Turbulence Team Leader

Fusion Energy Base; Culham; On-site; GBP 71,000; Full time

Job summary

A pioneering research organization in the UK is looking for a Turbulence Team Leader to oversee high-quality research in plasma transport and turbulence. The successful candidate will manage staff, ensure objectives are met, and conduct their own research aligned with broader scientific goals. The role offers a competitive salary of £70,505 plus excellent benefits, including an outstanding pension.

Benefits

Outstanding pension

Flexible working requests

Qualifications

• PhD (or equivalent experience) in plasma physics.
• In-depth knowledge of plasma transport and turbulence.
• Experience of scientific leadership.

Responsibilities

• Ensure high quality research in transport and turbulence.
• Manage team staff development and recruitment.
• Conduct own research aligned with program goals.

Job description

The salary for this role is £70,505(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 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? Join our team and contribute to the future of fusion energy. As Turbulence Team Leader, you will play a pivotal role to ensure the team delivers high quality research in transport and turbulence for the broader UKAEA scientific programme, with applications to tokamaks including JET, MAST-U, STEP, and ITER. You’ll line manage staff (including their development and recruitment), ensure objectives are met promptly, and set the Team’s priorities in consultation with stakeholders.

The Turbulence Team’s activities span: gyrokinetic simulations of plasma turbulence; properties of turbulence and comparing simulations with turbulence measurements; impacts of turbulence on core transport and confinement; preparing and analysing experiments; and validation of reduced and first‑principles‑based models.

Additional Responsibilities

• Ensuredelivery of high quality and high impact outputs that are disseminated internally and externally, including in journal publications.
• Be responsible for all aspects of staff management and development in the Team: agree personal development plans; set objectives; provide feedback on job performance; complete annual appraisals; and ensure relevant training is identified and completed.
• Identify capability gaps within the Team, and lead inclusive selection and recruitment of new staff ensuring vacancies are filled promptly.
• Provide input to the programme leadership on staff skills and availability.
• Escalate line management issues and risks to upper management and communicate messages from them to the Team.
• Conduct your own research in line with the goals agreed by the programme leadership.

£70,505 (inclusive of Specialist Allowance) + excellent benefits including outstanding pension.

Benefits

• PhD (or equivalent experience) in plasma physics
• In depth knowledge and passion for understanding plasma transport and turbulence
• High level of research experience in transport and turbulence with strong publications.
• Experience of scientific leadership:
  • leading collaborative projects with external or internal partners
  • supervision of PhDs and/or PDRAs
• Excellent communication and influencing skills.
• Currently active in scientific research directly relevant to the post: e.g. turbulence modelling, measuring turbulence experimentally, or transport analysis of experiments.
• Experience of working with UKAEA’s collaborators in transport and turbulence.
• Enthusiasm for engaging with stakeholders

UKAEA's mission is clean energy for all, and we welcome talented people from all backgrounds who want to help us achieve our mission. We are under‑represented from some groups and so want to encourage applications in particular from women in STEM, people from Black British Caribbean and African backgrounds and from Pakistani and Bangladeshi British backgrounds. Our Executive team, supported by our 'Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion' (EDI) and Wellbeing and our EDI Networks actively promote Inclusion and take steps to increase diversity within our organization. We reinforce best practices in recruitment and selection and evaluate approaches to remove barriers to success.

UK Atomic Energy Authority is committed to being accessible. Please email [e-mail] if you have any questions or require help or adjustments to compete on a fair basis, for example, changes to the way we interview or share information.

Please note that vacancies are generally advertised for 4 weeks but may close earlier if we receive a large number of applications.

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.

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UKAEA leads the way in realising fusion energy, partnering with industry and research for groundbreaking 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: Innovation, Commitment, Trust, and Collaboration.