DV Cleared Configuration Manager

Job Role: Configuration Manager
Location: Reading
Hours: Full-time
Clearance: DV clearance required
Sector: Nuclear / Defence
Employment Type: Contract

This is a genuinely different Configuration Manager opportunity for someone looking to build a long-term career within complex nuclear and defence programmes.

You ll be joining the UK operation of a major international nuclear engineering organisation, but working within a distinct specialist business entity embedded alongside the end user. This gives you the backing and resources of a large international engineering group, combined with much greater visibility and involvement in the actual delivery, completion and handover of safety-critical systems.

The wider group employs approximately 14,000 people internationally, with a substantial and growing UK operation supporting major long-term nuclear, power and defence programmes.

For the right Configuration Manager, this offers:

• Long-term career opportunities across the UK nuclear and defence sectors
• Exposure to technically complex, safety-critical engineering programmes
• The opportunity to work closely with the end user rather than operating at arm s length within the traditional supply chain
• Genuine involvement across engineering, construction completion, commissioning and handover
• The chance to develop a highly sought-after configuration management specialism
• The backing and capability of a major international engineering group
• Potential exposure to wider UK and international opportunities as your career develops
• A role where you can take ownership of problems and see the direct impact of your work

We re looking for an experienced Configuration Manager to work within a highly regulated engineering environment supporting the completion, configuration and eventual handover of complex systems and assets.

What makes the opportunity particularly interesting is the structure of the organisation you ll be joining.

Rather than sitting within a conventional engineering supplier delivering one isolated package of work, you ll operate through a specialist business entity that works directly alongside the end-user delivery organisation.

You ll retain the technical backing, resources and career opportunities associated with a major international engineering group while becoming much more closely integrated with the teams responsible for delivering and ultimately accepting the assets.

It means exposure to the bigger picture and the opportunity to influence how engineering information, physical assets and configuration requirements come together as projects move towards final completion and handover.

As Configuration Manager, you ll need to understand how engineering information, configuration requirements and the physical condition of an asset need to remain aligned throughout a complex project lifecycle.

This isn't simply a document-control role.

We re looking for someone who can understand the technical environment, identify gaps or inconsistencies, establish the correct configuration baseline and bring engineering, construction, commissioning and delivery stakeholders together to resolve issues.

You'll need the confidence to challenge where appropriate, work through technically complex problems and take ownership of issues through to an agreed and controlled resolution.

Your responsibilities as Configuration Manager will include:

• Establishing and maintaining registers of managed configuration baselines
• Completing gap analysis to confirm that the correct baselines have been identified
• Establishing clear ownership and accountability for baseline information
• Integrating configuration requirements across engineering, project and delivery teams
• Mapping baselines against project areas, systems and lifecycle delivery packages
• Ensuring configuration information remains accurate, accessible and appropriately controlled
• Identifying blockers, discrepancies, open points and incomplete information
• Bringing together engineering, construction and delivery stakeholders to resolve configuration issues
• Developing practical closure strategies for outstanding technical and configuration issues
• Providing clear status reporting and escalating issues when necessary
• Supporting the completion and handover of Class 1, 2 and 3 active and passive systems
• Driving systems towards final acceptance, including controlled forward-action plans where immediate closure isn't possible

You'll also support the development and maintenance of configuration management processes, including:

• Configuration audits
• Configuration management standards and procedures
• Project change-control processes
• Information and knowledge management
• Engineering and project documentation
• As-found configuration of systems and assets
• Design change reviews
• Contract deliverables and handover requirements
• Configuration management KPIs
• Impact assessments relating to relevant nuclear site licence conditions

You ll ideally have previous experience as a Configuration Manager, or significant hands-on configuration management experience within nuclear, defence, energy, major infrastructure or another highly regulated engineering environment.

We re particularly interested in candidates who can demonstrate experience of:

• Establishing, controlling and maintaining project or asset configuration baselines
• Engineering change control and configuration governance
• Construction completion, commissioning, handover or operational acceptance
• Identifying and resolving gaps between design information and physical assets
• Root-cause analysis and structured problem solving
• Managing non-conformances, design issues, open points or technical blockers
• Working across multidisciplinary engineering teams
• Managing relationships with senior technical and project stakeholders
• Taking ownership of problems and driving actions through to completion

You should have experience within at least one core engineering discipline, together with sufficient multidisciplinary knowledge to understand how systems interact within a complex facility.

Relevant backgrounds could include:

• Electrical
• Control & Instrumentation
• Mechanical
• Process
• HVAC / ventilation
• Civil / structural
• Mechanical handling
• Security systems
• Radiological monitoring
• Safety Instrumented Systems
• Complex or bespoke plant and machinery

Experience across any of the following would also be useful:

• Nuclear safety cases
• Safety classification
• Structures, Systems and Components
• Class 1, 2 and 3 systems
• Active and passive systems
• Safety-critical design
• FMECA
• HAZOP / HAZID
• Substantiation and equipment qualification
• Design verification and validation
• Design and version control
• Engineering V lifecycle
• Nuclear site licence conditions
• Design change and impact assessments
• Commissioning and handover
• Non-conformance management
• Seismic, fire, flooding, radiological or chemotoxic hazards

DV clearance is required for this position.

Due to the nature of the programmes and working environment, candidates will need to meet the security requirements associated with working within sensitive UK nuclear and defence environments.

The structure of this opportunity is what really sets it apart.

You won't simply be responsible for maintaining configuration registers from the outside of a project. You'll work closely with the teams responsible for completing, handing over and ultimately operating complex assets.

You'll be involved in establishing what the true configuration of a system is, identifying where information or physical assets don't align, bringing the right technical people together and helping drive those issues towards resolution.

For an experienced Configuration Manager looking for greater ownership, technical exposure and long-term career opportunities across the nuclear and defence sectors, this is a particularly interesting opportunity.

If you're an experienced Configuration Manager with a background in nuclear, defence or another highly regulated engineering environment, we'd be keen to speak with you.

Apply with an up-to-date CV or get in touch for a confidential conversation about the position.