Chief Development Officer

Fusion Energy Base; Abingdon; On-site; GBP 81,000 - 135,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary up to £135,000

Bonus up to 15%

Final salary pension 21.5%

25 days annual leave + 2.5 privilege+

Site closures over Christmas

Job summary

UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) is seeking a Chief Development Officer to shape the organisation's future, lead business development, innovation, and strategic industry relationships. You will steer IP exploitation and identify commercial opportunities, while coordinating with a senior executive team.

The role involves onsite work (3–5 days per week), Security Clearance (SC) eligibility, and oversight of a ~£60m budget and a ~60-person function within the Innovation Unit.

Qualifications

• Experience exploiting IP and commercial opportunities in fusion or adjacent sectors.
• Senior-level experience developing international collaborations.
• Proven ability to manage senior stakeholder relationships with private fusion companies and government.

Responsibilities

• Shape and implement UKAEA’s long-term strategy with the CEO and executive team.
• Lead business development and innovation across UKAEA’s divisions and programmes.
• Develop relationships with private fusion companies, industry partners, government and other strategic organisations.
• Lead UKAEA’s approach to exploiting fusion intellectual property and identifying commercial opportunities.
• Build strategic corporate relationships to access technology, expertise and resources.
• Lead business development to maximise UK private-sector income and opportunities from fusion.
• Oversee high-level international collaborations and partnerships.
• Represent UKAEA and the CEO with government, industry, customers and external stakeholders.
• Lead a function of around 60 people with a £60m annual budget.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Stakeholder relations

Business development

International collaborations

IP exploitation

Education

Science/Engineering degree

Job description

Chief Development Officer

Overview of Responsibilities

Fusion, the process that powers the sun and stars, is one of the most promising options for generating the cleaner, carbon-free energy that our world badly needs. UKAEA leads the way in realizing fusion energy, partnering with industry and research organisations to achieve ground-breaking advancements. Our goal is to bring fusion electricity to the grid by developing the power stations of tomorrow and the skilled workforce to deliver them.

About the job

As Chief Development Officer, you’ll play a central role in shaping UKAEA’s future and maximising the scientific, economic impact and the strategic benefits of fusion. Working as part of the Executive Committee, you’ll lead UKAEA’s approach to business development, innovation, communications and strategic industry relationships, helping strengthen the UK’s position in the global fusion sector. This is an opportunity to influence at the highest level and help turn world-leading fusion science and technology into wider economic and commercial opportunities.

What You’ll be Doing

• Shape and implement UKAEA’s long-term strategy alongside the CEO, CFO, COO and wider executive team.
• Lead business development and innovation across UKAEA’s divisions and programmes.
• Develop UKAEA’s relationships with private fusion companies, industry partners, government and other strategic organisations.
• Lead UKAEA’s approach to exploiting fusion intellectual property and identifying commercial opportunities in fusion and adjacent sectors.
• Build strategic corporate relationships that enable UKAEA to access technology, expertise and other resources.
• Lead business development activity to maximise UK private-sector income and opportunities arising from fusion.
• Lead UKAEA’s strategic approach to high-level international collaborations.
• Represent UKAEA and the CEO with government, industry, customers and other senior external stakeholders.
• Lead a function of around 60 people, including six direct reports, with responsibility for an annual budget of approximately £60m.

What You’ll Bring

• Demonstrable experience of exploiting intellectual property and commercial opportunities in Fusion or adjacent sectors.
• Senior level experience of developing high level international collaborations.
• Proven experience of developing senior stakeholder relationships with private fusion companies, industry and other strategic partners.
• A degree and significant professional experience in a scientific or engineering-related discipline.
• Experience contributing to the development and delivery of organisational strategy at a senior level.
• Strong understanding of the wider issues affecting UK economic growth.
• Senior-level experience working across government, industry and academia.
• Significant experience leading large and complex programmes valued at more than £20m.

UKAEA is an onsite organisation, and this role requires regular onsite presence (usually between 3-5 days in any given week) in line with business needs. We actively support flexible working arrangements where this is compatible with the role. For this role the UKSV level is Security Clearance (SC). You must either hold SC clearance with no restrictions or be able to achieve it. Note: the UK residency criteria for SC is a minimum of 2 out of the last 5 years, at least one year of which must be 12 consecutive months.

Benefits

• A salary of up to £135,000
• Subject to eligibility, annual bonus of up to 15% of base salary (comprising up to 7% corporate bonus and up to 8% based on individual performance).
• Final salary defined benefits pension scheme with an equivalent of 21.5% employer pension contribution
• 25 days annual leave plus 2.5 ‘privilege’ days; 8 Bank Holidays 3 days of site closure over Christmas break
• Annual leave increases by 3 days with 5 years’ service and by a further 2 days after 10 years
• Flexible working options plus family-friendly leave provisions

Our commitment to ED&I

UKAEA’s mission is clean energy for all, and we welcome talented people from all backgrounds to help us achieve this goal. We are committed to equality, diversity, inclusion and accessibility, and strive to ensure fair representation across our workforce. Please email [e-mail] if you have any questions or require adjustments to help you participate fairly in our recruitment process, for example changes to the way we interview or share information. As a Disability Confident Employer, we are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment experience for all candidates. We particularly encourage applications from groups currently underrepresented in STEM, including women and people from diverse ethnic backgrounds. All appointments are made on merit and further information can be found here.

Programme

Programme

Department

Department

Innovation Unit

Innovation Unit

Discipline

Discipline

Other

Other

Site Location

UKAEA Culham, Oxfordshire

Type of Employment

Full-time

Reference Number

REF4565N

Qualifications

Qualifications

Additional Information

Additional Information