Head of Welding and Development

Job Title:                     Head of Welding and Development

Location:                     Rosyth, Fife

Compensation:           £75,000 - £85,000

Role Type:                   Full time / Permanent

Role ID:                        SF73086

Lead welding excellence. Shape the future of advanced engineering.

At Babcock, we’re working to create a safe and secure world, together. If you join us, you can play your part as a Head of Welding and Development at Rosyth, near Dunfermline, Fife. Babcock is a trusted partner to global defence and engineering programmes, delivering complex and mission‑critical work across defence, aerospace and advanced manufacturing. This is your opportunity to lead a highly specialised technical function that directly underpins national capability, safety and security.

The role

As the Head of Welding and Development, you’ll provide strategic, technical and operational leadership for welding capability across the organisation. This is a rare and influential leadership role, where your expertise will shape welding standards, technologies and workforce capability across complex, safety‑critical programmes.

You’ll act as Babcock’s senior welding authority, driving innovation, quality and compliance while developing future‑ready welding processes and people. Your work will enable efficient, compliant production and directly contribute to long‑term programme success — while positioning you as a recognised technical leader within the defence and engineering sector.

Day-to-day, you’ll have the following responsibilities:

• Developing and delivering the organisational welding strategy aligned to production and business objectives
• Leading and managing the Welding and Development team, setting direction, standards and performance expectations
• Owning and governing all welding standards, procedures and technical specifications across the business
• Driving innovation and continuous improvement through research, development and adoption of emerging technologies
• Partnering with stakeholders across Engineering, Production, Quality, Safety and Supply Chain, while acting as the principal welding Subject Matter Expert for customers and auditors.

This is a 36-hour per week role based at Rosyth. Hybrid working patterns are available.

Essential experience of the Head of Welding and Development:

• Proven leadership experience delivering welding strategy in a complex manufacturing or fabrication environment
• Deep technical expertise in welding standards, procedures, defect investigation and root cause analysis
• Experience developing workforce capability through training, upskilling and professional development programmes
• Demonstrated leadership of innovation, research and continuous improvement within welding or fabrication
• Strong stakeholder management skills across multidisciplinary teams and external bodies.

Qualifications for the Head of Welding and Development:

• Expert knowledge of major welding processes including MIG, MAG, TIG, MMA, FCAW and SAW
• Strong understanding of metallurgy, weld design, heat treatment and material behaviour
• Advanced competence in welding inspection, non‑destructive testing methods and quality systems
• Experience with robotic or automated welding systems (highly desirable).

Security Clearance

The successful candidate must be a sole UK National who is able to achieve and maintain Security Check (SC) security clearance for this role.

Many of the positions within our company are subject to national security clearance and Trade Control restrictions. This means that your eligibility for certain roles may be affected by your place of birth, nationality, current or former citizenship, and any residency you hold or have held. 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 Babcock employees to buy additional leave or to sell up to one working week of annual leave from their annual entitlement. There is an annual Window to request this benefit. ‘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.

Babcock

We’re Babcock — a global FTSE 100 organisation with over 26,000 people working together to make a difference.

Here, you’ll be part of something bigger. From initial design to final decommissioning, your work will contribute to products and services that are essential to national security and public infrastructure. Together, we’re building a future that lasts — not just through the impact we make, but through meaningful careers that respect your work-life balance.

We call that lifetime engineering.

Join us and see 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: 24/04/2026

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