Senior Research Technologist

Job Introduction

The Plant & Process Optimisation (P&PO) team at NNL require a Chemist or Materials Scientist to conduct post-graduate level research and provide technical support, using a combination of modelling and other analytical techniques.

Your role will support our key commercial customers (e.g. Sellafield Ltd.), the continued safe and efficient operation or decommissioning of nuclear fuel cycle facilities and important national research and development programmes. The role offers the opportunity to develop and maintain academic links with strategic UK universities and to help grow the P&PO capability through the delivery of internally invested research.

Day-to-day your work will involve developing models to solve industrially relevant problems in chemistry or materials science using a variety of techniques; these may include equation-oriented models (e.g. gPROMS), molecular dynamics (e.g. LAMMPS), quantum mechanics (e.g. CASTEP or NWChem) or thermodynamics (e.g. PHREEQC). Working in a multi-disciplinary team, you will understand customer requirements and scope out relevant research projects for customers, and then be responsible for undertaking the research and writing technical reports. You will have the opportunity to publish your research results and analyses and to present at NNL and customer Technical Committees and Conferences.

Role Responsibility

The key duties of this role are:

• Development and undertaking of customer-funded programmes of work in Chemical Modelling.
• Undertaking technical and research programmes as part of an integrated team including modellers, experimental scientists and engineers.
• Production of high quality technical work and dissemination through high quality report and article writing and effective presentations.
• Maintaining customer relationships.

• Encourage links with external academic, professional and industrial contacts in chemical and process modelling.

The Ideal Candidate

Essential Skills/Qualifications:

• Applicants are expected to hold a relevant degree in Chemistry, Materials Science or a related discipline at least at 2(i) level or relevant level of experience.
• Experience of developing technical proposals and work plans and delivery.
• Problem solving skills.
• Good mathematical and computer literacy.
• Excellent communication skills
• Good team-worker with a Can-Do attitude

Desirable Skills/Qualifications:

• PhD in relevant discipline.
• Experience in use of atomistic, thermodynamic or process modelling tools (further training will be provided as required).

About the Company

We play a key role in the UK and global nuclear industry. That means reducing the cost of clean-up and decommissioning, maintaining critical skills and attracting talented new people to the industry. We're the only UK organisation with the skills, facilities and expertise to provide technical support to all aspects of the nuclear industry. What's more, we pride ourselves on offering quality, value and service to every one of our customers.

National Nuclear Laboratory