PhD Graduate/Post Doc – Structure and Materials Modelling Specialist

If you're an early-career academic weighing the choice between the traditional PostDoc route and a move into industry, consider Frazer-Nash. We offer a compelling alternative, where you can apply the unique expertise, you've developed through your research to solve real-world challenges in an industrial setting.

Valuing Your Research Experience

As a high-tech engineering consultancy Frazer-Nash values the additional skills and experience that Doctorate graduates and early career academics bring to our business. For us the value you bring comes through a combination of specialist knowledge, a proficient understanding of engineering and science fundamentals from undergraduate teaching, experience of presenting at conferences, and an ability to engage with a range of stakeholders to solve problems. Within our Asset Integrity area, many potential colleagues and line managers have themselves completed PhDs, DPhils or EngDs. Therefore, your like-minded colleagues are readily equipped to assist you to make the most of your experience and skills and tailor a career development plan for you.

Adaptable Approach to Starting Work

We also recognise that finishing your doctorate is a stressful time, often bringing with it the ending of academic funding, the challenges of writing up a thesis, and thinking about what next. It is always easiest to submit your thesis then start your future career; however, often life doesn’t pan out that way. Hence, should you wish to commence work before submission we are happy to discuss innovative methods of working to assist you maintaining a healthy work-life balance. This gives you the assurance of commencing a new career, financial stability and importantly the bandwidth to enable you to finish your write up.

Role Overview

The projects we support are often R&D programmes for high value, high performance, and safety critical systems and components which we support through their entire lifecycle. You will apply critical thinking, and scientific and engineering knowhow to assist our clients develop new cutting-edge structural and material modelling methods. You will shift the boundaries of typical structural engineering tools such as Finite Element (FE) analysis by developing and implementing user subroutines, material and damage modelling approaches and bespoke tools and software. The optimisation of the lifecycle, efficiency and performance of structures operating in demanding environments goes hand in hand with sustainability, and many of the projects we undertake are inspired by sustainability and the energy transition.

As a Structures and Material Modelling Specialist in our Asset Integrity Group, you will use your expertise in structural integrity analysis, materials science and engineering principles to help our clients develop new designs, solve their operational problems, justify the life extension of existing assets, and provide the evidence that underpins plant safety cases for safety critical assets. You will be a key player leading, delivering, and verifying a diverse range of rewarding and worthwhile projects which assess the structural integrity of a range of components/assets. You will use a variety of methods from hand calculations to complex finite element analysis (FEA). You will write bespoke software tools to model materials and components more quickly, or in more detail, utilising software processes and tools such as Azure DevOps.

You’ll also get the opportunity to deliver and lead projects across the whole Frazer- Nash portfolio, supporting our customers in the energy, transport, and defence sectors.

Our projects are very diverse and can last from a few weeks to many years of sustained support. You will typically be involved in multiple projects at any one time. You will meet and communicate with customers to understand their requirements and develop your project plan to deliver the desired outcomes and insights.

Although primarily a technical role, you will be joining a consultancy where we expect you’ll be able to work across our business and with our clients. Good interpersonal skills are important as is the ability to make structured decisions, solve problems, and show initiative and ownership internally and externally. Reporting to your Group Leader you will be accountable for your own work but will be provided with support from more experienced engineers when required for project delivery and to guide service development and strategy.

Requirements:

Essential Skills and Attributes

You’re completing or have completed your Mat Eng/sci PHD, so please get in contact if you have experience and an interest in some of the following:

• Have an interest in working with our clients to apply methods (from state-of-the-art computational methods to targeted and astute hand calculations) to help optimize the performance of materials in high integrity applications.
• Knowledge of constitutive material modelling, user subroutines and structural analysis.
• Knowledge of material degradation mechanisms, material modelling, and life extension.
• An aptitude for communicating methods and results to specialists and non-specialists through writing high quality reports and presenting technical papers at conferences.
• Be an effective team player but with the ability to work under minimal supervision.
• Experience in writing proposals, client liaison and business development.
• Be working towards Chartered Engineer status.

Advantageous Skills:

• Familiar with programming languages and packages such as Python, C#, and MATLAB.

Due to the nature of the work that Frazer-Nash Consultancy undertake, candidates will be required to undergo pre-employment screening and must be able to satisfy clearance criteria for UK National Security Vetting.

Benefits

We provide our people with an excellent benefit and offering package that comprises:

• Competitive salary with yearly reviews
• 25 days holiday + the opportunity to buy 5 days.  
• A company that has its heart in the right place and a welcoming work culture.  
• Happy to talk adaptable working
• Enhanced parental benefits
• Company pension scheme
• Targeted professional development
• Life assurance
• Private healthcare membership
• Bonus scheme linked into company performance
• Paid membership fees to a professional institution
• Support in attaining professional membership
• Cycle to work scheme
• Season rail ticket loan
• And further optional benefits you can tailor to your personal requirements