Senior Mechanical Engineer

Job Title: Senior Mechanical Engineer

Location: Heysham, Lancashire

Compensation: Attractive Salary + Benefits

Role Type: Full time / Permanent

Role ID: SF 71814

At Cavendish Nuclear we’re working to create a safe and secure world, together, and if you join us, you can play your part as a Senior Mechanical Engineer, at the Heysham 1 Power Station in Lancashire.

The role

As a Senior Mechanical Engineer, you’ll have a role that’s out of the ordinary. You contribute directly to one of the most important phases in the nuclear‑energy lifecycle. You play a central part in preparing and delivering the safe, effective removal of spent fuel, supporting ponds and flasks operations as Heysham 1 moves toward defueling. Your work ensures critical engineering systems operate reliably in a high‑hazard environment, contributing to national energy security and advancing your own development in complex mechanical design, safety‑critical engineering, and nuclear‑sector excellence.

Day-to-day, you’ll be required to

• Drive end‑to‑end design output, producing schemes, detailed drawings, assemblies, specifications, technical studies, and design justification reports.
• Identify and respond to task variations through formal change control.
• Deliver multi‑discipline work packages to programme, budget, and quality standards.
• Support ponds and flasks operations as part of defueling readiness.

This is a 37‑hour‑per‑week, full‑time, onsite role at Heysham, Lancashire. Set working times are 08:00–16:30 (Monday to Thursday) and 08:00–13:00 (Friday).

Essential experience of the Senior Mechanical Engineer:

• Experience producing mechanical design deliverables for mechanical handling equipment, special‑purpose machinery or lifting equipment, ideally in a high‑hazard environment.
• Demonstrated design leadership and the ability to manage multi‑discipline teams.
• Experience delivering engineering work packages to time, cost, and quality.
• Strong understanding of change control within engineering design processes.
• Experience working within safety‑critical or regulated engineering environments.

Qualifications for the Senior Mechanical Engineer:

• Degree‑qualified or equivalent (NVQ Level 3 or HNC).

Security Clearance

The successful candidate must be able to achieve and maintain Counter Terrorist Check (CTC) security clearance for this role. Further details are available at United Kingdom Security Vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

What we offer

• Generous holiday allowance
• Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance
• Access to a Digital GP, annual health check, and nutritional consultations through Aviva DigiCare+
• Employee share scheme
• Employee shopping savings portal
• Payment of Professional Fees
• Reservists in the armed forces receive 10-days special paid leave
• Holiday Trading is a benefit that allows UK Cavendish employees to buy additional leave or to sell up to one working week of annual leave from their annual entitlement. This Window opens February through to March annually.
• ‘Be Kind Day’ enables employees to take one working day's paid leave a year (or equivalent hours) to undertake volunteering work with their chosen organisation or registered charity
• Excellent development opportunities and benefits package including an employee assistance programme supporting physical, mental and financial wellbeing.

Cavendish

We’re Cavendish Nuclear — a team of c5,000 specialists and a core part of Babcock International Group.

Here, you’ll be part of something bigger. Across clean energy, defence, and civil decommissioning, your work will contribute to projects that are critical to energy security and national protection. Together, we’re shaping a future that lasts — not only through the impact we make, but through meaningful careers that respect your work-life balance.

Join us and discover how far we can go, together.

We are a disability confident committed employer. If you have a disability or need any reasonable adjustments during the application and selection stages, please email careers@babcockinternational.com with the subject header ‘Reasonable adjustments requirement’. We’re committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone’s free to thrive. We are happy to talk about flexible working – please ask about alternative patterns of work at interview.

Closing date: 20/03/2026

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