Engineering Placement Student in Birmingham

What We Offer

• Competitive pay rates and a bonus scheme
• 25 days annual leave plus the option to buy or sell leave
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
• Employee support, including life assurance and critical illness pay
• Wellbeing Scheme, providing every colleague – and their dependents – unlimited access to GPs and counselling, as well as cash back on a wide range of health and wellbeing treatments
• 24/7 anonymous access to advice on any aspect of health and wellbeing
• Financial wellbeing support, including access to affordable loans, savings plans, advanced earned pay and financial education
• Savings on online purchases from retailers and utilities to entertainment and beyond
• Cycle 2 work scheme

We’re proud to have achieved Great Place To Work status for three years running - and to be recognised among the UK's Best Workplaces in Manufacturing, Production & Transportation.

About Our Opportunity

Are you a Chemical, Mechanical, Mechatronics or Electrical Engineering student looking for a placement? Our Central Engineering R&D team is at the cutting edge of recycling technology and works hard to build a more sustainable future for the planet. Are you ready to launch your engineering career in a hands-on, real-world environment? Join us at our Birmingham location as an Engineering Placement student, where you’ll be part of our innovative Central Engineering R&D Team. This 1-year placement offers you the chance to make a meaningful impact, work with cutting-edge processes, develop solutions that drive our projects forward and help to create a world where fewer things go to landfill.

Reporting to the Engineering R&D Manager, you’ll play a key role in characterising materials, operating specialised R&D processing equipment, and exploring new technologies that will shape our industry’s future.

What You Will Be Doing

• Operating R&D processing equipment and assisting with material sample characterisation (sorting, counting, weighing, etc.).
• Conducting detailed research into new engineering processes and technologies to drive innovation.
• Analysing technical documents, drawings, and safety standards to support project development.
• Preparing well-structured reports to communicate project progress and findings.
• Managing your time effectively and, on occasion, guiding others to ensure projects stay on track.
• Traveling to various EMR sites when needed to support broader project efforts.

About You

You’re an enthusiastic engineering student who’s ready to dive into hands-on work with a proactive approach. You’ll ideally be in your 2nd or 3rd year, pursuing a degree in Chemical, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering, with a 2:1 or higher prediction for your final year. To thrive in this role, you’ll need:

• A "can-do" attitude and the willingness to tackle tasks both big and small.
• Strong communication and problem-solving skills, whether working independently or as part of a team.
• Experience with Microsoft or Google Office software; a UK driving license is also ideal.
• (Bonus) Familiarity with engineering software like CAD, Matlab, or Process Engineering visualisation tools.

Who We Are

Our purpose is to create a future where the materials we use don’t need to be extracted from the planet. At EMR, we give new life to unwanted materials. Every year, we recycle 10 million tonnes of metals and plastics, saving 19 million tonnes of carbon from entering the Earth’s atmosphere, diverting waste from landfill and protecting resources and habitats. We couldn’t do any of this without our team members. In return for all they do, we do everything we can to create an environment of belonging, value, support and growth.

We’re proud to have achieved Great Place To Work status, but it’s about so much more than a badge. It’s about being recognised by our people for the continuous work we do to do better for them.

Recruitment Agencies: We operate a strict Preferred Supplier List (PSL) and do not accept speculative CVs. Any unsolicited CVs, whether related to a specific position or submitted speculatively, will not be considered.