Principal HPC Computational Engineer

UK Atomic Energy Authority; South Oxfordshire; On-site; GBP 61,000 - 83,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

7% corporate performance bonus

Final salary pension (21.5% employer)

25 days annual leave

Site closure over Christmas

Job summary

UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) is looking for an experienced leader to head software development for computational materials and engineering. You will guide R&D, develop world-leading codes for fusion applications, and run multiple projects with national and international collaboration.

Based in the CME unit of the Computing Division, you will mentor a distributed team, shape research directions, and engage with industry partners while contributing to high-performance computing and

Qualifications

• Doctorate or leadership experience in a computational/physical science field
• International reputation in the field from research or industry
• Experience with compiled languages (C++, Fortran, C, Rust) and scripting (Python, Julia) in UNIX environments
• Experience in agile project and budget management in a team leadership role

Responsibilities

• Lead R&D activities and drive novel numerical techniques and large-scale codes
• Lead and develop research teams of 4–10 people across multiple projects
• Drive research funding and collaborations with industry and academia
• Collaborate and represent UKAEA nationally and internationally
• Share expertise and publish results and guide simulation and modeling activities

Skills

C++

Fortran

C

Rust

Python

UNIX

Agile leadership

Leadership

Parallel programming

MPI

OpenMP

GPUs

Testing strategies

Uncertainty quantification

Education

PhD in computational, mathematical or physical science

Tools

MPI

OpenMP

Job description

• Salary: £71,815 (inclusive of Specialist Allowance) + excellent benefits including outstanding pension
• Division: Computing
• Position Grade: Grade I
• Department: Computational Materials and Engineering

Job Description

About us

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 worldbadly needs. UKAEA leads the way in realizing fusion energy, partnering with industryand research organisations to achieveground-breaking advancements. Our goal is to bring fusion electricity to the gridby developing the power stations of tomorrow and the skilled workforce to deliver them.

About the job

The Computational Materials and Engineering (CME) Unit within UKAEA’s Computing Division delivers research, development and technical support across high-performance computing, engineering and scientific computing, AI, machine learning and advanced simulation technologies for the fusion programme. In this role, you will lead the development and maintenance of software capabilities supporting computational nuclear and multiphysics applications, while driving research, collaboration, funding and adoption of emerging technologies. You will provide technical and strategic leadership, manage projects and resources, represent UKAEA nationally and internationally, and help shape future research directions while developing expertise and collaborations across the Authority.

What You’ll Be Doing

General:

• Lead research and development activities, driving novel numerical techniques, advanced simulation and modelling approaches, and the development of world-leading codes for fusion applications and beyond.
• Lead and develop research teams, managing small to medium-sized teams of 4–10 people across multiple concurrent projects, while building expertise and capability around your research area.
• Drive research, funding and collaboration opportunities, establishing new partnerships with industry, academia and across UKAEA, and actively identifying opportunities for future research and funding.
• Collaborate and represent UKAEA nationally and internationally, contributing to expert and working groups and working with partners to develop and evolve codes for peta- and exa-scale computing systems.
• Share expertise and research outputs, contributing to peer-reviewed publications, supporting other UKAEA units where required, and planning and leading simulation and modelling activities across relevant UKAEA programmes.

What You’ll Bring

Experience:

• At least a doctorate degree in a computational, mathematical or physical science discipline or a leadership role in either a commercial or research environment in one of these fields
• An international reputation in your field gained in either a research or commercial environment
• Demonstrable experience of at least one compiled level language (e.g. C++, Fortran, C, Rust) and advanced scripting language (e,g, Julia, Python), preferably in a UNIX environment
• Experience of agile project and budget management in a team leadership role

Specific Experience:

• Solid foundation in mathematics, especially numerical analysis, demonstrated by either a publication record or contribution to a relevant software library
• Significant and demonstrable experience in parallel programming techniques (e.g. MPI, OpenMP and accelerator hardware such as GPUs)
• Experience leading a distributed team in both mentoring and managing roles
• Experience of the development and implementation of testing strategies (verification and validation) and an ability to assess new algorithms which could be applicable to fusion based codes.
• Significant experience in at least CFD and ideally more relevant nuclear and multiphysics fields (e.g. FV, FD, FE, MHD, Monte Carlo, and associated workflow)
• A good background in Uncertainty Quantification and actionable data.

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

The role is currently advertised at Culham, but other UKAEA locations may also be considered.

We have a generous range of benefits and highlights include:

• A salary of£71,815(inclusive ofa £7,700specialist allowance)
• Up to 7% corporate performance bonus
• Final salary defined benefits pension scheme with an equivalent of21.5% employer pension contribution
• 25 days annual leave plus2.5 privilege days;8 Bank Holidays
• 3 days of site closure over Christmas break
• 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,inclusionand accessibility, and strive to ensure fair representation across our workforce.

We particularly encourage applications from groups currently underrepresented in STEM, including women and people from diverse ethnic backgrounds. All appointments are made onmeritand further information can be found here .