Independent Nuclear Safety Assessment Principal

Atomic Weapons Establishment; Reading; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

AWE in Reading, United Kingdom, is seeking an Independent Nuclear Safety Assessment Principal to lead INSA activities within the IO programme and provide expert governance across security, environment, safety, health and quality.

You will mentor INSA Specialists, develop strategies with the IO Leadership Team, assess changes for risk, and deliver timely, high-quality insights and reports to stakeholders, regulators and governance bodies.

Qualifications

• Experience leading independent nuclear safety assessments and oversight.
• Strong ability to provide strategic insights and regulatory-aligned recommendations.
• Proven track record mentoring and developing safety specialists.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the INSA function within IO strategy.
• Analyse changes for long-term safety, security, and environmental impact.
• Provide reports and feedback to stakeholders and regulators.
• Coach INSA Specialists and foster collaboration across teams.

Skills

INSA

Governance

Risk assessment

Mentoring

Stakeholder management

Job description

Independent Nuclear Safety Assessment Principal### Independent Nuclear Safety Assessment PrincipalApply: On-Site: Reading area: Full time: Posted Today: End Date: November 30, 2026 (19 days left to apply): R30994**If you’d like to be considered for this opportunity we encourage you to apply promptly to avoid disappointment as if applications are high the role will close before the closing date given.****Job Description Summary** Provide Independent Nuclear Safety Assessment (INSA) of processes and governance for changes that have the potential to have a significant effect on security, environment, safety, health and quality. Provide key strategic insights through the life of the change including post change to ascertain whether unforeseen risks or issues were introduced. Provide mentoring, coaching and development of INSA Specialists. **Job Description**Implement the Independent Oversight (IO) strategy, creating frameworks and arrangements within INSA to support its delivery. Work with the Head of INSA to create the INSA plan and ensure its delivery to time and quality. Lead, coach and develop INSA Specialists and influence others at all levels, fostering collaboration and driving the delivery of the IO integrated programme and wider business programmes. Undertake strategic level assessment of processes and governance for changes that have the potential to have a significant effect, that enable delivery of key insights to the IO Leadership Team. Provide comprehensive feedback and reports to various levels of the organisation, from operational teams to senior leadership, offering constructive challenge and recognising achievements. Support other Corporate Assurance teams ensuring alignment and collaboration across the function. Act as the primary contact for escalations and assist the INSA Specialists in making informed tactical decisions. Maintain (where required) baseline roles related to safety, environment, and security, ensuring compliance and promoting best practices. Inspire colleagues by fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace culture.Encourage continuous improvement and support personal development initiatives. Maintain and promote high personal standards in environment, safety, health, security, and quality. **Key Responsibilities**Create and maintain an environment that encourages team members to identify trends and continuous improvement opportunities and then propose ways for effective implementation. Provide mentorship and guidance to the IO integrated team, fostering their growth and enabling them to deliver impactful IO plans and reports. Produce accurate assessments of changes; completed to scope, identifying any risk, and ensuring proposed changes aligns with organisational policies, regulatory requirements, and best practices from across industry. Analyse the potential long term impacts of changes on security, environment, safety, health and quality.Monitor trends from past changes to provide informed insights and lessons learned. Prepare and deliver reports tailored to different audiences (covering both technical and non technical aspects). Create and maintain effective working relationships with stakeholders to ensure IO activities are fair, proportionate and value adding. Maintain effective working relationship with external regulators, providing confidence in AWEs processes and governance for changes that have the potential to have a significant effect on security, environment, safety, health and quality, and the effectiveness of the internal challenge capability. Ensure the adoption and integration of both internal and external best practices (maintaining a professional link into the wider nuclear industry) within IO, aligning processes with industry standards and organisational objectives. The Company may require you to fulfil any other reasonable duties aligned to your position from time to time in line with business needs. **Next steps:**Everyone who works at AWE brings unique skills and perspectives to the table. We recognise that great people don’t always ‘tick every box’. That’s why we focus on your potential, your fit with our values, your transferable skills as well as your experience. Even if you don’t meet every point above, but you feel that this role and AWE are a great fit for you, please go ahead and apply, we’d love to receive your application.**Important things you need to know:*** We encourage you to apply promptly to avoid disappointment if applications are high and the role therefore closes.* You will need to obtain and maintain the necessary security clearance for the role. This will be funded by AWE. **The nature of our work does mean you need to be a British Citizen who has been resident in the UK for the past 5 years in order to apply for SC clearance and 10 years for DV.*** **We want you to feel comfortable and able to shine during our recruitment process. Please let us know on your application form if you need any adjustments/accommodations during the process.*** Our interviews typically take place over Teams and for most roles are a 1 stage process.Our ambition is to create workplaces where we recognise and celebrate differences, encourage diverse contributions and our employees feel able to be themselves at work. We strive to create a genuine culture of openness and inclusion and encourage diverse applicants. Any inclusion information you provide will be stored in accordance with GDPR and kept separate from your application form and CV, and the information will not be shared with anyone involved in interviewing or making hiring decisions.Please note that you must be a British Citizen to apply for a role with us.### About AWEIf you’re looking for a role with excitement, intrigue and something that really makes a difference then now is the time to join AWE. We are at the start of a once in a generation – possibly two generations – programme to design and produce a replacement warhead for the UK’s continuous at sea deterrent. We will do this while continuing to deliver the Trident programme as well as managing ambitious state-of-the-art capital and construction projects – some of which have never been done before. Find out more on our website.