Advanced Research Engineer - Materials Technology

Drive the Future of Advanced Manufacturing

Are you passionate about developing and industrialising innovative materials processing technologies? Do you enjoy solving complex engineering challenges and delivering cutting-edge research that makes a real impact?

The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) is looking for an Advanced Research Engineer to join our growing Materials Technology team in Coventry. Working at the forefront of UK manufacturing innovation, you'll help bridge the gap between research and industrial application, supporting organisations across sectors including aerospace, automotive, energy, rail and advanced manufacturing.

About MTC

The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) is one of the UK's leading research and technology organisations, helping manufacturers develop, prove and deploy advanced technologies. As part of the UK's High Value Manufacturing Catapult, we work with industry, academia and government partners to accelerate innovation and strengthen UK manufacturing competitiveness.

The Opportunity

As an Advanced Research Engineer, you will play a key role in delivering innovative engineering projects focused on materials processing technologies. You'll lead technical work packages, contribute to technology development programmes and support the successful delivery of projects from concept through to industrial application.

This is an exciting opportunity to work with world-class facilities, multidisciplinary teams and leading industrial partners while developing innovative solutions that deliver real-world impact.

What You'll Be Doing

• Deliver technical project activities across advanced materials processing programmes.
• Lead technical work packages and support project delivery to agreed quality, cost and timescale requirements.
• Develop, validate and industrialise materials processing technologies.
• Design and execute experimental programmes, technology demonstrations and process validation activities.
• Conduct technology assessments, trade-off studies and technical down-selection exercises.
• Support the development of new technology capabilities for MTC and its industrial partners.
• Work collaboratively with multidisciplinary engineering teams and external stakeholders.
• Produce technical reports, presentations and customer-facing documentation.
• Identify technical risks and implement effective mitigation strategies.

What We're Looking For

Essential

• Degree in Chemical Engineering, Process Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Chemistry, Materials Science or a related discipline.
• Experience developing and industrialising materials processing technologies.
• Proven delivery of applied research or technology development projects within an R&D environment.
• Experience designing and executing experimental and validation programmes.
• Strong technical problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Ability to lead technical activities and work effectively with multiple stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Desirable

• Experience with pilot plant development, process scale-up or manufacturing implementation.
• Knowledge of process safety methodologies such as HAZID or HAZOP.
• Experience commissioning industrial equipment.
• Understanding of Design of Experiments (DoE) and process optimisation techniques.
• Experience within regulated sectors such as aerospace, defence, nuclear, pharmaceutical or energy.
• Postgraduate qualification or PhD in a relevant discipline.
• Chartered Engineer status or working towards professional registration.

The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) was established in 2010 as an independent Research & Technology Organisation (RTO) with the objective of bridging the gap between academia and industry – often referred to as ‘the valley of death’.

It represents one of the largest public sector investments in UK manufacturing and, after four years of planning and a 16 month build, the facility opened at Ansty Park in Coventry at the end of 2011.

In December 2011, there were 16 industrial members, 44 staff and just a few key pieces of equipment in the ‘workshop’.

Over the following seven years the MTC’s rapid growth has seen the expansion of our campus with the construction of three more facilities, including the opening of the Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre and the National Centre for Additive Manufacturing.

Our role has also increased to cover not only R&D but also Training, Advanced Manufacturing Management and Factory Design.

We now have over 700 talented employees working with us.

During this time we have helped hundreds of companies across a range of industries and over 100 of them have become members of the MTC.