Senior Project Manager

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 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 Senior Project Manager, you’ll lead the delivery of complex projects supporting UKAEA’s mission to develop fusion energy. You’ll take responsibility for projects with typical budgets exceeding £100 million, ensuring agreed outcomes are delivered within time, cost and quality constraints. You’ll provide leadership across multidisciplinary teams while managing governance, stakeholders, risks and benefits.

What You’ll be Doing

• Lead complex projects from initial definition through to delivery and transition into business as usual.
• Establish the project structure, delivery approach, plan and controls required at each stage.
• Develop project budgets and manage delivery within agreed financial limits.
• Prepare business cases and ensure agreed outcomes and benefits are achieved.
• Lead multidisciplinary project teams and manage resources across different areas of the organisation.
• Build effective relationships with senior stakeholders, delivery partners and suppliers.
• Identify and manage project risks, issues, dependencies and changes.
• Provide clear reporting to sponsors and governance boards to support effective decision-making.
• Coordinate assurance activity, including stage-gate reviews, and ensure recommendations are addressed.
• Coach and develop project team members while maintaining strong individual and team performance.

What You’ll Bring

• A strong track record of leading complex projects through the full delivery lifecycle.
• Demonstrable success in managing substantial budgets, project controls and business cases.
• Proven capability in leading multidisciplinary teams and delivering across multiple business areas.
• A background in building relationships with diverse senior stakeholders and influencing project outcomes.
• Sound knowledge of project governance, risk management, assurance and benefits realisation.
• A recognised project management qualification such as APM Practitioner, APM Registered Project Professional, PRINCE2 Practitioner or Agile Project Management Practitioner.

UKAEA is an onsite organisation, and this role requires regular onsite presence (usually 3 days per week) in line with business needs. We actively support flexible working arrangements where this is compatible with the role.

Benefits 

We have a generous range of benefits (see the full list here) and highlights include:   

• A salary of £71815 inclusive of a £7700 specialist allowance
• Up to 7% corporate performance bonus 
• 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
• Additional 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, inclusion and accessibility, and strive to ensure fair representation across our workforce. 

Please email talent@ukaea.uk 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.