research scientist

scientist

senior research scientist

principal enterprise architect

group leader

National-Physical-Laboratory

NPL is a world leading science institution where you will (most likely) get to work on exciting and varied projects. The scientists are great to work with and everyone has a real passion for the science being delivered. It’s based in south-west London, almost inside a royal park, and Teddington is a pleasant town albeit somewhat expensive. You will get to meet world-leading scientists from other laboratories and take part in some unique experiments. You are also offered the opportunity to advance your studies and develop yourself (depending on your line manager and department). 
All this great science is hampered by the senior leadership team who seem unable to grasp the complexities of the business. Pay is very low and there are little to no benefits received (so recruitment and retention are nearly impossible). They will claim they offer benefits such as a pension, subsidised on-site creche, ‘flexible working’ and good maternity package, but these are incredibly limited benefits that aren’t delivering much value to staff. The maternity/paternity offering is very outdated and is designed to financially force women stay at home following birth of a child. Flexible working comes in the form of a pre-arranged work pattern that allows you to build up hours then take a day off in lieu (so its pre-arranged flexibility rather than actual flex-time you get in the civil service). The pension is an off-the-shelf stock market linked pension which they pay into (as legally obliged to do so) but it is way below what is offered at similar quasi-government establishments. The subsidised creche is potentially useful if you can afford to live close enough to use it, but it is not significantly cheaper than those in the areas you are likely to live (10-15 miles away from NPL), and therefore only real benefit is that you can pay through salary sacrifice. After that, the benefits are nothing special and, again, significantly less than offered at other quasi-government organisations. 
Senior leadership talk frequently of a ‘OneNPL’ as if it’s a big happy family. However, in the last few years this has increasingly split into two or maybe even three NPLs with those delivering the work feeling disconnected from the various layers of management. Terrible communication, an atmosphere of fear and bullying at higher levels and, frankly, incompetent leadership are degrading NPL irreparably. Working at NPL isn’t all about the money, we get that, but it has to be about being able to do our science in a relaxed and fun environment and there needs to be some non-financial benefits before all the staff that make the place what it is have left or retired. Anyone saying bad things about management are immediately penalised, and in some cases constructively dismissed. The executive appears to be a ‘boys club’ with lots of back-slapping and bonus chasing with no substantial output.
Despite all the above, I’d recommend working here for a while. Science-wise there is nothing else quite like it and it looks good on your CV! 

They're making good headway in boosting their PM capability, but a variety of factors are slowing down the process. 1) The company as a whole has no defined priorities - they have government priorities that they like to deliver projects against, however there is no way of deciding which projects/programmes being delivered should get funding or the shared resource as each programme is told to be "the most important". Without having a clear view on this it makes managing resource conflicts near impossible. 2) NPL is first and foremost a research and metrology organisation; although the vast majority of people are lovely, you will find that the culture is a lot more friendly towards technical delivery in the science groups versus the non-science 'background' functions. There is often a lot of pushback from science on PM. 3) There is a good culture of R&D across the science  groups but I find the PMO culture stifling - they are very open to hearing new ways of working, but implementing them is such a challenge. The PMO also doesn't have priorities within its portfolio so they try to boil the ocean and end up making very few internal changes.

Ultimately, NPL is an interesting place to work as it has a broad portfolio across all sorts of sciences. However, if you are a PM that enjoys being creative and a little bit jazzy, you will have limited autonomy to act on those. Those with an Engineering/Science/Measurement background will do well and can go far within the company as the career path is well-defined, but you really have to push for it and document all of the positive evidence to make your promotion case clear cut.

NPL is notorious for not paying very well, but they are open to negotiations.

Although my experience in the PMO hasn't been entirely wonderful that's mostly due to the company culture rather than the PMO itself - the team, their work ethic and their energy are fab and I would love to work with them all again.

The skills I had learnt during my undergraduate studies were further developed at the National Physical Laboratory, where a major part of my internship focused on the calibration methods of various antenna types, which were verified by computer simulation. The key achievements during the internship were technical understanding of complex devices, successful application of several program packages (CST, 4nec, MS office) and drafting reports in collaboration with leading experts of the field. Here, I also learnt to use MS Excel in great depth and to analyse large amount of data that underpinned our proposed calibration methods for a relevant international calibration standard (CISPR). 
No two days were the same in NPL, since one day could be about setting up experiments, taking measurements and collecting data and another day could be about analysing data as well as comparing it with theoretical calculations made by programs. We performed both indoor and outdoor measurements with several types of antenna in many circumstances. The main difficulty arose from assembling the equipments and aligning the antenna pairs accurately especially when their separation was increased. The preparation always required more time than the actual measurements but we managed to overcome a few obstacles during this process, such as eliminating the objects that affected the transmission of radio waves.

Nice environment to work. Great scientists. Bushy park on doorstep which is very nice for lunchtime runs or walks. There are showers on site. It is difficult to specialise as a scientist because projects do not run for very long. Pay is not competitive at all (no matter what HR like to say). Getting a decent pay rise is like trying to get blood out of a stone. As a scientist I feel undervalued and not very motivated. Job progression is non-existent unless you get lucky with projects that get exposure to management. Too much red tape and bureaucracy - as in any "government" job... but at NPL we have all the downsides of working for the Government without any of the upsides like decent pension. Pension is not as good as Civil Service so the bad pay really chips away at the soul. The only benefit that is worth mentioning is 27 days holiday which is pretty decent and a good Life Assurance package. 

Overall NPL was a great place to start or continue your career, but although it's a science organisation, the culture feels quite corporate.

There are a variety of roles, from HR and Legal to Finance and Commerical, and even Science and Engineering. You'll meet all sorts of people from all walks of life, and NPL also has offices in other parts of the country (incl. Scotland).

The downside is salary and job progression. Salary increase per year is low, and opportunity for promotion is only yearly and takes a long time

I joined NPL with high hopes of making a difference. I brought forward various strategies to improve performance but the focus seemed to be on the quality of powerpoint slides rather than the message behind them. In addition I was continually told there was no funding to put my ideas into practice. NPL has a great history of producing ground breaking ideas but no mechanism to provide them with funding and resourcing to commercialise them.

NPL is an exceptional part of the UK scientific landscape with a unique positioning between industry and academia. NPL's remit is to support UK industry by the development of measurement technology and standards and by conducting research relevant to government scientific strategy.

Great opportunity for those who love research and like having plenty to do. By working on several projects at once you can keep yourself engaged and won't get bored of the same task. Very friendly and understanding staff/managers, great company cultures and values

NPL is a good place to work. The work life balance is excellent and management seem to listen to their teams. I have learned lots of skills here and am kept busy at all times. It has become commercial business over the last few years but the world class science is still the main focus of the company.

I have worked for NPL twice in the past 8 years and really enjoyed my time there. The work was challenging and exciting. The support from colleagues and leadership helped drive project delivery and made it and enjoyable place to work. The only minor criticism was the level of pay being on the low end of market value.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Research scientist 6 salaries reported	£39,475 per year
Scientist 22 salaries reported	£36,211 per year
Senior research scientist 12 salaries reported	£48,864 per year
Principal enterprise architect 20 salaries reported	£70,000 per year
Group leader 5 salaries reported	£66,000 per year

Working at National Physical Laboratory: company overview and reviews

National Physical Laboratory

National Physical Laboratory ratings

Popular jobs at National Physical Laboratory

Salary satisfaction

Jobseeker tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected