Job Description

AWE have an incredibly unique opportunity for a Senior Computational Scientist to manage the development / planning cycle with close integration with our customer to design and develop system/application software supporting libraries and tools. Successful candidates will gain first-hand experience of working in the vibrant field of HPC motivated by multi-physics science problems. Access to computer platforms at the scale that AWE regularly operate is something that only a handful of sites in the UK will be able to offer.

Location: Reading area

As part of our People Promise, AWE (one of the best 25 big companies to work for in the UK) has a range of benefits to suit you. These include:

• Time to recharge your batteries with 270 hours of annual leave (plus every other Friday off work)
• Consideration for flexible working arrangements so that your work may fit in with your lifestyle. Just let us know on your application if you wish to work part time
• Opportunities for Professional Career Development that include funding for the annual membership of a relevant professional body, access to mentors and training
• Employee Assistance Programme and Occupational Health Services
• A generous defined contribution Group Personal Pension (we will pay between 9% and 13% of your pensionable pay depending on your own contribution)
• Life Assurance
• 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 for your family
• A host of voluntary & core benefits to suit your health and wellbeing - more information available on our careers site
• Potential opportunities to travel with work for conferences and collaboration

The HPC group provides scientific computing support to the user community at AWE with significant HPC real estate at its disposal. In addition, there exists multiple small development platforms with novel architectures that are routinely used for code porting and research related activities. The role will involve interacting with code scientists and system administrators to contribute to a variety of support, research, and development activities within all levels of our HPC software and hardware.

Our software stack varies ranging from low level machine code to high level languages such as Python and everything in between. The hardware infrastructure includes Linux workstation deployments to supercomputer blades with direct liquid cooling. Our core network infrastructures are purpose built to deal with very large data packets generated by our supercomputers that you are unlikely to find in other commercial organisations in the UK.

What will you be responsible for?

• Providing appropriate assistance for porting specific codes to new platforms whilst assisting colleagues to resolve technical problems/queries
• The design, develop, test, and maintain an existing major software package
• Production of suitable technical documentation including reports and presentations
• Research level investigation of advanced novel techniques for solution of multi-physics problems
• Lead research and development activities which have a direct impact at the level of the technical specialism
• Actively participate in collaboration activities with external peers on leading-edge research (International Peers/Industry/Academia)
• Development of relevant benchmarks for assessing current and future systems
• Maintaining an awareness of current and future developments in the HPC field

What will you need to be considered?

• A Degree in Computer Science, Physics, Mathematics, or other numerate discipline; equivalent NQF level 6 qualification or equivalent experience
• Ability to capture software requirements and produce appropriate implementations
• Strong programming skills in C, C++, Fortran, or a similar high-level language
• Knowledge of computer architectures, in particular, parallel architectures (including accelerators such as GPUs) and their applicability to running large scientific calculations
• Ability to understand scientific and computational requirements and produce appropriate solutions
• Able to write in clear and concise language on technical matters and summarise and present such material effectively

• Ability to conduct self-guided research into diverse computational techniques, and code development practices
• Methodical approach to problem solving with strong abilities to draw together and interpret data from a variety of sources in order to reach a conclusion
• Problem solving skills including identifying, assessing, and developing relevant numerical techniques and mathematical models for scientific applications
• Experience of contributing to large industrial or research software as part of a team
• Ability to integrate and work well in a team and provide technical leadership in projects

Candidates must be willing and able to obtain and maintain the necessary security clearance for the role.

Atomic Weapons Establishment