Senior Engineer - Human Factors

At Rolls‑Royce SMR, our mission is simple yet ambitious: to deliver clean, affordable energy for all. Our Small Modular Reactor (SMR) is a British-engineered solution to a global energy challenge, designed to provide safe, dependable low‑carbon power for generations to come. We’re proud to be in pole position to become a world leader in SMRs and to champion one of the UK’s premier green export technologies. As we grow, you’ll be joining us at a pivotal moment, helping shape the future of sustainable nuclear energy.

The Team

You’ll join our Human Factors Team, a highly collaborative group of around 10 specialists. This team ensures that people, technology, and systems work together safely and effectively across the entire lifecycle of the RR SMR power station from design to operation and through to decommissioning. Your work will directly support the safety case, design decisions, control‑room development, and operator‑system interactions, all of which contribute to ensuring the power station is safe, operable, and maintainable.

Role Summary

We’re looking for someone who is excited by complex systems, deeply curious about human performance, and motivated by the chance to influence the design of a next generation nuclear power station. In this role, you’ll play a critical part in ensuring our SMR can be operated safely and efficiently by embedding human‑centred thinking into system and control‑room design, layout decisions, and the safety case. Your insights will help shape how people interact with some of the most important low carbon infrastructure in the UK.

Key Responsibilities

• Supporting Human Factors Integration across assigned systems, attending design reviews and ensuring human performance considerations are embedded early.
• Completing task analysis, allocation of function, and substantiation of operator actions.
• Working with system, layout, C&I and safety teams to validate that operators can safely and effectively perform essential tasks.
• Contributing to Human Reliability Assessment.
• Supporting the development of control rooms, including interface design, prototyping and user trials.
• Producing clear, structured HF reports and evidence for regulator engagement.

The Impact

This is a role where your expertise genuinely shapes the power station, from the control room to front‑line operations. You’ll influence decisions that make work safer, improve system reliability, and strengthen the Safety Case that underpins licensing and operation. This is an opportunity to make a real‑world impact in an industry driving the UK’s clean‑energy future.

Essential Qualifications & Skills

• A degree in Human Factors, Ergonomics, Psychology or a closely related discipline.
• Experience applying Human Factors methods (task analysis, allocation of function, HRA).
• Strong written communication and ability to produce structured, high‑quality technical outputs.
• Experience from a high‑hazard, safety‑critical, regulated, or human‑centred engineering environment (e.g., nuclear, defence, aerospace, oil & gas).

Location

We offer hybrid working, with office locations in Derby, Warrington or Manchester. We are flexible, and office attendance will be discussed during the recruitment process to best suit both the role and the individual.

Pay and Benefits

We anticipate paying a salary of between £50,650 - £66,500 plus:

• Bonus - Performance related target opportunity 12.5%
• Benefits Allowance – £2,200 per annum, 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.
• Private Medical Insurance - BUPA single cover health care
• Life Assurance - 6x pensionable pay
• £250 - One-off payment for new starters for home office purchases

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

We are Rolls-Royce SMR. 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 energy future.

We’re proud to be one of the few employers that can genuinely say we’re a strengths-based organisation. Our people are here because of what makes them exceptional - and our role is to help them make the most meaningful contribution of their careers, doing work they love. We offer opportunities that go beyond traditional career paths. At Rolls-Royce SMR you can develop your career by exploring roles and challenges that align with your unique talents.

Our culture

At Rolls-Royce SMR, we are committed to ensuring that our teams reflect the communities we serve and that everyone can be themselves at work. We know that diverse teams are more innovative and get better results, and that our people can thrive and be more successful in truly inclusive cultures. Join us and help shape our culture. Find out more about our inclusion pledge. Rolls-Royce SMR is a place where everyone can grow, so whatever background you bring with you, please apply if this is a role that would make you excited to come into work every day and help shape our culture.

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 can thrive.