Job Title: Systems Code Modeller and Developer
Location: Milton Park, Abingdon (OX14)
Salary: Competitive
Job Type: Full Time, Permanent or Contractor (37.5 hours per week)
Background:
The Company has unlocked a new route to scalable fusion power that is cost-effective and does not require huge infrastructure and capital expenditure. The technology will revolutionise the world’s energy production – it will be possible to produce more energy, more cheaply and with fewer harmful side effects (e.g. with no long term nuclear waste or carbon emissions). They aim to accelerate the development of fusion energy by combining two emerging technologies – spherical tokamaks and high-temperature superconductors. The company’s innovation has been featured on Channel 4 news, BBC News Click and Reuters news channel and they received a Technology Pioneer Award at the World Economic Forum on 2016. This is the chance to join a fast-growing high technology company with an agile, dynamic team and to tackle the challenge of a lifetime.
The Role:
A commercial fusion power plant will bring together many co-dependent systems. When designing and optimising potential future devices it is important to ensure that the physics and engineering parameters are consistent and to take a holistic plant view. By optimising for a user defined figure of merit, for example minimum levelised cost of electricity, LCOE, a systems code can be a powerful tool for understanding the implications of design choices on the plant as a whole. These insights can guide future R&D priorities and strengthen the commercial attractiveness of a fusion power plant.
The Company are looking for a developer and modeller to continually enhance their in-house systems code capabilities. This will include adding new modules to describe aspects of the plant; improving existing modules to reflect advances in understanding; and developing the overall code architecture. A key part of the role will be to work with the owners of the various systems and functions (plasma, divertor, HTS magnets, site, maintenance, materials etc) to capture the functionality and important aspects of that system or function and incorporate them into the systems code.
As well as code development, another part of the role will be performing scoping studies and optimisations. Due to the vast number of parameters and constraints, scans must be designed to deliver understandable results and provide valuable insight. Dealing with uncertainty in assumptions is another important aspect of interpreting results and understanding their implications.
Duties will include:
- Responsibility for the continued development of the Company’s in-house systems design code modelling capabilities
- Working closely with physics, engineering, and broader teams to improve existing code modules and develop new ones
- Designing a code architecture that allows for easy integration of new modules and a range of optimisations
- Benchmarking against existing codes
- Planning and performing scoping studies and optimisations that provide valuable insight
- Understanding results in the context of many inter-dependent systems and the propagation and impact of uncertainties
Contacts and Communication:
- Reports to the Physics Team Leader
- Will work closely with a broad range of teams to understand systems/processes/etc and add functionality to the design code
- Communicating results and their implications to the wider team
Personal Skills and Attributes:
- Experience developing and maintaining large codes in Python, MatLab, or similar
- PhD in plasma physics or fusion related field, or equivalent experience
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a multi-disciplinary team of scientist and engineers
- Organised approach to overcoming complex challenges
Benefits:
- 25 Days Holiday (plus bank holidays)
- Company Pension scheme: Company contribution of 5% of salary after 3 months’ service
- Eligible for company share option scheme after one years’ service
- Company bonus scheme, discretionary, dependent on performance
- Private medical insurance after 3 months’ service
Previous applicants need not apply.
Please click the APPLY button to send your CV and Cover Letter for the role.
Candidates with the experience or relevant job titles of; IT Developer, Software Developer, Software Engineer, Software, Developer, IT Engineer, Coder, Modeller, System Coder, Python, Senior Developer, Programmer, Lead Developer, Technical Developer, Systems Developer, may also be considered for this role.
