Senior Stress Engineer in Luton

What you'll do as a Senior Stress Engineer: Mechanical Engineering is a fundamental element of all our products. Your role as a Senior Stress Engineer will be primarily to support product designs that are in-service or being developed for customers by providing the necessary structural verification that demonstrates compliance against customer and or regulatory specifications. You will communicate key aspects of results and findings to project integrated teams and the company airworthiness authority and technically advise on all aspects of stress engineering activities. It will involve working with multi-discipline project teams, interfacing with customers (internal and external) and liaising closely with engineers from many other disciplines.

Typically, you will:

• Assess mechanical designs for strength, durability (fatigue), performance and safety against regulatory and customer requirements through application of appropriate methodologies i.e. finite element techniques and/or classical hand calculations.
• Provide guidance on structural design improvements relating to component sustainability and manufacturing considerations.
• Provide recommendations on component or sub assembly optimisation i.e. mass reduction, reduced part count etc.
• Support the selection of manufacturing technologies and materials based on a sound understanding of mechanical engineering principles e.g. statics, dynamics (vibration and shock), strength of materials and failure mechanisms.
• Support all structural aspects of product development from concept design through to test and certification.

What we need from you: The candidate should have a degree in Mechanical or Aeronautical Engineering with post-graduate experience in stress & vibration engineering. Professional recognition as a Chartered Engineer or proven associated competencies is desirable. It is advantageous for the candidate to have experience in the design, development and test of electronics packaging and/or aerospace systems equipment. A proven knowledge of structural analysis and previous experience in developing equipment for extreme operating environments to RTCA DO160 and MIL-STD-810 mechanical requirements. The candidate will be competent in the use of Finite Element Analysis (FEA), preferably Siemens Simcenter & Nastran and be competent in the fundamentals of load balancing i.e. free-body diagrams and application of classical hand calculations using empirical methods in lieu of FEA or in validation of FEA results. Experience of environmental testing methods (shock, vibration, acceleration) and post-processing of test results for design verification is highly desirable. Verbal and written communication skills are essential in this role as there will be a high level of interaction with both internal and external customers. Capable of working unsupervised within a team environment.

The opportunity: At Leonardo, we have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Stress Engineer to join our analysis team within the mechanical engineering group at our Edinburgh site. Leonardo is a global leader in defence electronics and delivers systems for situational awareness, electronic defence and surveillance across land, sea and air. The Radar and Advanced Targeting line of business, based in Edinburgh, is uniquely positioned as one of the world's top designers, developers and manufacturers of radars, lasers and infrared countermeasure systems. We are looking for a talented Stress Engineer at senior level (minimum) with strong aerospace industry experience, not necessarily within the domain of electronics packaging, which is preferable, but equally someone who can bring transferable skills from other sectors of the wider aerospace industry.

The stress engineering team in Edinburgh has a unique position within our business as it is involved in the full lifecycle of a programme, from Bid, Development, Certification and Production, and supports sustained engineering activities on many legacy and in-service programmes. We expect our people to create strong working relationships with cross-department colleagues to identify problems on complex systems before they reach production or the customer. As a team, we have a strong focus on continuous improvement of our procedures and processes and want anyone who joins to be part of that journey. This might include using your engineering talent to grow and develop more junior members of the team or contributing to best practices to improve analysis efficiencies. We can also help you develop your skills and offer great opportunities to develop, grow and progress in your career.

Life at Leonardo: With a company funded benefits package, a commitment to learning and development, and a flexible approach to working hours focused on the needs of both our employees and customers, a career with Leonardo has never offered as many opportunities or been more accessible to as many people.

Flexible Working: Flexible hours with hybrid working options.

Company funded flexible benefits: Access to private healthcare, dental schemes, Workplace ISA, Go Green Car Scheme, technology and lifestyle options (£500 annual allowance)

Holidays: 25 days plus bank holidays, option to buy/sell leave and to accrue up to 12 additional flexi leave days per year

Pension: Award winning pension scheme (up to 10% employer contribution)

Wellbeing: Employee Assistance Programme with access to free mental health support, financial wellbeing support and network groups to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to diversity & inclusion (Enable, Pride, Equalise, Reservists, Carers)

Lifestyle: Discounted Gym membership, Cycle to work scheme

Training: Free access to more than 4000 online courses via Coursera

Referral Incentive: You can earn a reward for successfully referring a friend or family member

Bonus: Scheme in place for all employees at management level and below