Director of Safety, Quality and Mission Assurance

UK Industrial Fusion Solutions

West Burton (with frequent travel to Culham)

  • Location West Burton (with frequent travel to Culham)
  • Sector Central Government
  • Client UK Industrial Fusion Solutions
  • Job Type Permanent
  • Salary/Remuneration The salary will be commensurate with experience
  • Reference GSe123663
  • Closing Date Monday 4 August 2025 – 12:00

UKIFS – Who we are

The UK is currently a world leader in fusion research and development. UKIFS is leading the drive to realise commercially viable energy from fusion, a sector with an estimated potential value of trillions of pounds per year. A record £2.5 billion of additional funding has recently been announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to support the UK’s ambition to be a global leader in commercial fusion energy.  That includes the work of UKIFS in developing of the UK’s prototype fusion power plant, potentially a world-first.

STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) is the UK’s flagship national programme to deliver a prototype fusion energy plant, targeting 2040. STEP will be delivered by a public-private alliance led by UK Industrial Fusion Solutions Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK Atomic Energy Authority Group. We’ll demonstrate net energy, fuel self-sufficiency and a route to commercialisation. We’ll catalyse new ideas and technologies that will benefit multiple industries and help secure our future on this planet.

STEP is deliberately bold and ambitious and seeks people who want to be part of a world-changing endeavour and who have credible and relevant experience in delivery.

The Role

Assurance is a fundamental capability in any organisation, and especially one such as UKIFS which is pushing the very limits of technology to achieve a world-changing outcome. Our assurance must aim to support ever more effective and efficient delivery whilst setting and maintaining core standards and must balance supporting the essential risk-taking ambition needed to succeed with doing things in the right way.

The Director of Safety, Quality and Mission Assurance (DSQMA) is a critical and broad ranging role that will strike that balance and therefore help deliver fusion energy. The DSQMA will lead assurance of the totality of the STEP mission (across all functions and outputs) and, in particular, will lead Safety and Environmental assurance, including regulatory engagement, and Quality Assurance.

To do this you will need to build assurance capability and functions that can lead on safety, environment and quality. As industry partners come onboard, assurance will extend across those partners in their contribution to programme success. You will build effective relationships with those partners and develop an overarching assurance approach that works for all, leveraging the best of partner capabilities.

Reporting directly to the CEO, you are central to the relationship with key stakeholders. You will lead relationships with all statutory bodies; in particular, you will lead the relationship with Regulators, chairing our Regulatory Engagement Forums with the EA and HSE through which we will build a world-leading approach to the practical delivery and demonstration of safe fusion plant. As international alignment on fusion grows, you will have increasing engagement with international bodies such as the IAEA. You will also interface across Government, including with our parent Department (DESNZ) and will be key to providing Government with a ‘sense of comfort’ that UKIFS is doing the right things for the right reasons and in the right way, now and in the future. You will also have a strong relationship with UKAEA in its role as UKIFS’ shareholder, and in its role supporting development of an appropriate harmonised international regulatory regime.

Along with your functional leadership roles you will also be a member of the UKIFS Executive Committee, who collectively provide stewardship to the whole organisation as it evolves and delivers on the Programme objectives and navigates a path towards delivering viable fusion energy. You will also be a key attendee of the UKIFS Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee (ARAC), supporting the Independent NED Chair of ARAC.

The Person

UKIFS are seeking applicants with a proven record of building, leading and managing an innovative and effective overall framework and assurance capability (including audit) and function from a senior leadership position. They will bring experience in positive assurance of corporate operations and major programme delivery, particularly in high hazard environments. They will possess the proven ability to lead in a collaborative, multi-party, uncertain environment at pace across multi-disciplinary teams. Familiarity with the specific regulations, policies, and governance frameworks applicable to public sector organisations in the UK is desirable and experience of securing major consents and permissions (such as DCO) is an advantage.

The role holder will be one a the ‘public faces’ of UKIFS, and therefore excellent communication skills are essential.

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Documents

  1. CPS23.1062b UKIFS Information Pack.pdf

Contacts

Darra Power-Mooney: 07595 781 609
Khadeeja Khalid: 07586 717 645

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