Notice

Technical Baseline Manager (permanent role, flexible location and competitive salary) – closing date 16 August 2024

Updated 22 July 2024

Role title: Technical Baseline Manager

Salary range: £58,310 to £68,600 dependent on skills and experience.

Function:  Assurance & Performance     

Role level range:  7 to 8

Role type:  Permanent

Base location:  Flexible – Herdus House, West Cumbria, Hinton House, Warrington; Harwell, Oxfordshire.

Hybrid working available with 40% of time in an NDA office.

Reports to:  Head of Technical Assurance

Closing date:  16 August 2024

The role:

The opportunity and your impact:

The UK’s nuclear energy programme, dating from the post war years, has left a mixed legacy to the country: numerous prototype reactors, fuel manufacturing plants, research centres, reprocessing plants and 11 nuclear power stations. This has resulted in one of the world’s most complex environmental decommissioning challenges. Many ‘never done before’ projects are underway, which require substantial levels of Research & Development (R&D) and innovative approaches. For NDA, it is important that we can establish our Technical Baseline from which we can demonstrate impact and improvements. Technical assurance of that baseline and the technologies within it is about providing confidence to stakeholders that the technical solutions selected across the NDA group for development and implementation will achieve their objectives for beneficial change. This role will focus on assurance of the NDA group’s R&D at a portfolio level. It will enable NDA to make better technical decisions regarding the size, shape and future direction of both the NDA’s R&D portfolio as well as the larger NDA group’s R&D portfolio in order to deliver the NDA mission safer, faster, cheaper and with less environmental impact.

Accountabilities:

• Analysis and reporting of NDA group’s R&D portfolio using the Technical Baseline and underpinning R&D (TBuRD) and Implemented Innovation submissions and development of the associated processes.
• Act as the primary point of contact for technical baseline matters within the NDA, facilitating communication between NDA, NDA group and external partners.
• Enable delivery of key products that communicate to stakeholders our Technical Baseline and associated R&D requirements (e.g. NDA Technical Baseline Report, NDA Areas of Research Interest).
• Identify areas of good practice in the management of R&D through engagement with NDA group (e.g. Technical Management Reviews) and external organisations (e.g. Strategic Technology and Innovation Management Consortium).
• Grow a community of practice for R&D reporting to ensure good practice deployed and continuous improvement implemented (e.g. TBuRD Working Group).
• Identify areas for further technical assurance using knowledge of NDA Technical Baseline.
• Deliver NDA technical assurance reviews, providing leadership, expertise and recommendations.
• Grow individual learning and knowledge with respect to R&D management and share across the NDA group.

Knowledge, skills and experience required:

Essential:

• Ability to live the NDA values of respect, openness, collaboration, performance and creativity.
• Educated to graduate level in a STEM subject (or equivalent) or suitable equivalent experience.
• Knowledge of the development and implementation of complex R&D projects (desirably in a regulated environment).
• Ability to identify priorities and manage own workload.
• Skills to extract relevant information from R&D portfolio data in order to generate clear recommendations to improve mission delivery.
• Effective communication skills to relay complex technical information in an accessible and engaging way to a broad range of stakeholders.
• Strong stakeholder relationship skills – with the ability to build relationships with internal and external stakeholders and work collaboratively.
• Ability to persuade others to implement new approaches.

Desirable:

• Hold chartered status in an appropriate professional body.
• Knowledge of the UK civil nuclear sector.

To apply: Please complete and send the Equal Opportunity Form accompanied by your CV and covering letter to resourcing@nda.gov.uk