Graduate Mechanical Engineer

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.

Graduate Mechanical Engineers will carry out a range of engineering tasks to gain experience with the organisation's staff, methods, practices, and programmes, which may include operating, maintaining, and demonstrating equipment. They will be expected to take ownership of their development, continually building their knowledge and skills.

Your core responsibilities: 

• Conduct system analysis, requirements capture, design assessments, and market/technology surveys to inform engineering decisions.
• Generate concepts, write functional specifications, and carry out preliminary design including component selection and feasibility assessments.
• Perform structural, thermal, kinematic, fluid-flow, and vibration analyses to validate design integrity.
• Produce detailed designs and drawings, ensuring effective integration and participation in peer reviews.
• Manage procurement, ensuring value for money, preparing assembly, test, and commissioning procedures, and overseeing manufacturing quality.
• Identify and resolve manufacturing non-conformances, arrange inspections, and commission and troubleshoot hardware builds.
• Develop maintenance and operator manuals and ensure design files, documentation, and spares are correctly updated.
• Support operational analysis through VR simulations, operational sequence descriptions, and RAMI assessments.
• Lead fault diagnosis, corrective action planning, and recovery of existing equipment in collaboration with operational teams and experts.
• Report progress and results to customers, plan and coordinate project activities, support business development through proposals and estimates, and contribute to conferences and publications.

• Degree in Science or Engineering from 2025 or '26
• Confident with all Microsoft applications including Excel, Word and Powerpoint
• Driven, with a strong appetite to learn and take on new challenges
• Able to collaborate effectively and communicate clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Well organised and adaptable with the ability to plan and prioritise workload

A full list of our benefits can be found here but highlights include:

• £35,227 base salary
• Final salary defined benefit scheme with an equivalent of 21.5% employer pension contribution
• 25 days annual leave, plus 3 days Christmas closure and 2.5 privilege days, in addition to UK bank holidays
• Flexible and hybrid working options

UKAEA's mission is clean energy for all, and we welcome talented people from all backgrounds who want to help us achieve our mission. We are under-represented from some groups and so want to encourage applications in particular from women in STEM, people from Black British Caribbean and African backgrounds and from Pakistani and Bangladeshi British backgrounds. Our Executive team, supported by our 'Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion' (EDI) and Wellbeing and our EDI Networks actively promote Inclusion and takes steps to increase diversity within our organization. We reinforce best practices in recruitment and selection and evaluate approaches to remove barriers to success.

UK Atomic Energy Authority 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.