Deputy Director of Computing Programmes

As Deputy Director of Computing Programmes, you will be the trusted deputy to the Director of Computing Programmes, helping to shape and deliver one of the UK’s most exciting emerging computing portfolios at the intersection of fusion, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.

This is a rare opportunity to help build and exploit SUNRISE and future large-scale AI/HPC capabilities while also helping to shape the Advanced Computing R&D portfolio that those facilities enable. You will play a central role in translating strategic ambition into delivery, ensuring that strategic computing capabilities are successfully established, integrated and exploited, while also working closely with Unit Heads, Programme Leaders and partners to develop, mature and deliver a high-impact research and innovation portfolio around them.

SUNRISE is a major strategic opportunity for UKAEA: a next-generation computing capability intended to accelerate the digitalisation of the UK’s fusion roadmap and create a powerful platform for advanced modelling, simulation and AI-enabled scientific discovery. For the right candidate, this is a chance to help shape not just a facility, but a wider national capability and the programmes, partnerships and ways of working that will define its success.

This role combines operational grip with intellectual range. You will lead the Computing Division’s delivery framework, covering governance, programme integration, operational assurance, performance oversight and decision support, while retaining real scope to help shape the direction of programmes, partnerships and future capability development. It is ideally suited to someone ambitious, mission-driven and excited by the chance to build, influence and leave a lasting mark.

Responsibility for enterprise IT operations, including corporate systems, end-user services, networks, identity and access management, cyber security, compliance and corporate platforms, sits with the Director of Computing Operations. While you will not manage these services directly, you will lead the integration of mission computing delivery, ensuring facilities such as SUNRISE and federated computing services align effectively with internal systems. Working closely with the Director of Computing Operations, who retains accountability for enterprise controls and compliance, you will build a high-trust partnership that ensures seamless, secure access from desktop environments to advanced supercomputing capability.