Lead Engineer - Materials Database and Standards in Manchester

At Rolls‑Royce SMR, our mission is simple but ambitious: to deliver clean, affordable energy for all. Our Small Modular Reactor (SMR) offers a uniquely British solution to a global energy challenge — supporting energy security, net‑zero ambitions, and sustainable growth worldwide.

We are pioneering what we believe will be the UK’s premier green export technology, and we are positioned to become a world leader in SMRs. Joining us now means helping shape the future of low‑carbon power and contributing to one of the most exciting engineering programmes of our time.

The Team

You’ll join our Materials & Chemistry team within Nuclear Engineering & E3S Analysis — a highly collaborative, growing group of specialists focused on ensuring the safe, reliable and optimised performance of the RR SMR design. This team develops, governs, and manages all materials‑related data essential to the reactor’s design, analysis, manufacturing, and long‑term operation. Their work impacts everything from safety case evidence to digital engineering processes, supporting the technical integrity of the entire SMR programme.

Role Summary

As a Lead Materials Engineer, you will play a key role in building the future of our engineering capability — creating, governing, and optimising the materials data foundation that supports the RR SMR business. This role enables rapid, confident, evidence‑based engineering by ensuring our materials datasets are robust, accessible, and fully integrated with the wider digital ecosystem across RR SMR. Your contribution will directly influence how our engineers design, analyse, qualify, and operate components throughout the lifecycle of the SMR. You’ll act as the primary technical authority on materials data structure, provenance, traceability, and its accuracy across the programme.

Key Responsibilities

• Leading the development and long‑term governance of the RR SMR materials database, ensuring large and complex datasets are structured, searchable, and aligned with user needs.
• Defining and maintaining materials data quality levels, supporting engineers to understand data provenance, confidence levels, and appropriate use cases.
• Sourcing, verifying, and validating materials data, ensuring full traceability back to original test records, specifications, standards, and qualification evidence.
• Ensuring seamless integration between the materials database and wider engineering systems, including analysis tools, PLM/ERP environments, configuration management, digital twins, and IT infrastructure.
• Acting as the primary interface with software providers, defining requirements and ensuring tooling meets long‑term programme needs.
• Collaborating across other teams within the business, gathering user requirements and supporting consistent, high‑quality data usage.
• Coaching and guiding colleagues in sourcing, interpreting and applying materials data effectively.

The Impact You’ll Have

In this role, you will shape how RR SMR engineers interact with materials data for years to come. By developing a robust, scalable and high‑integrity materials data environment, you will help accelerate design decisions, improve safety and quality outcomes, and support future product development. Your work will directly enable:

• high‑confidence engineering choices,
• faster design iteration,
• robust safety case generation,
• streamlined digital engineering workflows, and
• long‑term data availability for continuous improvement.

This is an opportunity to build a capability at the heart of our engineering strategy — one that will influence the SMR programme throughout design, manufacturing, and operation.

Essential Qualifications & Experience

• Strong understanding of materials systems, behaviours, and intended uses.
• Degree‑level qualification (or equivalent experience) in a relevant discipline such as Materials Science, Metallurgy, Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry, or similar.
• Significant practical experience applying materials principles to real‑world engineering problems.
• Proven ability to source, verify, and validate materials data, ensuring traceability and technical adequacy.
• Experience handling large, varied datasets and structuring data clearly within software tools.
• Knowledge of ASME materials‑related requirements and other international codes/standards.
• Experience in nuclear or other highly regulated environments, with understanding of ALARP, BAT, and safety case principles.
• Strong collaboration skills, with the ability to engage suppliers, software partners, and multidisciplinary engineering teams.

Pay and Benefits

We anticipate paying a salary of between £60,000-£78,750 plus:

• Bonus - Performance related bonus of up to 12.5%
• Benefits Allowance - £2200, enabling you to create a bespoke package
• Pension - 12% employer and 6% employee contributions.
• Holidays - 28 days holiday (+ public holidays) and the ability to buy or sell up to 4 days
• Family Friendly Policies including: 39 weeks paid Maternity, Surrogacy and Adoption Leave, 6 weeks Paternity Leave, IVF and Assisted Conception, Neonatal Care and more
• Private Medical Insurance - BUPA single cover health care
• Life Assurance - 6x pensionable pay
• £250 - One-off payment for new starters for home office purchases

Location & Ways of Working

We offer hybrid and flexible working arrangements, with offices available in Derby, Warrington, or Manchester. The frequency of on‑site attendance will depend on business needs and will be discussed during the recruitment process. You’ll be joining a forward-thinking organisation that values transparency, fairness, and innovation.

We offer:

• A flexible, inclusive, and supportive working environment.
• Opportunities for career growth in a rapidly scaling business.
• A culture that values diversity, innovation, and continuous learning.

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all backgrounds. Inclusivity is important to us, and as a Disability Confident organisation, we are committed to fair, supportive, and continually improving recruitment practices that ensure everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Confidence can sometimes hold us back from applying for a job. But we’ll let you in on a secret: there’s no such thing as a 'perfect' candidate. If you feel you meet 75% of the requirements for this role, we would love to hear from you. Also, if you are considering a career move or a sector-jump, please get in touch – we welcome applications from people with transferable skills.

Our Application Process

Due to the safety regulations within the nuclear industry, applicants will be required to participate in additional screening. These are:

• Obtaining Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) clearance
• Satisfactory completion of a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check
• Satisfactory completion of a basic financial probity check

A career with Rolls-Royce SMR offers a unique opportunity to contribute to an exciting organisation delivering a transformational mission. Rolls-Royce SMR is a radically different approach to proven nuclear technology. Each Rolls-Royce SMR power station will generate 470MW of low-carbon energy - equivalent to more than 150 onshore wind turbines and enough to power a million homes for over 60 years. With its Rolls-Royce SMRs will play a vital role in supporting renewable energy by helping to overcome intermittency and ensure a stable, sustainable.