Nuclear fatigue risk managerSalary, qualifications, career path and hiring demand, 2026 edition
A nuclear fatigue risk manager controls the organisational risk created when operators, maintenance staff, security personnel, outage workers or other covered personnel work patterns that can impair alertness and performance. The role sits across operations, human performance, occupational safety, workforce planning and fitness-for-duty. It is not simply a rostering job: the manager must understand which people are covered by regulation, whether hours comply, when waivers are justified, how fatigue assessments are triggered and where staffing pressure is becoming a nuclear-safety risk.
Established nuclear fatigue risk managers typically model around $135,000–$165,000 in the US and £75,000–£95,000 in the UK, with senior fleet, assurance or human-performance leads moving toward $175,000–$215,000 and £100,000–£125,000. Exact-title national data does not exist, so the US ladder is anchored to the May 2025 BLS occupational health and safety specialist median of $90,150 and adjusted for nuclear regulatory, operational and management responsibility.
The real gate is not a single professional licence. In the US, credibility comes from direct knowledge of 10 CFR Part 26 Subpart I, fitness-for-duty policy, covered-worker definitions, work-hour records, waiver processes, self-declarations and fatigue assessments. In the UK, the role is more likely to sit within human factors, safety management, occupational health or operational risk, so employers look for strong shift-system, fatigue-risk, safety-management and nuclear-operations evidence rather than one prescribed regulatory credential.
The role at a glance
Everything an employer will ask about in the first fifteen minutes of a screening call.
- Also called
- fatigue management manager · fitness-for-duty manager · fatigue programme manager · human performance manager · work-hours compliance manager · operational readiness/fatigue lead
- Entry qualification
- Usually degree-level or equivalent experience in occupational safety, human factors, psychology, operations, occupational health, industrial engineering, nuclear operations or workforce risk. Operational experience can outweigh the exact degree subject.
- Typical entry pay
- $105,000–$130,000 US · £58,000–£72,000 UK at first management appointment.
- Senior pay
- $175,000–$215,000 US · £100,000–£125,000 UK for fleet-level FFD, human performance or operational risk leadership.
- Contract day rates
- £500–£700/day established fatigue-risk management; £700–£900/day for outage, remediation, fleet assurance or regulatory-support assignments. US modelling: $80–$125/hr.
- Professional gate
- No universal licence. Employers screen for fatigue-rule knowledge, nuclear operations credibility, workforce-data control, human-factors judgement and authority to challenge unsafe scheduling.
- Security
- UK BPSS is common, with SC possible on sensitive programmes. US utility or federal-site access requirements vary; unescorted access may apply depending on role location and duties.
- Where the work sits
- Fitness-for-duty programmes, operations assurance, human performance, occupational safety, workforce planning, outage management and independent nuclear assurance.
- Travel
- Low to moderate for a site role; higher for fleet-level managers auditing several plants or supporting outages.
- Shift pattern
- Usually days, but the subject matter is inherently shift-based. Outages, incidents and staffing pressure can require nights, weekends and rapid review of work-hour exceptions.
- TRX segments
- Operating fleet · Large new build · Fuel cycle · National laboratories · Decommissioning & dismantling · Nuclear security
Six versions of the same job title
"Fatigue risk manager" can mean regulatory work-hour compliance, human-performance risk, shift-system design or outage workforce control. The strongest candidates understand how these overlap without treating them as the same problem. Bar shows relative hiring relevance across TRX's 2026 market.
US Part 26 / FFD compliance
Runs or assures the fatigue component of the fitness-for-duty programme for personnel covered by NRC requirements. The scope includes policy, records, work-hour controls, waiver governance, self-declarations and fatigue assessments.
Outage fatigue management
Controls fatigue risk during refuelling or major maintenance outages when overtime, contractors and critical-path work push staffing systems hardest. The manager balances work-hour compliance with the operational reality of high-intensity execution.
Operations shift-system risk
Reviews shift rotations, night work, minimum rest, overtime and handover patterns for licensed operators and other safety-significant personnel. The focus is sustained alertness and human performance, not only rule compliance.
Security force fatigue management
Applies fatigue controls to security personnel where continuous coverage, mandatory posts and emergency response create their own staffing pressures. Work-hour exceptions require especially disciplined escalation because coverage cannot simply be left vacant.
Contractor and maintenance work-hour control
Monitors covered contractors, maintenance crews and temporary outage staff whose employment arrangements do not remove fatigue requirements when the individual's access and duties bring them into scope.
UK human factors / fatigue risk
Sits within broader human factors or safety management rather than a direct US-style Part 26 regime. The role assesses shift design, workload, overtime, staffing resilience and fatigue as contributors to human reliability and operational risk.
What the week actually looks like
A composite day for an established fatigue risk manager at a US nuclear power plant entering a major refuelling outage, with large numbers of covered workers and contractors moving onto extended schedules.
What nuclear fatigue risk managers are paid in 2026
Bars show the 25th to 90th percentile of base salary. The vertical marker is the median. Switch currency to move between the US and UK markets — they behave differently, and the shapes tell you why.
How nuclear fatigue-risk management compares to adjacent roles
US figures. BLS medians and deciles are May 2025 for coded occupations; the nuclear fatigue risk manager row is a TRX market model because the title is not separately coded.
| Occupation | Median | P10 | P90 | What moves the number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nuclear fatigue risk manager, TRX US model | $143,000 | — | — | Part 26 depth, fleet scope, outage responsibility, regulatory exposure |
| Occupational health & safety specialists, US BLS May 2025 | $90,150 | $55,000 | $134,950 | Industry, responsibility, geography and technical scope |
| Health & safety engineers, US BLS May 2025 | ~$115,000 median-equivalent anchor | — | — | Engineering depth, industrial hazard and system ownership |
| Senior nuclear safety / assurance manager, UK live roles | — | ~£61,730 | ~£110,723 | Nuclear safety accountability, technical authority, programme scope |
BLS and live UK nuclear roles are broader anchors, not exact fatigue-management salaries. TRX therefore models the specialist ladder separately and avoids unsupported percentile precision.
NRC Part 26 / fitness-for-duty ownership
Direct programme accountability for work hours, waivers, fatigue assessments and records carries a clear premium over general occupational safety experience.
Outage fatigue governance
Managers who can keep a major outage staffed without turning waivers and overtime into the default operating model are unusually valuable.
Human-performance integration
Candidates who connect hours data to error-likely situations, staffing, workload and actual human performance move beyond compliance into operational risk management.
Three ways in, and one of them is open to everyone
The role is usually reached from nuclear operations, occupational safety/health, human factors or fitness-for-duty administration. The strongest candidates combine regulatory knowledge with enough operational credibility to challenge staffing decisions.
Fitness-for-duty / compliance route
The compliance and FFD route.
Nuclear operations route
The operations-credibility route.
Human factors / occupational safety
The human factors and safety route.
Are you actually ready to compete for a nuclear fatigue risk manager role?
A CV that says "managed working hours" is not enough. The shortlist wants covered-worker populations, outage scale, waiver volumes, assessment processes, regulator or audit exposure, shift-pattern changes and evidence that you challenged a staffing plan before it became a compliance problem. Quantify the programme and show where your intervention reduced fatigue risk rather than simply recording it.
Free resume scoring on avua, TRX's job search and application platform. Your score is yours — it is not shared with employers.The strongest CVs show regulator-ready work-hour governance plus examples where fatigue data changed staffing, outage or shift decisions. The gap is the part you can fix.
Illustrative figures based on TRX shortlisting patterns across site engineering vacancies. Your own score is generated by avua from your CV and the role you are targeting.
The credentials that actually let you work on site
The role is gated by nuclear fitness-for-duty knowledge, fatigue-assessment governance and operational credibility rather than by one universal professional licence.
| Credential | Jurisdiction | Required for | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 CFR Part 26 Subpart I knowledge | US | Commercial reactor fatigue programmes | Months–years | Core framework for covered work, work hours, waivers, self-declarations and assessments. |
| RG 5.73 / NEI 06-11 implementation knowledge | US | Programme design / compliance | Months–years | NRC guidance identifies acceptable methods for implementing fatigue-management requirements. |
| Fatigue assessor / FFD training | US | Performing or governing assessments | Role-specific | Assessors must meet programme training/qualification requirements; exact employer process matters. |
| Human factors / fatigue science competence | All | Risk assessment and shift design | Years | Sleep, circadian disruption, night work, workload and recovery need more than rule-book knowledge. |
| Nuclear site induction / access | UK / US | Site-based programme work | Days–weeks | Required where role is embedded with operations or outages. |
| BPSS / SC where required | UK | Civil nuclear / sensitive programmes | Weeks–months | Programme dependent. |
| Unescorted access / background requirements | US | Protected-area work | Site-specific | Depending on access and duties, Part 26 applicability may follow the individual rather than employer identity. |
| Safety management / assurance competence | UK | UK fatigue-risk leadership | Years | Fatigue typically sits within broader nuclear safety, human factors or occupational-risk arrangements. |
NRC fatigue rules are specific about applicability and covered duties. Contractor status alone does not decide whether Subpart I applies; access and job duties matter.
What appears on a 2026 nuclear fatigue risk manager shortlist
Employers are screening for someone who can convert hours, shift and behavioural data into safe staffing decisions rather than operating a compliance spreadsheet after the fact.
Named on the specification
- 10 CFR Part 26 work-hour controls — Understanding covered work, required breaks, work-hour limits, exceptions and records
- Waiver governance — Testing necessity, required pre-waiver assessment, senior authorisation and post-event review
- Fatigue assessment process — For-cause, self-declaration and behavioural-observation triggers handled through trained, independent assessment
- Shift and overtime analytics — Reviewing actual hours, planned schedules, cumulative overtime, night work and repeated limit pressure
- FFD / HR / access-system data integration — Reconciling multiple systems so actual work hours and covered status are reliable
- Outage staffing assurance — Challenging manpower plans, contractor schedules and critical-path assumptions before fatigue becomes embedded
What decides between two shortlisted candidates
- NRC inspection / audit experience — Defending fatigue programme records, methods and corrective actions under regulatory scrutiny
- Large refuelling outage experience — Managing thousands of work-hour decisions under compressed schedules
- Human performance background — Linking fatigue to error-likely conditions, event learning and operational decision-making
- Licensed operator / operations credibility — Understanding the consequences of staffing restrictions at the control-room level
- Security workforce fatigue experience — Applying fatigue controls where mandatory post coverage limits staffing flexibility
- Fleet-level programme ownership — Standardising policy, data and assurance across several plants while allowing site-specific implementation
The 2026 demand map
Demand is concentrated in operating fleets and high-intensity work environments where fatigue is a direct human-performance and regulatory risk. The US market is the clearest because the NRC framework explicitly defines fatigue-management obligations.
| Programme | Location | Phase in 2026 | Engineering demand |
|---|---|---|---|
| US commercial nuclear reactor fleet | United States | Operations / outages / licence renewal | Direct Part 26 fatigue-management and work-hour governance requirement |
| NRC fitness-for-duty oversight | United States | Regulatory oversight | Ongoing inspection and guidance around fatigue policy, records, waivers and assessments |
| Large US refuelling outages | United States | Recurring execution cycles | Peak demand for work-hour monitoring, contractor control and waiver governance |
| EDF UK operating fleet | United Kingdom | Operations / defuelling transition | Shift, outage and workforce-risk management remains relevant across station operations |
| Sizewell B | Suffolk, UK | Operating PWR | Long-term shift and outage staffing creates continuing fatigue/human-performance risk |
| Sellafield | Cumbria, UK | Operations / retrievals / decommissioning | Complex shift work and hazardous operations support human-factors/fatigue demand |
| Hinkley Point C | Somerset, UK | Construction / commissioning preparation | Growing shift, commissioning and workforce-planning complexity |
| DOE nuclear facilities | United States | Operations / cleanup / research | Safety-critical shift work and FFD/human-performance programmes across federal facilities |
| Nuclear security organisations | UK / US | Continuous protection | 24/7 staffing makes fatigue management especially important for security coverage |
Programme phases move. The table reflects public status verified in September 2026; candidates should confirm current programme, package and site-access requirements before making a relocation decision.
The role exists where staffing pressure meets safety significance
NRC guidance is explicit because fatigue can affect personnel performing safety- and security-significant work. Outages intensify that pressure by combining long shifts, scarce specialists and contractor mobilisation. In the UK, the job title is less standardised, but the underlying need still appears through human factors, safety management, shift design and operational assurance.
People who can stop the schedule
Many organisations can report hours after they are worked. The scarce manager has enough regulatory and operational standing to tell outage, operations or security leadership that the staffing plan must change before the limit is breached—or before fatigue becomes unacceptable even without a breach. That authority, backed by data and judgement, is what gives the role value.
Adjacent and onward roles
Fatigue-risk management connects into fitness-for-duty, human performance, human factors, occupational safety and operations assurance.
Questions candidates genuinely ask about fatigue-risk management in nuclear
How much does a nuclear fatigue risk manager earn in 2026?
TRX models established US nuclear fatigue risk managers at roughly $135,000–$165,000, with senior fleet FFD or human-performance leads around $175,000–$215,000. In the UK, established managers model at £75,000–£95,000, rising toward £100,000–£125,000 at senior level. Exact-title salary data is not published, so these bands use occupational safety, quality management, and live nuclear safety/assurance roles as broader anchors.
This is an early to mid-career delivery role in nuclear projects, which is why the range sits toward the lower end of this series, though site and living-away allowances add meaningfully on major programmes. Candidates who spend time gaining nuclear-specific labor experience and demonstrate strong evaluation skills tend to be more competitive in this field. Additionally, professionals based in regions such as Glen Allen have access to growing opportunities in the nuclear energy sector.
What regulation governs fatigue management at US nuclear power plants?
10 CFR Part 26 Subpart I is the core NRC framework for managing workplace fatigue risk. It covers items including fatigue risk management programs, work-hour controls, waivers, self-declarations and fatigue assessments for applicable personnel. Regulatory Guide 5.73 and NEI 06-11 provide implementation guidance, and NRC inspection can review how licensees apply their existing safety management system methods.
Internal inspection sign-off authority is granted once you have demonstrated competence in nuclear quality assurance, regulatory compliance, and site evaluation.
Does Part 26 apply to nuclear contractors?
It can. NRC guidance makes clear that applicability depends on the access granted and the duties performed, not simply on whether someone is employed directly by the licensee. Contractors with unescorted protected-area access who perform covered duties can fall within Subpart I requirements, making leadership accountability and fatigue training essential.
The nuclear-specific part is the quality assurance and documentation regime, which is considerably heavier than general construction, and the safety culture around stopping work to maintain strict compliance with nuclear quality assurance standards and nuclear regulatory requirements.
What is the difference between a fatigue risk manager and a workforce planner?
A workforce planner determines how many employees and skills are needed and when. The fatigue risk manager challenges whether those schedules, shifts and overtime patterns remain safe and compliant, and governs the exception process when they do not. The roles work closely together, but the fatigue manager needs independent authority to manage fatigue risk and reject a staffing solution that creates unacceptable risk.
The honest caveat: this role is entirely site-based, involves early starts and relocation, and salary at this level is generally below design engineering roles. Its true value lies in being the standard pathway toward nuclear construction management, a field facing a critical shortage of qualified site engineers and nuclear construction professionals. Those who show expertise in nuclear quality assurance, safety culture, and complex site evaluation are highly sought after in the competitive nuclear new build vacancy sector.
Where is demand strongest in 2026?
The clearest demand is in the US operating reactor fleet because fatigue risk management systems are explicitly regulated under Part 26. Refuelling outages, security staffing and contractor-heavy maintenance create the highest workload. In the UK, similar work tends to sit under human factors, human performance, occupational safety or operations assurance rather than a standard "fatigue risk manager" title.
Put simply, one produces the design and the other realises it on the ground. Both are civil engineering, and engineers do move between them, but the site role is construction-based and delivery-focused while the civil engineer role is design-based and analysis-focused.
What skill most improves a candidate's shortlist chances?
Direct experience converting fatigue related risk data into operational decisions. Recruiters want examples where you identified a risky pattern, challenged a roster or waiver, worked with project teams to create an alternative and then demonstrated continuous improvement through hours, self-declaration, event or human-performance data. Rule knowledge gets you into the conversation; operational judgement and change strategies get you hired.
Setting out, drawing interpretation and quality inspection are the near-universal hard filters.
We only recruit in nuclear. That is the whole point.
TRX can assess whether your background fits fatigue management, fitness for duty, human performance, human factors, occupational safety or operations assurance. Send us your CV and we will look for the evidence that decides the shortlist: work-hour governance, outage scale, assessment processes, regulatory exposure and examples where your challenge changed a staffing decision.