Maintenance Manager

In a fusion power plant, maintainability isn’t just important — it’s fundamental. The ability to inspect, repair and replace components in a high‑radiation environment will shape the plant’s architecture, availability and ultimately the cost of electricity it produces. As Maintenance Manager, you’ll be the technical authority for plant maintainability, defining how the STEP Prototype Plant is designed to be maintained from day one. You’ll shape key design decisions across the tokamak and wider plant, ensuring maintenance is safe, efficient and achievable in a first‑of‑a‑kind powerplant. Taking a long‑term, strategic view, you’ll track and continuously improve plant maintainability, proactively managing risks and adapting plans as the programme evolves. Your work will be central to delivering a commercially viable fusion power plant.

What you’ll be doing

• Accountability 1: Shape the Maintenance Architecture & Strategy
  • Define and lead the maintenance architecture for the STEP Prototype Plant
  • Own the maintenance requirements, strategy and assurance approach to demonstrate safe, efficient and timely maintenance
  • Build a clear, plant‑wide maintenance model that supports high availability and commercial performance
  • Develop a first‑of‑a‑kind maintenance approach for both the spherical tokamak and balance of plant
  • Establish the maintainability case, ensuring targets for availability, outage duration and lifecycle performance are achievable
  • Embed design‑for‑maintenance principles (access, modularisation, remote handling) into the evolving plant design
  • Communicate maintenance strategy, risks and trade‑offs clearly to stakeholders and leadership
• Accountability 2: Champion Design for Maintainability
  • Lead a cross‑programme approach to embedding maintainability into plant and system design
  • Work closely with engineering, tokamak and plant teams to shape design decisions early
  • Ensure maintenance considerations influence layout, segmentation, component design and operating concepts
  • Promote a strong, shared mindset of design‑for‑maintenance across teams and partners
• Accountability 3: Drive Maintenance Innovation & Technology Development
  • Identify and manage risks linked to first‑of‑a‑kind maintenance challenges
  • Define and deliver a roadmap for maintenance technologies, including remote handling, tooling and processes
  • Shape and prioritise R&D programmes with partners to mature key capabilities
  • Bring in global best practice from nuclear and remote maintenance environments
  • Drive innovation to solve the unique challenges of maintaining a spherical tokamak in high‑radiation conditions
  • Maximise opportunities for UK capability, growth and value creation
• Accountability 4: Lead and Grow the Maintenance Capability
  • Provide clear technical leadership to the STEP Maintenance team
  • Plan and deliver integrated work packages that enable maintainable plant design
  • Coordinate resources across internal teams and partner organisations
  • Track progress and ensure high‑quality, robust technical outputs
  • Develop and mentor engineers, building a strong and future‑ready maintenance capability
• Accountability 5: Lead with Purpose and Inclusivity
  • Bring a leadership mindset to everything you do — regardless of role or title
  • Create a positive, inclusive and collaborative team environment where people can thrive
  • Enable partners and suppliers to deliver maintenance solutions through clear guidance and support
  • Help build a strong UK fusion supply chain, growing capability, confidence and innovation
  • Engage with industry and academia to share knowledge and bring best practice into fusion
  • Foster a respectful, supportive culture that values diverse perspectives
  • Act as an ambassador for our values, demonstrating integrity, professionalism and ethical behaviour
  • Make thoughtful, well‑informed decisions that balance technical excellence with wider impact

What skills and experience you’ll bring to us:

• A relevant engineering degree or equivalent.
• Proven track record managing engineering teams developing complex high‑technology systems.
• Systems thinking mindset: requirements capture, interface management, and trade‑off decision‑making.
• Proven capability in engineering analysis.
• Proven record of delivering complex projects to time and budget.
• Proven record of managing diverse stakeholders (both technical and programme).
• Experience with working to design standards.
• Leading teams and supervising other staff.
• Chartered Engineer status with a suitable professional institution.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement across technical and non‑technical teams.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.

Beneficial:

• Awareness of the design constraints imposed by nuclear environments, particularly fusion.
• Experience with radiological safety cases.
• Experience with relevant environmental factors such as high gamma radiation and remote handling.
• A good working knowledge of remote handling and the maintenance of large complex plant.
• Project and supplier management skills, including contract oversight and quality assurance.

£73,190 + excellent benefits including outstanding pension. 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.
• 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.
• A vibrant culture committed to equality and being fully inclusive.

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 UKAEA.

We welcome applications from under‑represented groups, particularly women in STEM and individuals from British black and other ethnic minority backgrounds, and people 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.