Senior Mechanical Development Engineer

You will report to the Technology Development Manager. To succeed, you will need to bring an inventive and highly numerate approach to solving a wide range of engineering design problems. Some of these will involve coordinating the work of suppliers which will need excellent communication skills as well as technical knowledge. You should be skilled at organising information, writing technical reports and defining processes.

Responsibilities include:

• Design of cryogenic heat exchangers
• Design of electrolyser stacks
• Validating designs using stress/strain and fluid dynamics calculations
• Understanding and using design rules from standards
• Achieving certification under the Pressure Equipment directive
• Mechanical safety for equipment with pressures up to 40 bar and pipework handling hydrogen and oxygen

Key skills and experience. We require a broad selection, not necessarily all of the following:

• A degree in Engineering or Physics
• Minimum of 5 years experience in relevant role
• Competent with applying hand (or excel) calculations for strength and stiffness of parts
• Experience of Finite Element Analysis for assessing more complex items
• A good feel for fluid dynamics, and experience using CFD
• Familiar with thermodynamics of heat transfer and phase change. Able to apply this to cryogenic processes such as separation of air
• Able to apply Design-for-Manufacture and Design-for-Assembly methods
• Experience of designing in 3D CAD

Familiar with the methods of designing, building, sealing and testing pressure systems and pipework:

• Standards: ASME BPVC, EN13445 etc.
• Compression fittings, gaskets, o-rings, thread seals
• Vacuum systems and cryogenic insulation
• Hydrostatic testing, hazards of pressure systems

Comfortable with applying electrical circuit theory and electrochemistry concepts:

• Selecting materials for their electrical properties
• Estimating voltage drops and current flow patterns
• Comparing electrodes

Confident and outgoing, with an innovative mindset:

• Communicate requirements and develop collaborative relationships with suppliers of parts and processes such as brazing and electroplating
• Comfortable and clear presenting results to broad audiences
• Inventive to come up with novel and practical solutions to design problems
• Curious and keen to understand unfamiliar areas of science and technology

Able to analyse complex data to draw robust conclusions:

• Able to apply physical principles (A-level physics and chemistry) to clarify problems and rule out the impossible
• Proficient using Excel to organise and analyse data