Graduate Waste Consultant (Nuclear) - Manchester or Warrington - start June 2026 onwards

AECOM; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 25,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading infrastructure consulting firm in Manchester is seeking a Graduate Waste Consultant to join their Nuclear Waste Team. The role involves preparing waste inventories, reviewing technologies, and liaising with multidisciplinary teams. Candidates should possess a 2:1 science degree and have a passion for environmental consultancy. The company offers a hybrid working model and a comprehensive graduate development program.

Benefits

Career development opportunities

Flexible work model

On-the-job support

Qualifications

• Degree related to chemical or nuclear engineering.
• Understanding of nuclear safety cases and associated documentation.
• Ability to meet security clearance requirements in the UK.

Responsibilities

• Prepare waste inventories and underlying assumptions.
• Conduct literature reviews for radioactive waste technologies.
• Optimize decommissioning and radioactive waste practices.

Skills

Analytical skills

Communication

Technical proficiency

Education

Science based honours degree 2:1

Tools

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

Job description

Company Description

Work with Us. Change the World.

At AECOM, we're delivering a better world. Whether improving your commute, keeping the lights on, providing access to clean water, or transforming skylines, our work helps people and communities thrive. We are the world's trusted infrastructure consulting firm, partnering with clients to solve the world’s most complex challenges and build legacies for future generations.

There has never been a better time to be at AECOM. With accelerating infrastructure investment worldwide, our services are in great demand. We invite you to bring your bold ideas and big dreams and become part of a global team of nearly 50,000 planners, designers, engineers, scientists, digital innovators, program and construction managers and other professionals delivering projects that create a positive and tangible impact around the world.

We're one global team driven by our common purpose to deliver a better world. Join us.

Job Description

The AECOM Nuclear Waste Team currently have a Graduate Waste Consultant role available in either our Warrington or Manchester office from June 26 onwards.

About our Team

The AECOM Nuclear Waste Team provide consultancy to the nuclear industry. We provide decommissioning, radioactive waste and associated environmental consultancy to clients in the UK and abroad covering new nuclear build at the design stage through to decommissioning and environmental site restoration, which can involve:

• Operational support for UK sites such as Sellafield and Dounreay.
• Early-stage development of the Deep Geological Repository.
• Review and development of waste storage and disposal facilities.
• Support to multidisciplinary design teams on defence projects.

An example UK project involved undertaking a review of selected nuclear sites to determine what their current Low Level Waste management practices are; and, what challenges they had faced, were facing or anticipate facing, with regards to them scaling up for decommissioning, recognising that nuclear sites will have built up their waste management infrastructure, often over many decades, to support their organisation’s operational activities. As sites transition from operations to decommissioning there is a shift in the quantity, type and characterisation requirements of the waste arising, and this could bring stresses on waste management capability. The project was able to pinpoint where strategies could be developed that might appropriately support nuclear sites in their waste management practices as transition to decommissioning occurs, or as existing decommissioning activities accelerate.

Here\'s what you\'ll do:

Graduates commencing their careers with AECOM are engaged into teams and paired with an experienced engineer who will guide and mentor them through the initial stages of their career whilst working on live projects. Typically, these include:

• Preparation of waste inventories and the underpinning of the assumptions used to derive waste estimates.
• Undertaking literature reviews for emerging radioactive waste technologies.
• Undertaking Best Available Techniques / Best Practical Means determinations.
• Undertaking environmental aspects determinations.
• Identifying/reviewing options for decommissioning and radioactive waste practices to optimise their management.
• Preparation of documentation in support of the above.
• Develop an understanding of this highly regulated industry.
• Develop an understanding of Nuclear Safety Cases and the supporting documentation.
• Develop an understanding of nuclear site permits and licences.
• Liaison with project teams and with design engineers and other environmental specialists.

Enjoy the Perks

At AECOM, you'll enjoy a range of core and personalised benefits designed to support your future and well-being, customised to fit your lifestyle. Take advantage of career development opportunities, our flexible hybrid working model to ensure a work-life balance that suits your lifestyle, technical practice networks, AECOM University, and volunteering days.

Here is what you will get from us!

On the job support and learning

When a graduate starts at AECOM, we pair them with a senior member of the team who will guide and mentor them through their initial period working on live projects and business development tasks, to support with any technical queries.

Graduate Development Programme

Our 2-year graduate ADVANCE programme is designed to help you build your career in AECOM. You will attend several instructor-led training sessions where you will meet and hear from people across the business and take part in a series of interactive activities to equip you with the knowledge and skills you need to succeed in your role. Alongside the instructor-led elements of the ADVANCE programme, you will also engage with an online curriculum via AECOM University and can join the ADV ANCE webinar series. We will provide you with all the support and tools you need to achieve your professional development ambitions.

We have more than 750 graduates on our programmes across the UK and Ireland from more than 40 different disciplines, each making a tangible difference to the environment in which we live and work.

See our digital early careers e-brochure here

Qualifications

Minimum Requirements:

• Science based honours degree 2:1 (or equivalent) ideally in chemical engineering or nuclear engineering at an accredited university.
• Able to meet the requirements for security clearance in the UK.
• Preferably a final year project or modules related to the nuclear industry, ideally, though not essential, being associated with radioactive waste management or decommissioning practices.
• Enthusiastic, hard-working, technically proficient, with ambition and drive.
• Basic computer skills essential (Word/Excel).
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Preferably Full UK driving license or equivalent that permits driving in the UK.
• Able to meet the requirements for security clearance in the UK

We celebrate diversity, including neurodiversity, and believe it enriches our team. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and abilities. If you are an applicant with a disability that requires reasonable accommodation to complete the application process, please contact us at [e-mail]

At AECOM, we value everyone's unique contributions and perspectives. If you meet some of the requirements above or have transferable skills you believe would benefit us, we would be delighted to hear from you!

Additional Information

Applicants are encouraged to apply as early as possible since CVs will be reviewed, and candidates selected on a rolling recruitment basis for an advanced offer start.

Please include a covering letter with your application and provide all predicted and/or obtained academic grades.

You must have permanent right to work in the UK as we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this position.

Candidates must be able to demonstrate the legal right to work in the UK and meet the requirements for Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) and security clearance in the UK.

Before joining, you will be required to undergo a security vetting process and offers of employment will be subject to relevant security clearance being granted.

If you are dual national, we will need you to provide details when you apply.

If you have left the UK for more than 1 month in the last 3 years, we will need to understand where you went and for how long.

About AECOM

AECOM is the world’s trusted infrastructure consulting firm, delivering professional services throughout the project lifecycle – from advisory, planning, design and engineering to program and construction management. On projects spanning transportation, buildings, water, new energy and the environment, our public- and private-sector clients trust us to solve their most complex challenges. Our teams are driven by a common purpose to deliver a better world through our unrivaled technical and digital expertise, a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion, and a commitment to environmental, social and governance priorities. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm and its Professional Services business had revenue of $14.4 billion in fiscal year 2023. See how we are delivering sustainable legacies for generations to come at aecom.com and @AECOM.

Freedom to Grow in a World of Opportunity

You will have the flexibility you need to do your best work with hybrid work options. Whether you’re working from an AECOM office, remote location or at a client site, you will be working in a dynamic environment where your integrity, entrepreneurial spirit and pioneering mindset are championed.

You will help us foster a safe and respectful workplace, where we invite everyone to bring their whole selves to work using their unique talents, backgrounds and expertise to create transformational outcomes for our clients.

AECOM provides a wide array of compensation, benefits and well-being programs to meet the diverse needs of our employees and their families. We’re the world’s trusted global infrastructure firm, and we’re in this together – your growth and success are ours too.

Join us, and you’ll get all the benefits of being a part of a global, publicly traded firm – access to industry-leading technology and thinking and transformational work with big impact and work flexibility. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we believe in each person’s potential, and we’ll help you reach yours.

We are a Disability Confident Employer and will offer an interview to applicants who have a disability or long-term condition, who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role. Please let us know using this email address [e-mail] if you would like to apply through the Disability Confident Interview Scheme.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

ReqID: REF53438G

Business Line: Energy

Business Group: DCS

Strategic Business Unit: Europe & India

Career Area: Engineering

Work Location Model: Hybrid