Engineer - Plant

Position: Engineer - Plant Performance
Role

Title:

Engineer – Plant Performance We are Rolls‑Royce SMR and we’re doing something that’s never been done before. We’re revolutionising an industry. That’s a once‑in‑a‑career opportunity for those excited by such a challenge. This is more than just a job; this is a legacy.

The Performance & Analysis team is the centre of excellence for engineering analysis used to substantiate the performance and safety of the SMR power station. Within this team, Plant Performance Engineers play a vital role in understanding how the power station behaves under normal operation and transient conditions, ensuring that performance assumptions are robust and design decisions are well‑informed.

About the Role:

As an Engineer – Plant Performance, you will analyse the whole‑plant performance of the nuclear power station, covering the complete energy conversion system—from heat generation in the reactor, through the steam and power‑conversion cycle, to cooling systems and electrical power generation.

You will independently plan and deliver plant‑performance analysis work packages under established governance and quality processes. This includes assessing steady‑state performance, analysing transient behaviour, developing and maintaining analysis models, and supporting validation and benchmarking activities.

Your outputs will support periodic plant‑performance assessments aligned with design iterations across the programme, providing validated performance data that feeds into system and component design. You will also contribute to the development of probabilistic performance methods to support uncertainty analysis and robust design practices.

This role requires close collaboration with design, safety, systems and wider engineering teams, clear communication of technical results, and flexibility to support an evolving design programme.

We’ll Need You To:

Analyse plant performance under steady‑state and transient operating conditions

Deliver periodic plant performance assessments aligned with design maturity

Develop, apply and maintain plant‑performance analysis models, methods and tools

Assess thermodynamic behaviour of the power station and its supporting systems

Support validation of plant‑performance assumptions and provision of functional design data Develop probabilistic performance assessment methods to support uncertainty analysis

Apply robust quality processes, supporting verification, validation and benchmarking activities

Plan and manage your own technical workload to meet programme objectives and schedules

Collaborate across multidisciplinary engineering teams to define analysis requirements

Communicate analysis results clearly to technical and non‑technical stakeholders

Key

Skills Required:

We know there’s no such thing as the ‘perfect’ candidate. If you meet around 75% of the criteria below, we’d love to hear from you:

Strong understanding of thermodynamic performance and energy‑conversion systems

Experience applying structured and methodical approaches to performance analysis

Knowledge of fluid dynamics and thermal processes

Experience using industry‑standard thermal or fluid analysis tools

Experience developing and applying analysis models, methods or tools

Familiarity with benchmarking, test‑case development and performance KPIsUnderstanding of quality assurance, verification and validation of analysis outputs

Knowledge of probabilistic analysis methods and uncertainty quantification (desirable)
Exposure to nuclear, power‑generation or other safety‑critical industries (beneficial, not essential)
Understanding of E3S, ALARP or BAT principles (beneficial)
Strong communication skills and ability to work collaboratively across disciplines

Degree‑qualified in engineering, physics, mathematics or a similar technical discipline

Chartered Engineer or working towards chartership (or equivalent)
We welcome applicants from nuclear and non‑nuclear sectors, including energy, oil & gas, aerospace and other high‑integrity industries.

Location:

Hybrid working with one of the following as your primary site:

Derby, Manchester or Warrington.

Salary and Package:

The salary band for this role will be between £42,000 – £55,150 dependent on the skills,…