Competency Acquisition Lead

Overview

Role Title: Competency Acquisition Lead

We anticipate paying a salary of between £48,000 - £62,500 DOE

Location: Derby, Manchester, Warrington

We are Rolls-Royce SMR and we're doing something that's never been done before. We're revolutionising an industry. That's a once-in-a-career opportunity for those excited by such a challenge. This is more than just a job; this is a legacy.

We are now recruiting for the exciting role of Competency Acquisition Lead, to be involved in industry leading, cutting-edge design project for a new type of power station.

The Competency Acquisition Lead is responsible for supporting the implementation and ongoing development of the Engineering Competency Acquisition Strategy, ensuring the engineering function has the skills, behaviours, and experience required to deliver the power station design safely, effectively, and in line with organisational objectives.

This role will work closely with internal stakeholders, including Human Resources (HR), Development & Capability (D&C), and technical teams to translate strategic requirements into actionable plans, frameworks, and processes that enable competency acquisition, assurance, and continuous improvement.

Key Results & What can be achieved in the role

• Strategy Delivery: Lead the execution of key activities outlined in the Engineering Competency Strategy, coordinating and tracking progress against immediate priorities and longer-term milestones.
• Technical Training Oversight: Review and evaluate technical training requests to ensure alignment with engineering competency requirements and strategic priorities. Collaborate with stakeholders to prioritise training investments and maximise value for capability development.
• Competency Framework Development: Support the design, development, and integration of competency frameworks across engineering disciplines and professional levels, ensuring alignment with organisational governance, quality assurance, and regulatory expectations.
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Build and maintain strong relationships with HR, Development & Capability, and other enabling functions to ensure engineering needs are understood and embedded in relevant processes. Facilitate cross-functional collaboration to support workforce planning, training, and succession initiatives.
• Tools & Systems Enablement: Contribute to the selection, implementation, and optimisation of tools and systems that support competency tracking, assessment, and reporting. Ensure visibility of competency levels across the engineering function.
• Continuous Improvement: Identify and implement opportunities to refine and evolve the strategy based on feedback, business changes, and emerging needs. Promote a culture of learning, adaptability, and ongoing professional development.
• Reporting & Communication: Provide clear, timely updates to senior stakeholders on progress, risks, and outcomes. Develop materials that communicate the strategy's purpose, progress, and impact across the business.
• Best Practice Adoption: Promote the use of best practice learning and skills tools within the engineering function, with a focus on leveraging existing capabilities such as EPRI and INPO resources.
• Competency Tracking & Metrics: Monitor and track competency acquisition activities across the engineering programme-including mandatory training-and maintain relevant metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to support decision-making and continuous improvement.

Confidence can sometimes hold us back from applying for a job. But we'll let you in on a secret: there's no such thing as a 'perfect' candidate. If you feel you meet 75% of the requirements for this role, we would love to hear from you.

Also, if you are considering a career move or a sector-jump, please get in touch, we welcome applications from people with transferable skills.

Key Selection Criteria

Engineering Discipline Experience

Demonstrated experience in delivering complex engineering programmes within regulated environments, ideally in nuclear or similarly high-integrity sectors.

• Experience working across multiple engineering disciplines.
• Familiarity with lifecycle stages from concept through to commissioning.
• Exposure to safety-critical systems and quality assurance processes.

Interpersonal & Stakeholder Engagement Skills

• Ability to build strong relationships across technical and enabling functions (e.g. HR, D&C, programme teams).
• Skilled in influencing without authority.
• Comfortable facilitating workshops, consultations, and cross-functional discussions.
• Able to translate technical requirements into business-aligned actions.

Analytical & Continuous Improvement Mindset

• Ability to interpret data, identify trends, and drive improvements in competency acquisition.
• Experience developing KPIs and metrics to track progress.
• Comfortable reviewing training requests and assessing value against strategic goals.
• Proactive in identifying gaps and proposing solutions.

Knowledge of Competency Frameworks & Skills Strategy

• Understanding of competency frameworks, skills taxonomies, and workforce capability planning.
• Experience developing or implementing competency strategies.
• Knowledge of regulatory expectations around SQEP and training assurance.

Project Management

• Strong organisational skills to manage multiple workstreams, priorities, and stakeholder inputs.
• Experience in planning and tracking delivery against strategic objectives.
• Ability to manage budgets or funding streams related to training and development.
• Familiarity with project management tools and reporting frameworks.