About the job

Job summary

ONR is not a Civil Service department, however, we are an arms length body of Department of Work and Pensions.

The Opportunity

As part of its 2025 strategy ONR is committed to being a modern and transparent regulator, delivering trusted outcomes and value. We are making substantial investments in new digital technologies and skills to enhance our regulatory processes and management of information.

As the UK’s independent nuclear regulator, our mission is vital to the nation’s safety and security. We protect society by securing safe operations at nuclear facilities across our nation.

This is an exciting role critical to the decarbonisation of the UK’s economy; our national defence; and the decommissioning of our nuclear legacy. A career with ONR will provide you with opportunity to lead and shape our society’s future use of nuclear technology.

The Role

As an inspector your job will be varied, and you are likely to undertake a range of roles across the sector; from regulating the construction of new nuclear build to the decommissioning of legacy facilities. Some inspectors concentrate on undertaking planned and reactive inspections on site, while others will assess safety submissions or manage discrete intervention projects. Additionally, there may be opportunities to conduct investigations, manage research projects and mentor and develop the next generation of inspectors.

As an internal hazard’s specialist inspector, you will consider hazards (to plant or safety related structures) that originate within the site boundary and are due to initiating events over which the site operator has some form of control. Internal hazards include internal fire, flooding, explosions, dropped loads, pipe whip, jet impact, internal missiles, to name just a few. One key internal hazard for all nuclear sites is fire. Indeed, assessments of how fires might threaten nuclear plant and safety equipment, and the adequacy of the measures put in place to prevent the spread of fires and their consequences are of paramount importance. The consideration of fire as an internal hazard differs from life fire safety in that the regulatory focus from internal hazards is judging the adequacy of the operator's safety case (and its implementation) in dealing with fires with radiological consequences. As an internal hazard’s inspector, your expertise will ensure that safety cases adequately consider the whole range of potential internal hazards, and duty holders provide suitable measures to prevent them, and to protect plant against their effects.

Job description

Line Management Responsibilities

• None currently, however, at this level there could be an expectation to manage staff in the future.

Work with Us

Our colleagues are from all walks of life with varied personal experiences and career journeys into ONR. We want the best people for our roles. As an inclusive employer we value individuals’ contributions, regardless of their age, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, social background, religion, or belief. Our values ‘supportive, open-minded, fair and accountable’ are central to this. We invest in our people to build capability, resilience, and promote wellbeing in our great teams, underpinned by our inherent focus on inclusion and excellence.

Person Specification / What You’ll Need

Qualifications

We expect all Nuclear Safety Inspectors to have:

• Degree level qualification or equivalent in engineering, physical sciences, mathematics, or a related discipline or the ability to demonstrate performance and experience at an equivalent professional level.
• Chartered membership of a relevant professional institution, or the ability to demonstrate performance and/or experience at an equivalent professional level.

Essential Skills / Experience

• Previous experience in internal hazards within the nuclear industry or equivalent, including experience of safety case production, assessment, and physical inspection.
• Demonstrable background on the assessment of complex safety systems designed with multiple lines of protection to protect against internal hazards.
• Experience of implementing safety solutions in a hazardous industry. Extensive knowledge of relevant safety standards and the application of design and engineering principles.
• Knowledge of one or more nuclear / high hazard facilities, examples include: pressurised water reactors, advanced gas cooled reactors, high hazard processing plants,
• The ability to assimilate, analyse and provide judgements on new and complex technical issues, clearly and concisely.
• Strong communication, decision making and influencing skills. With the ability to see the bigger picture, targeting and prioritising work, based on risk.

We would ideally like you to have experience in the nuclear sector or alternative high hazard industry. But don’t worry if you don’t! We are happy to consider applicants with a non-nuclear/non-high hazard background who, if appointed, would undertake a structured nuclear training programme to reach Nuclear Safety Inspector level (subject to alternative salary range whilst training).

Inclusion

ONR is committed to being an inclusive employer and we welcome and encourage applications from all applicants. We will make reasonable adjustments and adaptations to ensure the recruitment process is inclusive and barrier-free. For example, providing job descriptions in alternative formats, and providing communication support and accessible venues. If you would like to discuss how we can support you, please contact  (ONR.Human-Resources@onr.gov.uk/ or  0203 028 0004) who will be able to provide further information and discuss any reasonable adjustments you may need during the recruitment process. We will offer an interview to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for the role. Applicants also have the choice to opt into our Guaranteed Interview Scheme when completing their application where we will offer an interview to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for the role.

ONR recognises it has a role to play in helping those leaving the Armed Forces (veterans) and have introduced a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for veterans. This is part of a Government initiative known as the ‘Great Place to Work for veterans. Veterans are officially defined as anyone who has served for at least one day in His Majesty’s Armed Forces (Regular or Reserve). All veterans who meet the minimum critera for a role will be invited to interview and they have the choice to opt into this scheme when completing their application. To be eligible to apply for roles under the initiative, veterans must meet certain eligibility criteria below;

• have served for at least one year in His Majesty's Armed Forces (as a Regular or Reserve)
• be in transition from, or ceased to be a member of, His Majesty’s Armed Forces; and
• not already be employed by ONR

 

Person specification

Security Clearance

The successful candidate must hold or can achieve and retain National Security Vetting clearance at SC level.

Location / Travel

This post may be undertaken from a base at any one of ONR’s office locations (Bootle, Cheltenham, or London).

This post requires some travel including overnight stays predominantly across the United Kingdom and occasionally abroad.

The successful applicant requires a full driving licence which permits the holder to drive in the UK unless reasonable adjustments can be made under the Equality Act 2010

ONR operates hybrid working (working in the office and / or at home) as part of our flexible working policy. There is an expectation that everyone will spend some time in the office on a regular basis, recognising that some work is better done face to face. Managers will collaborate with their teams on what works best to meet individual, team, business and organisational needs to enable collaboration, as well as balancing personal choice and wellbeing.

Benefits

An annual leave allowance of 25 plus 8 days public holiday. There is also an entitlement to 1 privilege day. Your annual leave allowance will increase by 1 day each year up to a maximum of 30 days.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity 
• A civil service pension 

A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Things you need to know

Selection process details

Please submit your application through the recruitment portal on the ONR website directly by clicking onto the link above apply at advertisers site where you can also download full job description.

For Further Information

For more information about this vacancy please contact: 

Email:  diego.lisbona@onr.gov.uk

Telephone: +447770315182

How To Apply

Please submit your application through the recruitment portal.

This advert will remain open until we have filled the advertised role. We reserve the right to withdraw this advert at any time.

Your application should include:

• CV to include a full record of your education and professional qualifications and a full employment history.
• A suitability statement (maximum of 800 words) highlighting how you meet the “essential skills and experience” required for the role, which will be used at shortlisting in conjunction with your CV.
• Where applicable highlight if you have any experience under ‘desirable skills and experience’ within the application form.

Throughout our selection process, we will make decisions based on evidence you provide. If you are shortlisted, you will be invited to a technical/competency-based interview.

Important guidance when providing CV’s – please upload text-based CVs with no graphics or pictures to ensure the anonymisation function works correctly.

Please note -  if whilst completing your application, you use special characters such as (‘ ; “ - _ * ) within your examples, Hireserve will convert these characters into symbols.  We are currently unable to change this. 

Whilst these examples will appear on your application, this will not prevent it from being reviewed at the shortlisting stage.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission. The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Apply now