Company Description

Fusion energy offers the potential for significant quantities of low-carbon, inherently safe, abundantly fuelled, baseload energy, supporting sustainable climate action and energy independence.  While the technical challenge remains high, confidence is increasing, and the rewards of realising fusion are almost incalculable.  Anticipated to come online for commercial purposes in the middle of this century, fusion offers a viable means to sustainable net zero in the UK and globally, as well as to increased energy security.  The UK is currently a world leader in fusion research and development and in the drive to realise commercially viable energy from fusion, a sector with an estimated value of £7tn per year.

STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) is the UK’s flagship national programme to deliver a prototype fusion energy plant, targeting 2040, and a path to commercial viability of fusion.  STEP is deliberately bold and ambitious and seeks people who want to be part of a world-changing endeavour and who have credible and relevant experiencing in delivery.

STEP is currently led by the UK Atomic Energy Authority, which has breadth and depth of expertise in fusion science, engineering and operations built over decades.  Over the next year, leadership will transition to a new Company, UK Industrial Fusion Solutions Ltd. (UKIFS) to focus on the delivery of the prototype and, in so doing, the development of a fusion supply chain.  From the next government investment gate, UKIFS will lead a collaborative team of industrial Whole Plant Partners who bring expertise in engineering and construction, plus UKAEA who will remain as strategic Partner providing fusion expertise.

Job Description

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
• Wide range of career development opportunities
• A vibrant culture committed to equality and being fully inclusive

This role requires employees to be eligible for SC Clearance (must have resided in the UK for the last 5 years) , including The Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks for criminal convictions.

The Role

Are you looking for an exciting opportunity to make a difference? Join our team and contribute to the future of fusion energy. As Head of Programme and Project Controls you will be responsible for leading our programme and project controls development and implementation, and wider delivery performance management within UKIFS and the wider collaborative major programme. Your role will play a pivotal part in driving best practice, compliance with standards, developing wider capability and capacity and ultimately enabling programme success. You will work closely with project teams, heads of function, senior management, and key stakeholders to ensure that our projects and overall programme achieve their objectives and can demonstrate value to the UK.

You will lead and develop a team of wider project professionals responsible for all aspects of delivery control, including scope, schedule, cost, risk, assumptions, dependencies. Working closely with other senior leaders including Head of Benefits and Value realisation, and Head of Programme Analysis and Insights you will ensure the programme is established and delivered in the most effective and efficient manner.

Additional Responsibilities:

Leadership and Engagement

• Provide leadership and guidance to all team members and stakeholders, reflecting the CEO and Chair’s intent and the organisation’s values and behaviours.
• Help drive leadership intent and priorities throughout the organisation, ensuring understanding and helping continuously improve organisational effectiveness.
• Lead and develop a team of project professionals, ensuring their development, engagement, and effective performance.
• Provide visible and thought leadership, acting as ambassador for STEP and its programme and project profession.
• Foster a collaborative and supportive environment, where team members can learn from each other's experiences and expertise.
• Build and maintain productive relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, including other functions, professions, etc. These include critically the UK Government Project Delivery Profession and Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA).

Strategic advice and Board support

• Offer strategic advice to the Director Programme Development, CEO and Chair on matters pertaining to development, sustainment and deployment of controls capability.
• Make active contributions to governance boards, in particular owning and managing risks associated with programme and project controls.
• Develop and implement a strategic plan for programme and project controls that aligns with the STEP whole programme objectives and goals.
• Play an active role as a member of The STEP Programme Development leadership team, working with Director Programme Development and others to establish STEP as a well-founded major programme.
• As a member of the Senior Leadership Team provide leadership; engagement; morale; and direction across the team and programme.

Organisation Effectiveness

• Set, through discussion and agreement with partners, appropriate programme and project governance and functional professional standards across STEP.
• Establish and implement a controls performance and maturity framework, seeking Identify opportunities for improvement within the controls function and implement best practices.
• Management of project professionals allocated into STEP project teams, ensuring compliance with agreed standards and methodologies.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, encouraging innovative solutions and evolving project management practices.

Project Delivery

• Oversee the development of project schedules, programme integrated master schedule (IMS), cost estimates and forecasts, resource allocation and budgeting, and risk, issue and dependency management.
• Own, maintain and improve baseline estimates for programme schedule, cost, risk and benefits, developing in time formal performance measurement baselines.
• Identify and mitigate risks, including developing risk mitigation plans, and conduct regular risk assessments.
• Manage and control project and programme budgets, tracking expenses and implementing cost-saving measures, as necessary.
• Establish, implement and govern project and programme changes, ensuring that they are properly documented, approved, and communicated to stakeholders.
• Establish KPIs and metrics to measure performance and regularly assess status, reporting to senior management and stakeholders.

The above is not intended to be an exhaustive list of activities and you may be required to undertake other reasonable tasks or duties requested.

The role is based at Culham but with travel required to other UK Locations including West Burton. This is a full time job with expectation of 2-3 days per week to work on site. Compressed hours may be considered if needed. 

NOTE: The role offers flexible working arrangements, including options for part-time hours, job sharing, and compressed hours schedules.

Qualifications

Essential Requirements:

• Effective leadership skills with the ability to motivate teams and engender confidence in stakeholders.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision as well as part of a large team.
• Proven experience in project and programme controls, with substantial experience in leadership or managerial roles.
• Demonstrate appropriate professional qualifications (for example only, Chartered Project Professional, PRICNE2, Managing Successful Programmes) and membership of associated professional bodies (for example the Association for Project Management).
• Excellent leadership and team management skills, with a track record of successfully leading and developing high-performance teams.
• Exceptional understanding of project and programme management methodologies and the ability to adapt and apply the most suitable.
• Thorough knowledge of risk management, cost control, and quality assurance.
• A commitment to ethical business practices and a high level of integrity.

Additional Information

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.

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 following link for information on criminal records checks: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants 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.