Research Specialist Special Coatings Technology
CompanyGKN Aerospace
Location
Luton, England, United Kingdom
Employment TypeInternship
Posted At4/22/2026
UK Visa Sponsorship Analytics
Analytics are greyed out due to low classification confidence (41.0%).
Occupation TypeEngineering professionals not elsewhere classified.
Occupation Code Skill LevelHigher Skilled
Sponsorship Salary Threshold
£46,100
(£23.64 per hour)
Occupation rate applies
Above analytics are generated algorithmically based on job titles and may not always be the same as the company's job classification. You can also check detailed occupation eligibility, and salary criteria on our UK Visa Eligible Occupations & Salary Thresholds page.
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Description
Fantastic challenges. Amazing opportunities.
GKN Aerospace is reimagining air travel: going further, faster and greener! Fuelled by great people whose expertise and creativity sets the standards in our industry, we’re inspired by the opportunities to innovate and break boundaries. We’re proud to play a part in protecting the world’s democracies. And we’re committed to putting sustainability at the centre of everything we do, opening up and protecting our planet. With over 16,000 employees across 33 manufacturing sites in 12 countries we serve over 90% of the world’s aircraft and engine manufacturers and achieved sales of £3.35 bn.in 2023. There are no limits to where you can take your career.
Job Summary
It’s great to know you’re making a difference to the future of aviation! Whatever part you play you’ll be helping us deliver operational excellence to our customers. Based at our Luton manufacturing plant you’ll do just that. Established in 1993, GKN Aerospace in Luton is a world leader in commercial and military ice protection systems and transparencies. Offering a full range of capabilities; design, analysis, testing, certification and manufacture of electro-thermal ice protection, military fast jet canopies and flight deck windows to over 20 programmes including: Boeing 787, Dreamliner, AgustaWestland, AW101, Eurofighter Typhoon and Lockheed, Martin F-22 Raptor. Our customers include Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Bell Helicopters, Textron, BAE Systems, Pratt & Whitney, Leonardo. Our Luton site is home to 370+ employees and onsite facilities including onsite parking, food hub and vending machines.
The Luton Engineering & Technology team is focussed on developing product and manufacturing process technology related to aircraft ice protection systems, transparencies and coatings, and specialist structures for both civil and defence applications.
We’re looking for a Research Specialist - Special Coatings Technology to join our coatings development team based at our Luton Manufacturing facility, to support the development of next generation high performance transparency polymer coatings, icephobic coatings and coating manufacturing processes.
As a Research Specialist you will bring your knowledge in polymer coatings development, processing, application and coating testing techniques to deliver high-impact research and development across Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 1–7. You’ll be responsible for ensuring that all research outputs are technically robust, innovative, and aligned with our broader engineering and sustainability goals.
You will also be responsible for providing support to existing programmes within your field of expertise, helping to resolve manufacturing issues and supporting continuous improvement efforts.
You will have a track record of delivering high quality technical work, with experience of working within a project environment. You will have good written and oral communication skills, and be confident working with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders, including non-technical colleagues.
As this is a research role we are looking for a hands on innovative thinker, your work should push the boundaries of conventional coating technologies, application and evaluation/testing techniques.
Core operational hours at our Luton site are: 07:30 - 16:30 Monday to Thursday & 07:30 - 12:30 Friday.
Job Responsibilities
GKN Aerospace is reimagining air travel: going further, faster and greener! Fuelled by great people whose expertise and creativity sets the standards in our industry, we’re inspired by the opportunities to innovate and break boundaries. We’re proud to play a part in protecting the world’s democracies. And we’re committed to putting sustainability at the centre of everything we do, opening up and protecting our planet. With over 16,000 employees across 33 manufacturing sites in 12 countries we serve over 90% of the world’s aircraft and engine manufacturers and achieved sales of £3.35 bn.in 2023. There are no limits to where you can take your career.
Job Summary
It’s great to know you’re making a difference to the future of aviation! Whatever part you play you’ll be helping us deliver operational excellence to our customers. Based at our Luton manufacturing plant you’ll do just that. Established in 1993, GKN Aerospace in Luton is a world leader in commercial and military ice protection systems and transparencies. Offering a full range of capabilities; design, analysis, testing, certification and manufacture of electro-thermal ice protection, military fast jet canopies and flight deck windows to over 20 programmes including: Boeing 787, Dreamliner, AgustaWestland, AW101, Eurofighter Typhoon and Lockheed, Martin F-22 Raptor. Our customers include Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Bell Helicopters, Textron, BAE Systems, Pratt & Whitney, Leonardo. Our Luton site is home to 370+ employees and onsite facilities including onsite parking, food hub and vending machines.
The Luton Engineering & Technology team is focussed on developing product and manufacturing process technology related to aircraft ice protection systems, transparencies and coatings, and specialist structures for both civil and defence applications.
We’re looking for a Research Specialist - Special Coatings Technology to join our coatings development team based at our Luton Manufacturing facility, to support the development of next generation high performance transparency polymer coatings, icephobic coatings and coating manufacturing processes.
As a Research Specialist you will bring your knowledge in polymer coatings development, processing, application and coating testing techniques to deliver high-impact research and development across Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 1–7. You’ll be responsible for ensuring that all research outputs are technically robust, innovative, and aligned with our broader engineering and sustainability goals.
You will also be responsible for providing support to existing programmes within your field of expertise, helping to resolve manufacturing issues and supporting continuous improvement efforts.
You will have a track record of delivering high quality technical work, with experience of working within a project environment. You will have good written and oral communication skills, and be confident working with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders, including non-technical colleagues.
As this is a research role we are looking for a hands on innovative thinker, your work should push the boundaries of conventional coating technologies, application and evaluation/testing techniques.
Core operational hours at our Luton site are: 07:30 - 16:30 Monday to Thursday & 07:30 - 12:30 Friday.
Job Responsibilities
- Responsible for the technical delivery of allocated project tasks, deliverables, or project work packages, ensuring the research objectives have been satisfied.
Essential
To help us make a difference, you’ll bring your passion and talent for what you do along with the following skills, experience, qualifications and attributes:
- A relevant, accredited Chemistry / Materials/ Coatings based degree.
- Knowledge / Experience of coating development, application technology and materials testing.
- Experience of test/experimental design, and practical execution in laboratory or test facility conditions to defined standards.
- Logical and methodical approach to task planning.
- Good report writing and presentation skills.
- A higher degree qualification such as a Masters, PhD or EngD.
- An awareness of aerospace certification requirements.
Note: Some GKN programmes are subject to regulatory restrictions which may impact certain nationalities. As part of the application process you will be asked to declare when applying for this role.
The successful candidate should have a broad interest in Aerospace engineering with an understanding of Polymer materials chemistry & processing, ideally from coatings development perspective, and with technical experience of working within a laboratory environment.
Your proactive nature will enable you to understand and adapt to new technology areas quickly. Your good communication skills shall enable you to confidently engage with a wide variety of internal stakeholders.
The successful candidate should be adaptable in their approach to work, and be willing to understudy other team members in their areas of expertise to ensure project objectives are met. As a Research Engineer, you will be naturally curious and seek to increase/deepen own technical knowledge through study, collaborative working, hypothesis testing and experimentation.
What We'll Offer
Once you’re on board you’ll get the following perks and benefits:
- Competitive salary dependent on experience
Join us and keep the world moving … click on the link below to apply
We’ll offer you fantastic challenges and amazing opportunities. This is your chance to be part of an organisation that has proven itself to be at the cutting edge of our industry; and is committed to pushing the boundaries even further. And with some of the best training on offer in the industry, who knows how far you can go?
A Great Place to work needs a Great Way of Working
Everyone is welcome to apply to GKN. We believe that we can only achieve our ambitions through a coming together of diverse minds who enjoy collaborating in an inspirational environment. Through our commitment to diversity, inclusion and belonging and by living our five powerful principles we’ve created a culture where everyone feels welcome to contribute. It’s a culture that won us ‘The Best Workplace Culture Award’. By embracing and celebrating what makes us unique we encourage everyone to bring their full self to work.
We’re also committed to providing an accessible recruitment process, so if you require reasonable adjustments at any stage during our recruitment process please get in touch and let us know.
We are the place where human dreams, plus human endeavour, shape the future of aerospace innovation and technology.