Chief Engineer - Division Leader

at  Science and Technology Facilities Council STFC

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL

Salary: £75,136 to £82,649 per annum (dependent on skills and experience).
Hours: Full time.
Contract Type: Open-ended
Location: Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), Harwell, Oxfordshire.
Come and do the kind of engineering that made you want to be an engineer. Stretch your technical skills while building human understanding. Promote sustainability and create new materials. And, alongside world-leading scientists, technicians and technologists, shape projects that improve lives, and daily life, in the UK and far beyond.
Put simply, come and discover the impact you can make when you’re equipped, encouraged and inspired to perform to your very best.
A rare opportunity has opened up to join us in a senior leadership position at the Central Laser Facility (CLF) to lead our Engineering Division.
We are recruiting a leader for the CLF’s Engineering Division. This position is a senior management role in CLF and STFC, with responsibility for all engineering activities conducted in the CLF’s five operational laser facilities and those under construction (not the civil construction). We are currently investing over £200M in building two new large scale facilities, EPAC (2020-2025) and Vulcan 20-20 (2023-2029), and enhancing two others Ultra and Artemis via the HiLUX project (2023-2027).
The Central Laser Facility is one of the world’s leading laser facilities, providing scientists predominately from the UK and Europe with access to an unparalleled range of state-of-the-art large scale laser technology. The CLF’s wide ranging applications include experiments in physics, chemistry, biology, environmental sciences, cultural heritage and the sciences of life and disease. From advanced, compact, tuneable lasers which can pinpoint individual particles to high power laser installations that recreate the conditions inside stars, a vigorous multidisciplinary development programme ensures that our facilities maintain their international competitiveness. Our engineering division is at the heart of delivering this programme and developing the next generation technologies and facilities.
Our host organisation, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is one of Europe’s largest research organisations and operates several sites within the UK and at sites abroad. RAL is home to about 2,000 staff that work with a community of more than 10,000 scientists and engineers annually, mainly from the research sector.

The Chief Engineer reports to the CLF Director. As a Division Leader within the CLF you will be a defining mind in the operation and development of the CLF’s current and new research facilities, bringing your expertise and experience to work closely with the CLF’s senior leadership in helping the department in realising its ambitions.
The remit of the Engineering Division is wide covering mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and control disciplines. The involves everything from the maintenance of small and large scale chilled water systems, to bespoke manufacture, to the design of unique ultra-high pressure gas systems with flammable gases, to cryogenic and ultra-high vacuum capabilities, high voltage systems, advanced control architectures, motion and interlock control etc . All of which are critical for the successful delivery of the science programme that the CLF supports for the UK and international User Community. To support this endeavour the Division has sole ownership and operation of its brand new Engineering and Technology Centre (ETC) on the RAL campus, which houses a range of state of the art equipment and workshops.
As the Chief Engineer you will provide leadership, mentoring and support to a team of 65 engineers and technicians across a range of disciplines (mechanical, electrical, controls and software) at all competencies, from apprentices to senior engineers. You will ensure that your teams are appropriately trained, effective and motivated, maintaining the “can-do” attitude that already exists. Working with the internal and external scientists and the other Division Leaders, an important aspect of the role is to effectively prioritise resources to maximise delivery and outcomes.

The main responsibilities of the role are:

• oversee the safe operation and enhancement of the CLF’s engineering equipment across the five facilities and to support the operational programme working closely with the senior management team
• manage the Division financial and staff resources to ensure that operational needs are met
• lead design, development and delivery of engineering resources to the CLF’s major Projects EPAC, Vulcan 20-20 and HiLUX
• support the development and planning of new opportunities, contributing to Business cases and proposals as required
• ensure the CLF complies with all the statutory safety responsibilities associated with its engineering delivery, including PSSR/PED/DSEAR/Legionella/CDM/Asbestos compliance