Aircraft Structural Repair Design Engineer

Wittering, East of England, PE8 6HB

The MOD needs an experienced aerospace design engineer to work within a small civilian design team at Royal Air Force Wittering. The work is varied, and you could find yourself working on the design of repair schemes or modifications for aircraft as diverse as the P-8A Poseidon, the Hawk Trainer, or the historic aircraft of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week. 

Our design engineers produce aircraft structural design schemes and in-service design changes (modifications) on fixed or rotary wing military aircraft. Your designs may be for the repair of metallic or composite structures, structural modifications of a minor nature or could be ad-hoc draughting tasks for support equipment. You will need to substantiate your design with supporting calculations and all work is necessarily checked for accuracy. Experienced designers who meet the essential criteria may be nominated as check signatories which attracts a market skills allowance of £3000.00. Appointment as stress note signatory or compliance verification engineer attracts a market skill allowance of £5000.00. The work requires travel to remote sites to carry out aircraft design surveys including measurements and photography, and this may require overnight stay. During your work you will liaise with aircraft delivery teams, repair teams, the additive manufacture cell, non-destructive test teams, external design organisations, manufacturers and suppliers. Depending upon experience you may need to attend mandatory training courses at various locations throughout the UK. You will work 37 hours per week as part of our flexible and hybrid working schemes. You may also be eligible to apply for compressed working hours. If you would like to find out more, please contact the Design Team Leader via the link below or go ahead and apply on the CS Jobs website.

The ideal candidate will have experience in either a DAOS approved or EASA Part 21(J) Design Organisation but this is not essential. The required skills are as follows:

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA

1.  You will have either:

• A minimum of three years’ experience as an aerospace design engineer in aircraft structural repair, modification or stress analysis with the necessary computer aided design skills or;
• A minimum of three years’ experience in aircraft repair or modification installation with the necessary computer aided design skills or;
• Be an aerospace graduate engineer with experience in aerospace repair or structural modification design or aircraft stress analysis with the necessary computer aided design skills.
• Candidates with less than 3 years aerospace design experience combined with other engineering design experience, along with strong transferable skills such as extensive experience in CAD systems such as Autodesk Inventor, stress analysis, finite element analysis or design for additive manufacture will be considered.

2. Experience of Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems such as AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor with the ability to produce detail drawings to meet the requirements of BS 8888. Experience will be verified by CAD assessment following the interview.

3.  An understanding of aircraft structural loads, materials and structural failure.

DESIRABLE CRITERIA (Not Essential)

1. Experience of aircraft stress analysis in relation to aircraft structural repairs or modifications.

2. Experience of aircraft composite repair design.

3. Experience in the use of 3D scanning software and printing.

4. An understanding of military and civil airworthiness requirements.

5. Understanding of aircraft document set and air system document set

6. Experience of finite element analysis tools such as FEMAP or Nastran/Patran.

7. Microsoft office skills.

HNC or equivalent in an Aerospace subject. Applicants with a higher qualification such as HND or degree are welcome to apply. Also, candidates with qualifications lower than HNC such as ONC with significant levels of experience beyond 3 years may be considered.

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Computer Aided Design. Ref: Aerospace Engineer Functional Competence 2.1.
• Loads, Materials & Failure. Ref: Aerospace Engineer Functional Competence 2.1.
• Design & Analysis. Ref: Aerospace Engineer Functional Competence 2.1.

Alongside your salary of £35,290, Ministry of Defence contributes
£9,528 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Market skill allowance of £3000.00 when authorised as checker or £5000 when authorised as compliance verification engineer or stress note signatory.
• Use of on-site gym and canteen.

The post does not offer relocation expenses. 

External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period. 

Please Note: Expenses incurred for travel to interviews will not be reimbursed. 

Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts.  

Any move to MOD from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/. 

The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Smoke-Free Working Environment policy, Smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) will not be permitted anywhere in the Defence working environment however some exemptions are in place, please refer to local guidance. The policy is Whole Force and includes all Defence personnel, contractors, visitors and other non-MOD personnel. All applicants seeking, considering, or accepting employment with the Ministry of Defence should be aware of this policy and that it is already in place at a number of Defence Establishments.  

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Job contact :

• Name : Mr Graham Hill 71(IR) Squadron Design-Team Leader
• Email : graham.hill112@mod.gov.uk
• Telephone : 0300 1590420

Recruitment team

• Email : DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk