Expert Technologist - Motorsport & Future Fuels in Reading

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Castrol Technology Team, working at the forefront of advanced motorsport fuels while inputting a strategic view on global fuel technology for the wider Castrol business. Based within the Motorsport Technology Team, you will provide expert technical knowledge on next-generation, high-performance fuels and components for Castrol and its motorsport partners. You will also inform the business on regional fuel specifications and deliver strategic insights on how evolving fuel regulations, legislations, and technologies may influence and impact future powertrain and lubricant solutions, helping both our internal participants and external partners achieve their goals.

You will combine experienced guidance for motorsport fuel programmes with strategic responsibilities for informing the Castrol lubricants business. Your primary focus will be to shape the future strategy and define the optionality for motorsport fuels by advancing renewable raw-material availability and sourcing, seeing opportunities for implementation of new data tools, initiating R&D programmes, and providing overall technical knowledge. Acting as a trusted subject matter authority to the team’s OEM Project Leaders, you will guide innovation and enable future capabilities across the motorsport fuel portfolio. The role requires close collaboration with the Senior Advisor for Automotive Technology and the wider Castrol Technology Team to ensure global fuel standards and their future evolution are fully considered when forming near and long-term strategies. You will collaborate extensively with a broad range of internal and external partners.

Key Responsibilities

• Guide future motorsport fuel formulation strategy and optionality grounded on current and emerging fuel technology and regulatory requirements.
• Source, investigate and develop fuel components for the motorsport development team, targeting long-term performance opportunities aligned to motorsport regulations.
• Building and maintaining relationships with suppliers of novel renewable fuel components.
• Display leadership behaviours, deputising for the Team Leader when required, managing tasks such as budgeting and forecasting, and driving the team to innovate through new R&D initiatives.
• Provide expert knowledge on novel combustion technology and motorsport fuel formulation to meet and exceed Castrol’s partner’s performance expectations.
• Find opportunities to apply advanced computational modelling techniques and lead projects to implement them.
• Oversee operational delivery to legacy motorsport partners, including blending, product approval, and timely dispatch, ensuring consistent quality and compliance with established standards.
• Coach and mentor technologists, providing technical leadership to colleagues across the Motorsport Technology Team.
• Ensure the continued technical support and operational delivery of specialised Castrol fuel solutions for key non-racing partners, including overseeing blending, product validation, and timely dispatch to maintain quality, compliance, and performance standards.
• Represent Castrol in technical and regulatory forums and conferences related to fuel technology.
• Assess and communicate the impact that evolving global fuel technology trends, regulatory changes, sustainability initiatives, and OEM developments will have on propulsion and lubricant technology and provide insights to lubricant product development projects and OEM partnerships.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams in creation of supply agreements / contracts and aligning technical guidance with colleagues to focus on research and development, product stewardship, legal, and marketing.

Essential qualifications

• Degree or equivalent experience in Engineering, Chemistry, Physics, or related technical field, with a Masters/PhD qualification or additional relevant industry certifications will be preferred.
• Expert-level knowledge and extensive experience in the formulation, development and testing of fuels and mobility products, spanning combustion, combustion engine technology, hybrids, and emerging powertrain technologies.
• Proven experience leading R&D projects focused on renewable or sustainable fuels, with strong knowledge of novel, sustainable fuel‑production technologies.
• Deep understanding of vehicle propulsion and calibration technology, and the ability to translate this into impacts on motorsport and commercial technology.
• Consistent track record in leading cross-functional teams, managing projects, budgets, timelines, and technical risks.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including experimental design, decision-making, root cause analysis, and statistics.
• Demonstrated innovation and a passion for advancing technology.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence at senior levels within Castrol and with its OEM partners.
• Proven ability to build advantaged relationships internally and externally, and to coach and mentor colleagues.

Desirable

• Experience in motorsport fuel or lubricant technology.
• Experience of working with external OEM partners.

Why join our team

At Castrol, we provide an excellent working environment and employee benefits such as an open and inclusive culture, a great work-life balance, tremendous learning and development opportunities to craft your career path, life and health insurance, medical care package, and many others. We support our people to learn and grow in a diverse and challenging environment. We believe that our team is strengthened by diversity. We are committed to crafting an inclusive environment in which everyone is respected and treated fairly. There are many aspects of our employees’ lives that are meaningful, so we offer benefits to enable your work to fit with your life. These benefits can include flexible working options, collaboration spaces in a modern office environment, and many others benefits.

Apply now!