Trainee Health Physicist

Trainee Health Physicist - Radiation Protection Development Programme

Location: PO12 2DL, located in Alverstoke, Gosport, with free onsite parking.

Package: £33,000

Let us introduce the role

AWE is currently recruiting for three Trainee Health Physicists for the Defence Radiation Protection Services.

The Defence Radiation Protection Services are part of the Science function at AWE. Radiation Protection is a diverse and rewarding career devoted to protecting people and the environment from radiological hazards. Health Physicists work within a team of experienced specialists providing Radiation Protection advice and services to a wide range of military and civilian customers (including commercial customers).

We ask you to be geographically mobile to make the most of these opportunities, which will provide you with a thorough grounding in radiation protection across defence. We can give you the real-world experience and training to enhance your technical and core personal skills, enabling you to thrive.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking to recruit three Trainee Health Physicists (radiation protection scientists) to join our team. A career in radiation protection is an excellent choice for someone who wishes to continue to use their practical, scientific and technical knowledge and skills in a multi-disciplinary environment that involves both office-based and practical elements and where the ability to communicate with people from a wide range of backgrounds is essential. Every day is different!

As a trainee you will embark upon a comprehensive training programme that gives you the competencies required to become a Health Physicist. We will deliver your training through a mixture of formal and informal modules at the AWE Alverstoke site and at external locations. Trainees must complete and pass all elements.

There will be opportunities to familiarise yourself and interact with the customers from an early stage. Trainees will play a part in delivering advice and technical support to our customers, and our training will allow you to start to conduct advisory visits and deliver training at a range of key customer sites as the programme progresses.

After completing the programme as a Health Physicist, you will give advice on all aspects of ionising and non-ionising radiation ensuring that we undertake safety examinations of newly installed equipment capable of emitting ionising radiation, assessing radiation levels, and advising on the standard and suitability of controls and radiation safety equipment. In addition to this you will:

• Arrange, plan, and conduct radiation protection advisory visits to customer sites at home and internationally for a mix of defence customers, and provide customer reports within agreed timescales;
• Provide radiation protection advice to customers and colleagues on the safe use, storage, transport, and disposal, of sources of radiation;
• Undertake measurements and make recommendations on the risk from non-ionising radiations, and provide safety advice on the storage and use of lasers;
• Deliver radiation training courses and lead practical exercises both online and at customer premises. You may also be preparing and reviewing training material;
• Following a further period of training you will provide specialist health physics support as a member of the AWE Radiological and Nuclear Emergency Response Organisation as part of a duty roster.

The successful candidate will have either operational experience in health physics, dosimetry, environment, radioactive waste management, health and safety (ESH) or other associated fields, or have a degree in a science, technology or engineering discipline and will be ready and able to apply their experiences, knowledge, skills and qualifications to learning how to be a radiation protection professional.

Our two-year health physicist training scheme is industry-leading, combining training modules that cover the full range of knowledge required with real time work and opportunities to help DRPS maintain its radiological capability to ensure that we develop world class professionals. Once the training scheme is completed, we encourage all our staff to continue to work towards professional accreditation as a Radiation Protection Adviser and chartered status with the Radiation Protection Council.

Some reasons we think you'll love it here:

AWE has wide range of benefits to suit you. These include:

• Market leading contributory pension scheme (we will pay between 9% and 13% of your pensionable pay depending on your contributions);
• Family friendly policies: Maternity Leave - 39 Weeks Full Pay and Paternity Leave - 4 Weeks Full Pay;
• Opportunities for Professional Career Development including funding for annual membership of a relevant professional body;
• Employee Assistance Programme and Occupational Health Services;
• Life Assurance (4 x annual salary);
• Discounts - access to savings on a wide range of everyday spending;
• Special Leave Policy including paid time off for volunteering, public service (including reserve forces) and caring.

The 'Working at AWE' page on our website is where you can find full details in the 'AWE Benefits Guide'.

#LI-MB