Early careers at UKAEA
Be part of the fusion generation and join our early careers scheme at UKAEA!
We offer fantastic opportunities to launch your career and develop the skills and experience required to maximise your potential.
Train, Grow, and Develop!
After a highly successful 2024 recruitment campaign with close to 160 participants joining our programmes, we are now closed for applications.
We are delighted to announce that we will open applications for our 2025 opportunities as follows:
- Graduate programme applications open in November 2024.
- Internships and industry placement applications open in January 2025.
- Apprenticeship programme applications open in January 2025.
You don’t have to wait until then to express your interest; you can register in our early career talent community now.
We are proud to be a member of The 5% Club, which is a dynamic movement of employers committed to offering a range of early-career opportunities. Members aspire to achieve 5% of their workforce in earn-and-learn positions, including apprentices, sponsored students, and graduates on formalised training schemes
Apprenticeships
Learn from experts in the industry. Take part in exciting and challenging projects. Work in a supportive environment. And receive an income!
We offer apprenticeships in the fields of Engineering, Science and Business/Professional Support. We’ve partnered with a range of high-quality providers across the UK, including the Oxfordshire Advanced Skills (OAS) centre. This means all our apprentices finish their course with the qualifications they need to join the workforce straight away.
Undergraduates and masters placements
We host undergraduate and masters placements annually with partner UK universities.
They range from a few months to a year, contributing to projects with a real impact on the fusion energy industry.
Explore our undergraduate and masters placement opportunities.
Graduate scheme
Looking for a graduate job in an industry where you can make a real difference? Our graduate scheme is the perfect start to your career — and an opportunity to help solve the climate crisis.
Our programme is widely accredited and recognised: by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), and the Institute of Physics (IoP).
Postgraduate opportunities
Every year, we host cutting-edge PhD and MSc research opportunities with a wide range of UK universities.
There are at least 100 students undertaking PhDs with us at any one time, at around 20 different universities.
IET Power Academy
The IET Power Academy Scholarship programme was set up to help UK industry meet its need for more electrical and power engineering graduates.
Nowhere is the requirement for these qualified engineers greater than in the fusion research programmes at UKAEA, especially in the MAST Upgrade and JET fusion experiments.
School work experience
We offer work experience for Years 10+, running over the course of the summer term and summer holidays.
Work alongside our team on real projects to get a taste for a career in science, engineering and support roles.
FOSTER Summer Internship
UKAEA’s FOSTER (Fusion Opportunities in Skills, Training Education & Research) skills programme has been designed to grow and develop fusion’s next generation.
UKAEA has partnered with a range of host organisations in the fusion sector, to offer 8-week summer internship placements to UK-based undergraduate students. The internship will give students an invaluable opportunity to gain work experience within the growing UK fusion industry.
Faiz Rahman joins UKAEA’s graduate scheme after completing his student placement
Graduate Mechatronics Engineer
Before Faiz was a graduate, he took part in a student placement with us at UKAEA in the very department that he works in now. After graduating he chose to return to our team, already safe in the knowledge that UKAEA was where he wanted to be.
current opportunities
Browse some of our current job vacancies below.