Explosives and Hazardous Materials Team Lead

About Us

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. Our work helps to protect people and places, ensuring everyone can lead safer and healthier lives at work.

Our Science Division is a world leading provider of health and safety solutions to industry and government.

We are now looking for an Explosives and Hazardous Materials Team Lead to join us on a full-time, permanent basis.

The Benefits

– Salary of £68,381 – £78,577 per annum
– A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
– 25 days’ annual holiday increasing to 30 days after 5 years’ service, plus bank holidays and 1-day Civil Service privilege leave
– Learning and Development tailored to your role
– An environment with flexible working options
– A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
– Competitive rates of pay
– Family friendly policies and working hours to help balance your home life and career
– Carer friendly policies to help create a supportive working culture
– Parental leave benefits
– Access to a wide range of fantastic benefits, such as the Cycle to Work Scheme, E-Gift Cards, and Vouchers via our partner EdenRed

This is a unique opportunity for an experienced explosives scientist or engineer to play a key role in leading hazardous materials research within our specialist team.

Leveraging your expertise, you’ll be at the forefront of pioneering projects that not only protect lives in workplaces but also shape the safe future of new and emerging technologies, giving your work a lasting national impact.

What’s more, you will have access to cutting-edge facilities and advanced technologies, enabling you to push the boundaries of research and develop solutions that influence safety standards across the industry.

The Role

As the Explosives and Hazardous Materials Team Lead, you will provide technical leadership across hazardous materials testing and research.

Specifically, you will oversee the safe delivery of experimental explosives and pyrotechnics testing, ensuring all work meets the highest scientific and safety standards, while also leading and supporting incident investigations.

Alongside this, you will help grow commercial research opportunities by engaging with potential customers, shaping proposals, and presenting clear, impactful technical solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.

Additionally, you will:

– Mentor and coach colleagues to support continuous development
– Review technical work to continuously improve methodologies and outcomes
– Develop a network with the wider explosives community

About You

To be considered as an Explosives and Hazardous Materials Team Lead, you will need:

– Experience of leading technical teams to deliver complex, high hazard research and testing work
– A clear understanding of explosives and pyrotechnics testing across standard (UN and EMTAP) and bespoke test scenarios
– A strong understanding of explosives and pyrotechnics safety and testing principles
– Excellent communication skills
– An honours degree in Explosives Engineering, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Physics, or a closely related subject
– Full Membership of a relevant professional body OR sufficient experience and qualifications to apply for Membership
– A full, valid driving licence

A relocation allowance of up to £8,000 (in exceptional circumstances this may be increased to £15,000) will be offered to new, permanent members of staff if you meet the eligibility. For more information on the eligibility requirements, please contact hr.resourcing-team@hse.gov.uk.

The closing date for this role is 18th September 2025.

Other organisations may call this role Explosives Engineer, Hazardous Materials Scientist, Explosives Testing Lead, Explosives Safety Specialist, or Hazardous Materials Technical Lead.

Webrecruit and the Health and Safety Executive are equal opportunities employers, value diversity and are strongly committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all employees and all applicants for employment. Equal opportunities are the only acceptable way to conduct business and we believe that the more inclusive our environments are, the better our work will be.

So, if you want to take on this exciting opportunity as an Explosives and Hazardous Materials Team Lead, please apply via the button shown. This vacancy is being advertised by Webrecruit. The services advertised by Webrecruit are those of an Employment Agency.

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