at any of the following sites: Culham, Oxfordshire.

This role requires employees to complete an online Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), including The Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks for criminal convictions and possibly a search of open source data.

The Role

Are you looking for an exciting opportunity to make a difference? Join our team and contribute to the future of fusion energy. As Integrated Modeller and Code Developer, you will play a pivotal role in exploiting and carrying out development and validation of the latest models within state-of-the-art plasma initiation and integrated modelling codes against experiments, and identifying, proposing and integrating improved models through collaborations. The postholder will also support, propose and conduct plasma modelling and design scenario studies on plasma initiation and plasma transport in a range of existing and future tokamaks, e.g. MAST-U, JET, JT-60SA, ITER, DEMO and the conceptual high-performance spherical tokamak, STEP.

Qualifications

Essential Requirements:

A demonstrably strong scientific and technical aptitude is very important, and we will consider favourably candidates with desire, willingness and potential to learn new skills and to grow into new areas of physical and technical knowledge.

• PhD-level knowledge of tokamak physics or equivalent work experience
• Ability to conduct research using tokamak plasma initiation or integrated modelling tools
• High-quality outputs in areas very relevant to the role, i.e. track record of publications and/or software outputs in one or more of:
  • Plasma breakdown modelling
  • Plasma burn-through modelling
  • Plasma current ramp-up modelling
  • Core turbulent transport models (quasilinear and/or gyrokinetic/gyrofluid codes)
  • Edge plasma transport or plasma exhaust transport modelling
  • Heat and particle sources
  • MHD / ELM / pedestal modelling
  • Integrated modelling of tokamak plasma scenarios
• Knowledge of good software engineering practices and Quality Assurance systems
  • including version control, profiling tools, testing frameworks and debuggers
• Ability, willingness, and ideally experience of developing software within a team and working on and understanding large legacy codes written by others.
• Ability to interact with physicists and understand their requirements.
• Good oral and written communication skills.
• The post-holder must be a good team player with an outward-facing work ethos, as they will work closely with scientists from around the world.

Additional Information

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

UKAEA’s mission is clean energy for all, and we welcome talented people from all backgrounds to help us achieve this goal. We are committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion and strive to ensure fair representation across our workforce. We particularly encourage applications from groups currently underrepresented in STEM, including women and individuals from diverse ethnic backgrounds, while ensuring all appointments are made on merit.

UK Atomic Energy Authority is committed to being accessible. Please email talent@ukaea.uk 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.

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