RACE Graduate Mechanical Engineer – Graduate Scheme 2025

Overview of Responsibilities

The salary for this role is £32,729.

This role requires employees to complete an online Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), including The Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks for criminal convictions.

UKAEA’s two-year graduate scheme is split by 80% of your time developing both your general work-related skills and professional qualifications and 20% of your working time dedicated to graduate training and development.  Within the graduate training and development, there is a core suite of activities designed to develop your professional and business skills. Elements of this programme are flexible and can be tailored to your personal development needs and to those of your specific job role. 

The Role

Graduate Mechanical Engineers will support RACE and UKAEA’s organisational objectives in developing fusion-relevant robotic technologies throughout the engineering lifecycle. Supported by experienced engineering and project management staff, they will develop skills and knowledge on the job to perform their roles, which will include the following activities:

  • Concept and Design Development
  • Realisation and Testing
  • In-Service Support
  • Project Management and Reporting
  • Written and verbal communication
  • UKAEA Procedures and Processes

Additional Responsibilities:

Concept and Design Development:

  • Elicit and define system requirements
  • Carry out market and technology surveys
  • Generate ideas and select concepts to develop into detailed designs
  • Carry out analysis including structural integrity, kinematics, RAMI and remote handling compatibility
  • Work with drafters to produce CAD and drawings
  • Present and document designs and gain acceptance from stakeholders 

Realisation and Testing:

  • Determine appropriate procurement strategies in conjunction with Project Managers
  • Produce procurement specifications including bills of materials and drawings
  • Identify key quality requirements and produce inspection plans to ensure compliance
  • Identify and manage non-conformances and discuss with stakeholders
  • Produce procedures for assembly, commissioning, and testing
  • Produce Risk Assessments and Method Statements for work to be undertaken
  • Request internal resources to support realisation and testing
  • Carry out tests to investigate and optimise performance or to demonstrate compliance with system requirements
  • Produce Operation and Maintenance Manuals to allow ongoing operation

In-Service Support

  • Collect data on faults from design and operation
  • Analyse faults on existing Remote Handling Equipment and determine the root cause
  • Propose and implement appropriate corrective action in consultation with operators
  • Produce Operational Sequence Diagrams
  • Update and maintain documentation

Project Management and Reporting

  • Estimate effort and hardware costs required to complete own tasks
  • Plan own work in accordance with programme requirements
  • Report progress and raise concerns with Project Managers
  • Manage own time to deal with competing priorities

Written and verbal communication

  • Produce papers and written reports for review by internal and external stakeholders
  • Present and discuss proposals with other members of the team
  • Work within a multi-disciplinary team of technical and non-technical staff
  • Deliver conference presentations

UKAEA Procedures and Processes

  • Follow UKAEA procedures and processes to ensure that work is carried out safely and to the required quality
Salary
£32,729 + excellent benefits including outstanding pension
Programme
RACE
Department
Mechanical
Discipline
Type of Employment
Full-time
Reference Number
REF3089R

Additional Information

Other Duties:

  • Engineers may be required from time to time to enter radioactive controlled areas to support the diagnosis and execution of corrective action on JET equipment. Appropriate PPE and training will be provided in advance.
  • Engineers may be requested to be on call to support operations.
  • Engineers may be required to travel and work offsite in support of UKAEA project responsibilities and maybe temporarily co-located with our business partners.

A full list of our benefits can be found here https://careers.ukaea.uk/life-at-ukaea/employee-benefits/

We welcome applications from under-represented groups, particularly individuals from black and other ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities, and women. 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 organization. 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.

Benefits 

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 7and 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
A group of staff having lunch outside at the Culham restaurant

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What can I expect from the application process at UKAEA?

Once you have submitted a formal application via our website, all CVs will be reviewed shortly after the closing date of the advert.

  • Submit online application

  • Phone interview

  • Face-to-face or virtual interview

  • Other assessments

Company Description

By 2050, the planet could be using twice as much electricity compared to today. Are you interested in contributing 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 are at the forefront of realising energy from fusion, working with industry and research partners to deliver the ground-breaking developments that will underpin tomorrow's fusion power stations with the aim of bringing fusion electricity to the grid.

As we work towards our mission and goals, UKAEA has devised values that capture the spirit of how we work. These values include being: Innovative, Committed, Trusted and Collaborative.

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