Post Doctorate Scheme 2024 - Chemist

Job Introduction

NNL is where you’ll experiment to help solve global challenges. As part of our Waste Management & Decommissioning capability, your work will impact the lives of generations. By finding new ways to avoid, reduce, store and treat nuclear waste, and drive down the cost of decommissioning, you’ll help to deliver cleaner energy and influence our nation’s energy future. You’ll face new challenges every day, working in unique locations on ground-breaking projects. Whichever area you specialise in this is a place to do great science for a good cause.

As the national laboratory for nuclear fission in the UK, we are harnessing nuclear science to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges. 

NNL are looking for an experienced laboratory chemist to join the Effluent, Environmental and Decontamination Chemistry team. The team carries out Research and Development and provides operational plant support services, covering decommissioning and decontamination. 

You will participate in delivering a range of national and international experimental projects supporting these areas, with a specific focus on the development of innovative characterisation and decontamination technology and ideas that can be deployed within radioactive environments.  

To join the NNL Post Doctorate programme you will have a PhD in Chemistry, Materials Science or a related field, will have a proven ability to work in a laboratory environment. 

You will have the right to work in the UK and be able to achieve SC level security clearance (this includes but is not limited to identity, employment, financial and criminal record checks plus 5 years’ worth of UK residency).
 

Role Responsibility

We are developing the next generation of technical experts. Not only will you receive the opportunity to work on challenging and exciting projects, but you’ll continually learn from skilled and knowledgeable industry experts who are leaders in their field. We will help you become everything you can be, by challenging, stretching, and pushing you to your limits while supporting you every step of the way.

This is an important role working closely with leading experts within NNL and will require interaction and collaboration with a range of internal and external customers and partners to produce products and services for the nuclear sector. You will have the opportunity to be actively involved in knowledge exchange with the nuclear industry. 

While you will predominantly involved with the hands-on delivery of experimental work focussing on chemical decontamination, there will also be the opportunity to be involved in other activities including: 

• Developing decommissioning and decontamination strategies
• Working on internally funded Science and Technology projects in the decontamination and characterisation arena
• Undertaking modelling to understand the transport of contamination through materials for example, concrete and bentonite 
• Authoring journal publications and supervising PhD students 

You can expect to be responsible for: 

• The design and implementation of experiments to support research programmes
• The interpretation of experimental data
• Technical reporting and the provision of recommendations based on findings
• Supporting proposals and tenders
• Interacting with external stakeholders including customers, academic partners and suppliers
• Managing and contributing to the preparation of safety paperwork

NNL recognises that academia and industry are very different environments, our Postdoctoral Development Scheme will smooth the transition whilst supporting you as you take your first steps towards becoming a Subject Matter Expert.

Your two-year scheme will provide the opportunity to develop your technical knowledge and skills whilst providing you with an insight into NNL’s strategy and direction. You will receive an overview of how the company operates and delivers its projects. 

You will undertake personal development through training aligned to your personal development plan and understand your strengths, weaknesses, and behaviours. You will receive a personal budget to support your development within your field of expertise. 
From day one you’ll have a role in a technical team involved in delivering real customer projects. You will have direct sight of the value that your skills and knowledge have to our industry and by extension our society. The Postdoctoral Development Scheme runs alongside your role, providing you the space and skills to develop in a commercial environment whilst helping you decide how to advance your technical expertise.

Our two-year programme is designed to give you:

• An introduction to NNL so you understand where we sit in the wider context of the nuclear industry and how we work
• An introduction to the technical expertise at the core of our business so you understand how your expertise interrelates with our wider technical portfolio
• A clear pathway of technical development
• Commercial awareness of the Business Operations of NNL
• Opportunity to network with mid-career professionals and experts
• Mentoring to achieve chartered status with your chosen professional body
• A choice of development activities tailored to you and your career aspirations
• Membership of a cohort of early career professionals to provide support in developing within the company
• The support of a dedicated early careers team and our strong, thriving early careers community.

As part of the selection process for the Post Doctorate programme you will complete a Technical Interview against the skills and competencies required for this role. 
 

About the Company

NNL is an incredible place to work. A place where people do things that have never been done before. A place where people push boundaries to further themselves, the business, and society as a whole.

This is a place where personal and professional opportunities are limitless. If you want to change the world, if you want to tackle climate change, if you want to help advance medical science, if you want to help put things in space, if you want to answer the big questions, if you want to work with extraordinary materials, if you want to meet great people, learn new skills, challenge yourself, work flexibly, and build a long successful career with the power to make a real impact… you can do it all here.

NNL has a vision for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusivity (ED&I) where NNL aims to be an inclusive workplace that attracts diverse talent through transparent and equal policies and procedures. We want you and the diverse mix of people that we employ, customers that we service, and stakeholders that we influence to feel valued. We encourage a workplace culture where everyone can thrive with a sense of belonging.

Recruitment Agency Notice

We operate a strict Preferred Supplier List (PSL) for the provision of recruitment services. Only agencies on our PSL may provide CVs and only when the role is released to them by our recruitment team. We will not accept unsolicited CVs from suppliers not currently on our PSL. We explicitly reserve the right to add candidate details from unsolicited CVs from non-PSL agencies into our own candidate database and to pursue/hire such candidate(s) without any obligation, financial or otherwise, to the agency concerned.

United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory