Why your experience could be a fit for nuclear new build jobs

BLOGBy Rullion on 02 April 2026

You might not think nuclear is a career for you. Most people don’t.

Many perceive the nuclear industry as a niche sector, primarily dominated by scientists and technical experts. However, nuclear projects rely on a much broader workforce, drawing on talent from construction, infrastructure, rail, energy, manufacturing and many other disciplines. What most people don't realise when looking at nuclear new build jobs is that many of the people working in nuclear today started their careers elsewhere.

If you’re considering your next move, this is a good piece to understand how nuclear projects work and where your experience could fit.

What are nuclear new build programmes?

One of the biggest misconceptions about working in nuclear is that most roles require a nuclear background. In reality, nuclear new build programmes look much more like large-scale infrastructure projects, involving the design, construction, commissioning, and eventually live operations of a station. These programmes run over decades and require thousands of people across a wide range of disciplines

While nuclear can sound highly technical, much of the work will be familiar to people with experience in infrastructure, construction, engineering or major project delivery. The difference is the environment the work sits within. Nuclear projects operate under rigorous regulatory and safety frameworks, where quality, assurance and compliance are built into every stage of delivery.

Across the UK, this major nuclear new build programmes are already underway. Hinkley Point C is in active construction and has become one of the largest infrastructure projects in Europe. Sizewell C is moving into its next phase, preparing for major construction activity. Alongside this, programmes such as Small Modular Reactors, including the Rolls-Royce SMR, and the STEP fusion programme are progressing and will introduce additional projects and supply chains across the UK.

Projects like these involve far more than housing a nuclear reactor. They include marine works, cooling systems, large reinforced concrete structures, turbine halls, substations, transport infrastructure, accommodation facilities, and complex digital control systems.

This scale and complexity necessitate thousands of roles across engineering, project delivery, construction, digital systems, and operations. Much of that demand is met by people entering the sector for the first time.

If you’re new to the sector, it helps to understand how these projects are structured and where different skills come into play. For an overview of the nuclear sector and its career pathways, read our guide to UK nuclear careers.

Types of nuclear new build jobs

So where do you actually fit into all of this?

Nuclear new build programmes teams still look very similar to those on other large infrastructure projects, just operating within a different environment. It can help to break these projects down by the types of roles they actually require to understand where you might fit.

Engineering roles

Engineering sits at the core of new nuclear build projects. Civil engineers design and deliver major structures, mechanical engineers work on plant systems, electrical engineers manage power infrastructure and instrumentation, and nuclear site engineers and control experts manage complex operational systems.

The difference is applying those skills within a more regulated environment. There is strong demand for engineers who are used to working in complex, safety-critical environments, particularly those coming from major infrastructure, energy, oil and gas, or defence projects.

Project delivery and commercial roles

Nuclear new build programmes operate at the scale of megaprojects. Project planners, programme managers, commercial managers, contract managers, and project controls professionals all play a key role in keeping delivery on track.

People often transition into nuclear through these functions, bringing experience from other large-scale projects. Where managing timelines, budgets, and complex supply chains is already part of the day-to-day.

Construction and site-based roles

Construction is where workforce demand is most visible. Structural works, logistics, heavy lifting operations, quality assurance, and site management all contribute to delivering large-scale infrastructure on site.

Many of these roles are filled by professionals with backgrounds in construction, civil engineering, or major infrastructure projects, bringing experience that transfers directly into the nuclear environment.

Digital and systems roles

Modern nuclear infrastructure projects rely heavily on digital systems. This includes simulation environments, control systems, cyber security, and digital monitoring tools used throughout both construction and operations.

Digital and system roles are becoming increasingly important as projects integrate more advanced monitoring and operating systems.

Supply chain and procurement

Behind every nuclear new build programme is a large and complex nuclear supply chain. Procurement specialists, logistics professionals, manufacturing teams, and commercial specialists ensure services, materials, and components are delivered on time and to specification. For those with experience in supply chain or vendor management, this sector is a key area where skills transfer directly.

Health, safety and compliance

Nuclear projects also rely on a wide range of support roles, which are often less visible but equally critical to delivery. Health and safety, quality, environmental management, onboarding, screening, and workforce planning are all essential to keeping projects compliant and operating safely.

Roles you might not expect

Some roles on nuclear projects sit outside the areas people typically associate with the sector. On projects like Hinkley Point C, teams include marine specialists managing offshore logistics and environmental experts protecting habitats.

It’s a much broader workforce than most people expect, with opportunities extending well beyond traditional engineering or construction roles. If your experience sits outside traditional nuclear roles, there may still be a clear place for it within the wider project.

Where these roles sit across a nuclear project

Nuclear new build projects develop over long periods of time, taking 15 to 20 years from early planning through to operation. As each phase progresses, the type of work changes, and so does the mix of roles required.

Workforce demand on nuclear projects does not increase gradually; it builds in stages. Often accelerating quickly once construction activity expands. Early development teams may involve a few hundred specialists focused on planning, design, licensing, and regulatory work.

As projects move into main construction, that number increases significantly. This pattern has already been seen on Hinkley Point C. As construction moved from early works into full delivery, workforce demand increased rapidly, with thousands of people required onsite to run civils, mechanical and electrical, construction, logistics, and project delivery in parallel.

A similar pattern is now emerging at Sizewell C. The site workforce has already grown to more than 2,000 people per day as activity has progressed, with further increases expected as additional phases begin to overlap. During peak construction, projects of this scale can require around 10,000 thousands of workers on-site. This is a defining feature of a new nuclear build.

Once a nuclear new build programme moves beyond construction, roles shift towards testing, commissioning and operational readiness, followed by long-term opportunities in maintenance, compliance and plant support once stations are running. This means there isn’t a single entry point. Opportunities open up at different stages depending on your experience and where nuclear projects are in their lifecycle.

Moving into nuclear from other industries

Because opportunities open up at different stages of a project, many people enter nuclear during periods of construction and delivery, bringing experience from other industries. The transition itself is often more straightforward than expected. In many cases, people move into similar roles to the ones they’ve already been doing, but within a different project environment.

Common transition paths include:

Oil and gas engineers moving into energy infrastructure projects
Defence and aerospace engineers transferring safety and systems expertise
Construction professionals moving from transport or infrastructure projects
Digital specialists working on control systems and simulation platforms

Location is also an important factor to consider. Nuclear new build sites such as Sizewell C and Hinkley Point C are based outside major cities, which can involve working on-site or relocating closer to the project. For many, this brings a different kind of experience. You’re closer to the delivery of major infrastructure, working alongside large multidisciplinary teams and seeing progress as it happens.

For many, that is part of the appeal. You’re building experience in real time, working alongside specialists from different disciplines, and contributing to something you can physically see taking shape. It’s a different pace and a different kind of visibility on projects that will operate for decades.

Early career routes into nuclear

Nuclear new build is focused on building a future workforce just as much as it is about hiring experienced professionals. This means the sector is actively opening up to new talent. There is also a growing focus on improving workforce diversity and creating more inclusive entry routes into the industry.

Projects such as Hinkley Point C have already trained thousands of apprentices; Sizewell C will support significant training, apprenticeship, and graduate opportunities as construction progresses.

For those earlier in their careers, these routes offer the chance to gain experience within a live national programme from the outset. This often includes structured training and exposure to site environments and technologies, all alongside the opportunity to work with experienced teams across a wide variety of disciplines.

Over time, that experience can open up different pathways across the different phases of a nuclear new build programme, so you’ll have opportunities to progress with the programme as it moves from construction through to commissioning and long-term operations.

Why the nuclear workforce will keep growing

The demand for nuclear skills is not being driven by a single project. It reflects a broader pipeline of work across the UK future energy systems as part of the wider energy transition. Where new nuclear stations are being developed alongside emerging technologies such as Small Modular Reactors and fusion programmes, like STEP.

Projects like Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C sit within this wider programme. While each project runs over decades, they also overlap with one another, creating continuous demand across different phases.

For many people, this points to a career path more stable than a short-term hiring cycle. Experience gained on one project can carry across to the next. That longer lifecycle supports ongoing roles in maintenance, compliance, upgrades, and plant support long after construction ends.

Find your place in nuclear new build

Nuclear new build isn’t limited to those who have built their careers in the sector. No matter if you already work in nuclear or are exploring how your experience could transfer, nuclear new build offers the opportunity to work on some of the UK’s most significant infrastructure projects.

At Rullion, we support organisations and supply chain partners across the nuclear sector, helping connect people to opportunities across major projects like Hinkley Point C, Sizewell C, and the STEP fusion programme.

Finding opportunities on nuclear projects

Explore where your skills could fit. Search our latest nuclear jobs or register your CV to hear about nuclear new build jobs as projects progress.

More like this

View all insights

RESOURCE

Senior Leadership Hiring for the Nuclear Sector

The Office for Nuclear Regulation’s (ONR) expectations of senior nominated individuals have always been demanding, but the breadth of what the UK nuclear sector is making senior leadership hiring significantly harder to get right.

By Rullion on 21 April 2026

BLOG

How is MHHS impacting the energy workforce?

For several years, industry planning has included the Market-wide Half-Hourly Settlement (MHHS) as part of the larger UK energy market reform. The deadline for May 2027 remains in place, and with central systems achieving readiness in 2025, meters are now being integrated into the new settlement model. To continue operating under the current settlement arrangements, organisations are currently figuring out how to integrate their current platforms into the MHHS infrastructure. Jump to: MHHS reaches far beyond settlement Where programmes are feeling the strain How hiring conversations are evolving Broadening where capability comes from Preparing for MHHS workforce demand MHHS reaches far beyond settlement The majority of the definitions surrounding MHHS emphasise the transition from estimated usage to precise, half-hourly readings. That description merely reflects the result. The underlying shift is how this change in settlement is supported. Electricity consumption is measured every 30 minutes based on actual data, not on profiles or estimates. Systems designed for periodic updates now need to handle continuous streams of information, with far less tolerance for delay or discrepancies. Data flows between organisations and needs to stay consistent at every stage to prevent errors in settlement. This is where energy system integration becomes essential. As information no longer sits within a single platform or team, effective coordination is required across independently managed systems, each presenting unique constraints around data formats, settlement timings, and the validation processes prior to submission. The act of consumption itself evolves into a more dynamic experience. Metrics like average household electricity consumption or average UK home electricity consumption are no longer fixed reference points. Data collected every half hour reveals how usage varies throughout the day, directly influencing forecasting models and operative decisions. Where programmes are feeling the strain MHHS programme teams are scaling while still working through the intricacies that only emerge as systems begin interacting. Dependencies between internal platforms and central MHHS infrastructure are becoming clearer during testing, where data needs to be exchanged, validated, and accepted within defined time windows. Data handling stands out as a significant pressure point. Half-hourly settlement depends on precise, high-frequency data streams, which existing systems are not always designed to support. In many cases, such pressure leads to projects for reworking parts of the architecture instead of simply building upon existing infrastructure. Especially relevant where data infrastructure and quality have been identified as potential risks within the transition to MHHS. The settlement and billing processes still need to function smoothly, even as new strategics are introduced and tested alongside them. This means operational teams are working within both models at once, adding to the existing workload for processes that already depend on a small pool of specialists. How hiring conversations are evolving With the rise in delivery activity, demand for specific skillsets is becoming easier to pinpoint. There has been a noticeable uptick in hiring for programme leadership, data engineering, and settlement expertise. Roles focused on data governance and system integrations are also gaining traction as organisations move further into managing migrations and various phases. How those roles are defined is starting to influence how quickly they can be filled. Some roles heavily rely on hiring criteria based on prior experience in the energy market, which can unexpectedly limit the candidate pool. As a result, roles frequently stay open for extended periods or fill at a slower pace than programme timelines permit. This places additional pressure on existing teams and slows progress in areas where specialist expertise is already stretched Many of the required capabilities are not exclusive to the energy sector, although they are frequently presented that way during hiring processes. Some organisations are already adjusting how they approach these challenges. Rather than focusing only on direct sector experience, they are bringing in people who have delivered comparable programmes in other environments. Broadening where expertise comes from Financial services platforms handle high volumes of transactional data, making accuracy, reconciliation, and auditability essential. Telecoms programmes oversee infrastructure transformation throughout distributed networks, often coordinating system upgrades while minimising interruptions to live services. In large technology environments, integration teams routinely connect platforms with different data structures, handling mismatches in format, latency and validation rules. These examples align closely to the types of challenges encountered in MHHS delivery: Data engineers who have honed their skills with high-volume transactional systems can apply that expertise to half-hourly data flows. Data governance specialists bring experience in managing data quality and resolving validation exceptions where information does not meet required standards. Programme managers who are used to coordinating complex infrastructure or digital programmes are well-versed in managing dependencies across multiple teams and timelines. Integration specialists often move between sectors, applying their expertise to connect systems that were not originally intended to work together. Transitioning into the energy sector still requires onboarding and familiarity with the operating environment. However, they allow organisations to access capabilities that would otherwise fall outside conventional hiring standards without causing additional delivery delays. There is also increasing interest in structured development routes. Training programmes are being used to build skills in areas experiencing increased demand during phases like testing and migration and the transition into live systems. Preparing for MHHS workforce demand Workforce planning needs to adapt and evolve with the MHHS programme rather than sit alongside it. Each phase presents its own unique set of requirements. Mapping these changes in advance helps reduce reliance on reactive hiring, especially in areas where onboarding takes time. This also allows for different ways of structuring delivery. Some roles are better suited to permanent teams. Others can be delivered through specialist contractors or outcome-based models depending on the nature of the work. Align workforce planning to delivery phases MHHS delivery doesn’t place consistent pressure on the same roles throughout. Workforce demand shifts as programmes move forward, and planning needs to reflect that progression rather than treating hiring as a single, static requirement. In the early stages, work tends to centre around architecture and settlement design. Solution architects define how systems will connect and business analysts translate regulatory requirements into process and system changes. Settlement specialists are also closely involved here, reworking existing processes and identifying where adjustments are needed. As programmes move to system integration testing (SIT), demand shifts. The emphasis moves from design to validation, with data engineers and integration specialists becoming more central as data moves between systems and needs to hold up under settlement conditions. Bringing these systems together safely requires the expertise of both the test managers and environment leads to ensure seamless coordination. The later stages bring different pressures. The rise in migration activity drives a greater need for professionals skilled in data alignment and reconciliation to make sure records match across systems. Operational teams tasked with billing and settlement processes are gearing up to implement innovative strategies while maintaining existing processes. Some roles require continuity where knowledge of settlement processes needs to be retained. Others are more concentrated within specific phases. By structuring workforce delivery around these stages, organisations can bring in support where needed, without the need to expand teams across the entire programme. Delays tend to surface once systems interact at scale Successful integration hinges on coordination across teams working within defined settlement timelines. Delays in one area can quickly affect others. Migration then adds further pressure. Transferring meters and associated data into the new model demands both continuity and accuracy. When additional support is not in place early enough, existing teams absorb the extra workload, which can hinder progress and raise the chances of errors in settlement outputs. MHHS delivery depends on how teams are built MHHS sits within a wider energy market reform, with multiple organisations in the sector progressing through delivery at the same time and often drawing on the same types of experience. The overlap is already influencing the speed of team construction and the onset of progress slowdowns. Identifying these overlaps earlier allows organisations to bring in the right experience before timelines are affected. Once programs reach the integration or migration stages, there is less flexibility to resolve gaps without slowing delivery. This is why workforce delivery is starting to shift. Delivery is less about the technology itself and more about the teams having the right capacity and expertise in place to carry programmes through. Broadening the methods of talent assessment and exploring new avenues for sourcing talent, including bringing in transferable skills from adjacent sectors, can enhance MHHS delivery. The organisations that move with more certainty here tend to be the ones that have built teams to be able to handle the complexity and scale of the change required.

By Rullion on 15 April 2026

NEWS

Rullion joins Energy & Utility Skills to support workforce planning

The UK’s energy and utilities sectors are preparing for a level of infrastructure investment that will require more than 300,000 new workers over the next five years. That challenge is not just about attracting more people into the sector. It is also about how organisations understand the workforce they need, how they access it, and how workforce planning connects to delivery in practice. As investment accelerates, workforce pressure is building across multiple fronts at once. Skills shortages remain well documented, but the challenge extends beyond supply. It also includes visibility, coordination, and the ability to plan across increasingly complex delivery models. Across infrastructure programmes, delivery relies on a mix of permanent teams, contingent labour, specialist contractors, consultancies and supply chain partners, often operating across different stages of the same programme. Workforce planning needs to reflect that reality, rather than focusing solely on traditional headcount. Rullion has joined Energy & Utility Skills  as part of this wider industry focus, contributing a distinct perspective as the only workforce solutions provider in the membership, with insight into how workforce strategies can better reflect the realities of delivery. Why Rullion has joined Energy & Utility Skills Energy & Utility Skills plays a central role in supporting workforce development across the energy, water and waste sectors. Through industry collaboration, workforce research and skills strategy, it brings together employers, partners and policymakers to address long-term capability challenges across critical infrastructure. Rullion has joined as part of that wider effort, contributing practical insight from across the extended workforce. While much of the industry focus is on attracting new entrants and developing skills pipelines, a significant proportion of delivery continues to rely on contingent labour, specialist contractors and external delivery partners. Bringing greater visibility to that part of the workforce, and how it interacts with permanent teams, is an important part of building a more complete view of workforce capability. James Saoulli, CEO at Rullion shared: “We’re proud to join Energy & Utility Skills and to be part of a community focused on addressing one of the sector’s biggest challenges - building a skilled, resilient workforce for the future. As investment accelerates across the energy, water and waste sectors, we believe there is a real opportunity to take a more integrated approach to workforce planning, bringing together both permanent and extended workforce models. We look forward to working with Energy & Utility Skills and its members to support the delivery of the UK’s net zero ambitions.” Workforce planning needs a broader view Much of the workforce challenge sits in the gap between the workforce organisations plan for and the workforce they actually rely on to deliver projects. These programmes are delivered through a combination of permanent teams, contingent workers, specialist contractors and wider delivery partners. Not all of that workforce is equally visible in planning discussions, despite playing a critical role in delivery. This is already becoming more visible across the sector, as organisations respond to growing pressure around hiring, skills access and delivery timelines. While the industry has spent years focused on decarbonisation targets, energy security and affordability are now accelerating investment and infrastructure upgrades. We explored this further in our recent piece on UK utilities hiring challenges employers cannot ignore in 2026. A more complete view of workforce demand allows organisations to plan with greater accuracy, particularly where delivery models are layered, timelines are long, and competition for skills is increasing across the market. Bringing insight from delivery environments Rullion brings more than 45 years’ experience supporting organisations across energy and utilities, working alongside companies including EDF Energy, E.ON and Northumbrian Water. That perspective comes from the delivery environment itself. Across major infrastructure programmes, workforce challenges rarely sit neatly within one hiring channel. They tend to emerge across the interaction between permanent teams, contingent labour and external delivery partners. This is where greater workforce visibility becomes important. Understanding where capability sits, how it is being deployed, and how different workforce models support delivery gives organisations a stronger basis for workforce planning. It also helps widen the conversation around skills. Not just in terms of how many people are needed, but how workforce capability is built, accessed and coordinated over time. A more joined-up approach to workforce capability Energy & Utility Skills plays a central role in helping the sector respond to long-term skills and workforce pressures across energy, water and waste. This includes connecting skills strategy more closely to infrastructure delivery, labour market access and future resilience. Rullion’s contribution will focus on practical insight from delivery environments, particularly around the role of the extended workforce and how organisations can take a more integrated view of capability. As the sector works to meet investment, decarbonisation and resilience goals at the same time, collaboration across employers, partners and industry bodies will remain essential. The workforce challenge is already clear. The next step is building strategies that reflect how delivery happens in practice.

By Rullion on 08 April 2026