Horizon Scanning Manager

Job Introduction

The opportunity and your impact 

At the NDA, we want to drive innovation to enable delivery of our decommissioning mission more effectively, more efficiently and for less cost to the taxpayer. Emerging technologies, research & development activities and initiatives designed to foster innovation have the potential to significantly enable this. Opportunities for change could come from all areas – from incremental process improvements through to breakthrough innovations. Effective change starts with identifying opportunities; then collaborating to evaluate, experiment and exploit them effectively.

Hear from the hiring manager:

Join the NDA’s Innovation team and play an important role in driving technical advancements that will help transform our decommissioning mission. You’ll lead the NDA group in identifying and leveraging emerging technologies and you’ll collaborate with diverse teams and stakeholders to foster a culture of innovation and exploration. This is a unique opportunity to make a significant impact, working alongside industry leaders and other government organisations to identify promising innovations and understand their transformational potential. 

What you’ll do  

As part of the Innovation team within the NDA, this role will: 

• Lead on identifying emerging and developing technologies, applications and approaches which could benefit the NDA Group and impact decommissioning or waste management activities.
• Be a focal point on horizon scanning for the NDA Group.
• Work closely with existing teams in operating companies/subsidiaries to share knowledge, best practice and help to maximise opportunities for groupwide benefit.
• Support innovation strategy development through accessing external best practice and expertise.
• Support the team to improve the innovation support that we offer to the group and to foster a vibrant innovation culture 
• Work in collaboration with Technical Assurance, Research, and Assurance & Performance teams to support wider departmental objectives.

Key interfaces include: 

Managers within all operating companies, NDA functional heads, NDA executives, internal research & development and innovation networks.

Regulators, including the Environment Agency and the Office for Nuclear Regulation; the NDA’s sponsor: the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero; UK Research and Innovation; other government departments including: the Government Office for Science; Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser; Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

Other sectors and organisations with similar missions which innovate and investigate emerging technologies, e.g. Waste Remediation, Oil and Gas, Utilities, Space, Defence, Digital, Logistics.

National and regional innovation agencies and clusters, including: Innovate UK, the UKRI Catapult Network, National Nuclear Laboratory and the Net Zero Technology Centre.

Accountabilities:

• Update and maintain the NDA’s strategy and approach to horizon scanning for emerging and developing technologies. Access good practice from all sectors to inform this. 
• Identify and develop a programme of various components, tools and processes to carry out horizon scanning on the medium to long term, on areas that may bring significant benefits to decommissioning and that meet the needs of the NDA group.
• Manage and grow the community of practice across the NDA group in horizon scanning to ensure we are working collaboratively on behalf of the group
• Liaise across government, with regulators and with the supply chain to seek opportunities for collaborative insight, programmes and funding.
• Liaise closely with the Research and Technical Assurance teams to ensure the right insertion opportunities are identified and the right culture developed to realise the benefits
• Support implementation of the NDA’s Innovation Strategy:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nda-innovation-strategy 

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate:

• Ability to live the NDA values of respect, openness, collaboration, performance and creativity.
• Ability to manage own workload, including time and deadline management.
• Ability to understand and convey technical information with clarity and enthusiasm to a broad range of stakeholders.
• Ability to build effective relationships quickly with internal and external stakeholders and work collaboratively.
• Ability to exert leadership and influence to implement new approaches, improve performance and deliver objectives.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience required:

• Educated to graduate level in a STEM subject (or equivalent) or equivalent experience 
• Track record in performing, managing and developing technology intelligence using horizon scanning and related techniques    
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills 
• Experience of public sector horizon scanning and application of the Government Futures Toolkit would be beneficial
• Understanding of the nuclear sector is helpful but not essential 

Why work at the NDA?

We value the unique differences that each of our colleagues bring to work every day and are committed to creating an environment where everyone feels respected, included and able to perform at their best. At NDA, we are committed to creating a workplace that is diverse and inclusive. We value the diversity of our people and actively seek to have a workforce that represents the rich diversity of the communities we support. Currently, we are underrepresented in some areas, and would particularly welcome applicants from Women, Black, Asian and Ethnic Minorities, LGBTQ+ and candidates who have a disability.

NDA is a member of the disability confident scheme, when requested we will make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process and we guarantee to interview all candidates who have a disability who meet all of the essential criteria for the vacancy.

We are happy to discuss flexible working. We will also make workplace adjustments for disabled employees if these are needed to help them perform at their best in the role, and we are happy to discuss this once a job offer has been made.