Lead Engineer – Power Station Integration

Rolls-Royce SMR

Derby

Description

Role: Lead Engineer – Power Station Integration

Locations: Hybrid working with one of the following locations as primary: Derby, Warrington, or Manchester

Our mission

Our mission is to deliver clean, affordable energy for all. Our Small Modular Reactor (SMR) offers a British solution to a global energy challenge, placing us at the forefront of a once-in-a-generation opportunity and positioning the UK as a future world leader in clean energy technology.

The team

The Power Station Integration team sits at the centre of our plant design, bringing together engineering disciplines to define how the full power station operates as one integrated system—ensuring performance, coherence, and optimisation across an innovative and complex product.

The role

In this context, we are looking for a Lead Engineer to join our Power Station Integration team to support the delivery of our generic design programme. Operating with a high degree of autonomy, you'll lead a small team of engineers whilst remaining actively involved in the delivery of integration activities, shaping plant-level performance and influencing how our power station is designed and delivered.

What We'll Need You To Do

We'll need you to:

  • Lead and manage a small team of engineers, providing technical direction, coaching and support to deliver high-quality outcomes.
  • Plan, coordinate and deliver integration work packages, ensuring work is completed safely, on time and to the required quality standards.
  • Own and deliver product-level aspects of the power station design to meet business and customer requirements.
  • Manage key plant-level attributes such as net power output within your area of responsibility.
  • Apply systems engineering methods to define how the full power station operates and performs.
  • Elicit, define and decompose requirements, and ensure effective flow-down to lower-tier systems.
  • Lead integration activities and work closely with multi-disciplinary teams to develop a coherent, aligned design.
  • Drive and influence design decisions, including structured optioneering and trade-off studies.
  • Identify, manage and resolve cross-system issues, risks and dependencies.
  • Develop delivery plans, manage priorities and support effective utilisation of team resources.
  • Support the development of engineers within the team through mentoring, coaching and performance development activities.

What You'll Bring

As you can see, this is a pivotal, high-impact role, and you'll bring a strong systems mindset, leadership capability and the ability to drive delivery across complex engineering challenges, as well as:

  • An engineering qualification or equivalent demonstrable experience within a relevant discipline.
  • Strong experience in system or product-level design and integration, solving complex, cross-functional challenges.
  • Experience leading engineering teams and delivering technical work packages, including planning, prioritisation and management of resources.
  • We'll ask about your experience of leading integration activities, managing requirements, and delivering technical work packages through others as well as directly.
  • Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with the ability to influence decisions across multiple engineering disciplines.
  • In-depth understanding of systems engineering tools and techniques, with exposure to MBSE approaches (e.g. Capella) advantageous.
  • Experience coaching and developing engineers, creating an environment where individuals and teams can perform at their best.

Location

This role offers hybrid and flexible working. Regular attendance will be expected at Derby, Manchester or Warrington, aligned to programme delivery, collaboration and stakeholder needs.

What’s in it for me?

  • We anticipate paying a salary of £60,000-£78,750
  • Bonus - Performance related target opportunity 12.5%
  • Benefits Allowance – £2,200 per annum, enabling you to create a bespoke package
  • Pension - 12% employer and 6% employee contributions.
  • Holidays - 28 days holiday (+ public holidays) and the ability to buy or sell up to 4 days.
  • Private Medical Insurance - BUPA single cover health care
  • Life Assurance - 6x pensionable pay
  • £250 - One-off payment for new starters for home office purchases

Selection process & screening

The recruitment process will include an initial conversation with Talent Acquisition, followed by interview stages with senior engineering stakeholders.

Due to the nuclear environment, offers are subject to BPSS clearance, a DBS check and basic financial probity screening.

Our commitments

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all backgrounds. As a Disability Confident organisation, we are committed to inclusive recruitment practices and will make reasonable adjustments where required.

Confidence can sometimes hold people back. There’s no such thing as a “perfect” candidate — if you feel you meet around 75% of the criteria, we would love to hear from you. We also welcome applications from those considering a sector move or bringing transferable skills.

Pay Range

£60,000.00

£78,750.00

Why Join Us?

You’ll be joining a forward-thinking organisation that values transparency, fairness, and innovation. We offer:

  • A flexible, inclusive, and supportive working environment.
  • Opportunities for career growth in a rapidly scaling business.
  • A culture that values diversity, innovation, and continuous learning.

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all backgrounds. Inclusivity is important to us, and as a Disability Confident organisation, we are committed to fair, supportive, and continually improving recruitment practices that ensure everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Confidence can sometimes hold us back from applying for a job. But we'll let you in on a secret: there's no such thing as a 'perfect' candidate. If you feel you meet 75% of the requirements for this role, we would love to hear from you.

Also, if you are considering a career move or a sector-jump, please get in touch – we welcome applications from people with transferable skills.

Our Application Process

Due to the safety regulations within the nuclear industry, applicants will be required to participate in additional screening. These are:

  • Obtaining Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) clearance
  • Satisfactory completion of a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check
  • Satisfactory completion of a basic financial probity check