UKIFS Economist

UK Atomic Energy Authority; West Burton; On-site; GBP 71,000; Full time

Job summary

An innovative energy organization is seeking a UKIFS Economist to lead economic impact analysis for the STEP programme. This key role involves developing robust economic evidence, engaging stakeholders, and providing insights to support funding justification. The position requires expertise in data analysis and keen interpersonal skills to foster collaboration. The successful candidate will work onsite three days a week in West Burton, offering a competitive salary of £70,505 with excellent benefits including a strong pension scheme and flexible working options.

Benefits

Outstanding defined benefit pension

Corporate bonus scheme up to 7%

Generous annual leave allowance starting with 25 days

Qualifications

• Leading experience in quantitative and qualitative data management.
• Understanding of HMT requirements and governmental economic practices.
• Excellent interpersonal skills to forge relationships across various teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead on Economic impact analysis for effective funding justification.
• Develop robust economic evidence for programme evaluation.
• Engage with key stakeholders and provide expert advisory support.

Skills

Data management and analysis

Interpersonal skills

Ability to respond to changing demands

Education

Degree in Economics or equivalent

Tools

Spreadsheet models

R

Python

Job description

Company Description

STEP Fusion

UK Industrial Fusion Solutions (UKIFS) Ltd, a subsidiary of the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), is at the forefront of developing fusion sustainable energy. Through the design and delivery of STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) programme we aim to build a prototype fusion plant, targeting first operations around 2040.

UKIFS will lead delivery, collaborating with industrial partners and building a fusion supply chain with an estimated global sector value of £7tn per year.

Onsite working is expected for 3 days each week, however, we actively support requests for Flexible Working.

A full list of our benefits can be found here: https://careers.ukaea.uk/life-at-ukaea/employee-benefits/

For more information on UKIFS, visit: https://careers.ukaea.uk/wp-content/uploads/download/UKIFS_CandidateRecruitmentPack.pdf

As an employee of UKIFS you will benefit from:

• Outstanding defined benefit pension scheme, details of which can be found at the end of this advert.
• Corporate bonus scheme up to 7% and a Relocation allowance (if eligible).
• Flexible working options including family friendly policies.
• Employee Assistance Programme and trained Mental Health First Aiders.
• Generous annual leave allowance starting with 25 days, plus 3 days Christmas closure and 2.5 privilege days, in addition to UK bank holidays.
• Wide range of career development opportunities.
• A vibrant culture committed to equality and being fully inclusive.

The salary for this role is £70,505 (inclusive of Specialist Allowance) + excellent benefits including outstanding pension.

++The closing date to apply for this position is the 12th January 2026++

If you are interested in the role, please apply by submitting your CV.

This UKIFS vacancy will be based at our site in West Burton, Nottinghamshire.

Job Description

As our UKIFS Economist, you will take a leading role as part of a growing team which develops and delivers the benefits, monitoring and evaluation (BME) activities. It is an exciting time to join UKIFS, and this role will lead on the Economic impact of STEP, providing expertise to understand the opportunities and filling evidence gaps within this nascent sector. Your role will be vital in justifying continued funding of the STEP programme, leading the development of a robust economic evidence‑base to demonstrate the value for money and return on investment of STEP, furthering the goals of the UK’s Fusion Strategy. UKIFS is growing, and you will join the central Business Strategy team as a key support to the Benefits, Monitoring and Evaluation Lead; generating timely and fit‑for‑purpose Economic evidence and insight to meet the stringent requirements of our various key stakeholders. Databases of economic evidence will be built upon your work to deliver monetisable insights that clearly communicate the impact of the programme to a range of audiences. This role will lead activities to enhance the evidence of value for money analysis, including both monetisable but also non‑monetisable economic benefits (quantitative and qualitative), helping bring clarity to unique elements of the programme and what impact they are likely to deliver. You will bring expertise and lead on the Economic aspects of Evaluations to help improve understanding on how effective and efficient the programme is and to support continuous improvement. This opportunity will involve engaging with all aspects of the STEP programme as well as supporting the programme’s interface with the Government’s assurance and approval processes. You will also have ownership of the Economic Case of STEP business case(s), writing and producing this part of the business case in part through the production of analysis and through peer‑reviewing the work of others. This role will involve close working with other Experts and Government Analysts, including Lead Economists within UKAEA and DESNZ.

Accountability 1: Lead on the Economic Evidence‑Base for Policy and Decision Making

• Design, deliver, and manage both in‑house and commissioned Economic analysis. This will include value for money analysis in compliance with HMT Green Book. Ensure delivery of high‑quality products to navigate internal and governmental assurance processes.
• Own the gathering of insight for Spending Reviews, ensuring high quality robust analysis and leading the appraisal of impacts — using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research; including the communication of uncertainties in analysis.
• Lead the development of approved methodologies to quantify the impact of the programme, including enhancing the collection of key data and the evidence base to support STEP in meeting our strategic priorities.

Accountability 2: Lead author on the Economic Case for STEP Business case(s)

• Be lead author on the Economic Case sections, as part of the HMT five cases Business Cases. This plays an essential part in making the case for funding for each Tranche of the STEP Fusion Programme.
• As part of this lead on the development of the analysis for the Economic case as part of the HMT five cases business cases, and train and build awareness across UKIFS colleagues of what is required for this (such as data requirements).
• Ensure robust methodology is used that is approved by DESNZ and HMT, ensuring the analysis done within this is well received and gets through Gov. Business Case approval processes.

Accountability 3: Deliver Impactful Products

• Lead on the development of Economic figures and their related narrative, ensuring references and methodologies related to any statistics are documented over time.
• Provide expert advice for research reports and briefings which communicate Economic evidence, ensure they are robust and can be used for a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Respond to ad‑hoc requests for Economic evidence relating to policy or key thematic areas, for example the UK Government Spending Review in close collaboration with DESNZ colleagues.

Accountability 4: Be the Economics ‘Subject Matter Expert’ for STEP

• Oversee the production and quality control of Economic evidence to ensure our data and methodology are considered robust by all relevant Gov. departments including DESNZ, NISTA and the ETF.
• Provide necessary Lead advisory support on all aspects of Economic evidence and any methodology development working closely with the Benefits, Monitoring and Evaluation Lead.
• Provide Expert training, coaching, and mentoring across UKIFS staff and wider Whole Plant Partners including UKAEA to ensure the continued growth of awareness, skills and capabilities within STEP.

Accountability 5: Lead a Strong Network

• Develop trusted close working relationships with external and internal key‑stakeholders including DESNZ Economists and Lead Economists in UKAEA.
• Build a strong network of close contacts with staff across UKIFS and its Whole Plant Partners including UKAEA, to enable detailed insight of economic benefits, and enabling effective co‑ordination and collaboration across STEP.
• Work closely with Benefits, Monitoring and Evaluation Lead to enable the strategic development of UKIFS people, processes and systems to ensure benefit realisation as well as monitoring and evaluation of Economic benefits.

Accountability 6: Embody a Leadership Mindset

• Regardless of your formal position, you embody a leadership mindset and a set of leadership behaviours. You embrace and embody our organization’s culture, values, and mission in all aspects of your work.
• Foster a positive and inclusive team environment that aligns with our cultural values.
• Contribute to maintaining a respectful and collaborative workplace, valuing diversity, and promoting teamwork.
• Act as a cultural ambassador, representing our organization’s values and professionalism in interactions with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders.
• Lead by example, demonstrating integrity, professionalism, and ethical behaviour.
• Make informed decisions and solve problems effectively, considering diverse perspectives and organizational goals.

Qualifications

Essential:

• Degree in Economics or equivalent qualification and/or experience.
• Experience of leading quantitative and qualitative data management and analysis. May include developing programme benefits, monitoring and evaluation and economic aspects of strategic business cases.
• Understanding of Government driven Economic best practice and HMT requirements. Ability to use expertise to train and coach colleagues and explain risk and uncertainty.
• An ability to grasp issues quickly and understand the big picture for UKIFS, DESNZ, the wider fusion sector, and Government. Excellent interpersonal skills and confidence forging relationships across teams and Government.
• Ability to quickly respond to changing demands and priorities, with the confidence to take quick decisions without compromising the quality of work.
• Technical skills with experience of using a range of robust techniques to deliver analysis.

Beneficial:

• Demonstrated experience of Government driven Economic best practice and HMT requirements.
• Experience of leading and delivering significant Economic analysis or evaluations together with an interest in fusion or science & engineering.
• Experience of using best‑practice spreadsheet models and knowledge of R and Python.
• Experience of leadership and delivery in fast‑paced, complex, and ambiguous environments.
• Experience of working with Government stakeholders on large scale complex transformative programmes together with an interest in fusion industry.
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary environment collaboratively with colleagues in finance, policy, engineering, scientific, commercial, project delivery, legal and senior leadership teams.

Additional Information

We welcome applications from under‑represented groups, particularly women in STEM and individuals from British black and ethnic minority backgrounds, and individuals with disabilities. Our Executive team, supported by our ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’ (EDI) Partner and Inclusion Ambassadors, actively promotes EDI and takes steps to increase diversity within our organisation. We reinforce best practices in recruitment and selection and evaluate approaches to remove barriers to success.

UKIFS is committed to being accessible. Please email [email protected] if you have any questions or require help or adjustments to compete on a fair basis, for example, changes to the way we interview or share information.

This role requires employees to complete an online Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), including the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks for criminal convictions. Whilst not required at this time, there is a possibility of an SC Clearance being required in the future. If a candidate already holds an SC clearance, that clearance can be transferred to UKIFS.

For applicants applying from outside the United Kingdom or those who have spent time outside the UK in the last five years, please visit the following link for information on criminal records checks: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants. If your country of residence or previous residence is not listed on the website or if the UK Government does not have information on obtaining a criminal records check from that state, we regret to inform you that we cannot process your application.

Please note that vacancies are generally advertised for 4 weeks but may close earlier if we receive a large number of applications. We may consider your application for future positions or similar positions within the organisation.

We have a number of exceptional opportunities available at the moment, to view them all please visit Careers – STEP.