Innovation Lead in Abingdon

Full-time Salary: £54,376 (inclusive of Specialist Allowance) + excellent benefits including outstanding pension.

Division: Innovation and Business Development

Site Location: UKAEA Culham, Oxfordshire

Confirmed Grade: Level 5

Department: Innovation Unit

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.

As an employee of UKAEA, you will benefit from:

• Outstanding defined benefit pension scheme.
• 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' 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.

Job Description: The salary for this role is £54,376 (inclusive of a Specialist Allowance). Onsite working is expected for 3 days each week, however, we actively support requests for flexible working. This role is based at the following site: 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? In this role as Innovation Lead, and as part of the Innovation team, you will work hand-in-hand with technical teams across UKAEA, helping them create impact from their capabilities and the fantastic ideas and technologies being developed to solve fusion problems. This is an opportunity to create links between people and ideas to generate new multidisciplinary solutions, which will require you to dive into and learn quickly across a huge breadth of technical and commercial areas, from Plasma Physics to Robotics, Advanced Computing and Material Science. You will be working with divisions and programmes across UKAEA, such as the aspiring STEP programme targeting 2040 to deliver a prototype fusion power plant. You will be identifying commercialisation opportunities; proposing, delivering and running technology transfer and entrepreneurial programmes to maintain and expand UKAEA's capacity to innovate; and contributing to strategic planning.

Key Accountabilities:

• Using experience to assess ideas and projects on technical and commercial merit; recommending plans to test innovative concepts and drive development.
• Manage stakeholders and coordinate individual projects where broad technical knowledge is required. Guide packages of work and oversee multi-disciplinary teams involving internal and external personnel.
• Promote UKAEA innovations externally and work with partners in sectors outside of fusion (including universities, public sector research establishments and industry) to create links that complement UKAEA's internal capabilities, offer access to additional expert knowledge, and facilitate new project proposals.
• Monitor and communicate the economic benefits arising from UKAEA's investment in innovation.
• Contributing prominently to the development and positive reinforcement of UKAEA's knowledge base and practices in the areas of technology development, technology transfer and innovation management.
• Securing external funding for validation of novel concepts, technology transfer and commercialisation projects.

Qualifications:

Essential:

• Degree qualified in a relevant discipline such as science, engineering or technology.
• Experience of identifying and driving technology transfer between sectors.
• Understanding of the process of commercialisation.
• Experience of running multidisciplinary innovation programmes.
• Experience of the management of IP.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Well organised and capable of managing deadlines and priorities.

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 talented people from all backgrounds who want to help us achieve our mission. We encourage applications from under-represented groups, particularly from women in STEM, people from Black British Caribbean and African, Pakistani and Bangladeshi British, and other ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities, and neurodivergent individuals. Our Executive team, supported by our 'Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion' (EDI) and Wellbeing and our EDI Networks actively promote Inclusion 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.

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.