Specialist Research Technician

Specialist Research Technician
Technical Services 6 grade 6 from £33966 to £44263 per annum. Subject to annual pay award.

The National Centre for Combustion and Aerothermal Technology (NCCAT) opened in 2020 and is a global centre of excellence that was funded through a partnership comprising the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Aerospace Technology Institute, Innovate UK and with support from Rolls-Royce. The Centre builds on the long-standing strategic partnership between Loughborough and Rolls-Royce which was formalised in 1991 when the Loughborough based Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre in Combustion System Aerothermal Processes (UTC) was established. Residing within NCCAT, the UTC is an innovative strategic partnership which brings together a leading UK University with one of the world's foremost aerospace companies. The partnership provides a unique infrastructure in which Rolls-Royce and University staff work together to advance understanding and provide design capability in the field of Combustion Aerodynamics and Aerothermal technology. This cutting-edge collaborative research is driven by real industrial challenges and generates innovative technologies for current and next generation low emission gas turbine engines. Building on the experience of working with industry over the last 30 years, the National Centre incorporates a world leading research group of multi-disciplinary researchers within the fields of fluid mechanics and combustion, primarily targeting highly applied challenges faced by the aerospace gas turbine industry. With Rolls-Royce as a lead industrial partner, NCCAT primarily focuses on the development of future low emission aerospace combustion systems and will play a key role in moving towards sustainability and meeting the Government target of a carbon neutral economy by 2050.

NCCAT is an open-access laboratory and, beyond aerospace, supports commercial customers with the development of key technologies across several UK sectors, such as distributed power generation and measurement technology for harsh environments. This necessitates the development and application of highly specialised research techniques employing unique and technically complex test facilities. In addition, the Centre acts as a training ground for current and future aerospace engineers in a critical skill area for the UK, partially achieved through the current EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training for Future Propulsion and Power (CDT) also hosted within NCCAT. Currently the research centre comprises around 55 personnel including academic staff, researchers, specialist technical staff, technicians, and an administrative support team. At any given time, the research group has many active research projects covering a wide range of Technology Readiness Levels (TRL’s).

The Centre undertakes:

Commercial Activities : Support industrial partners in the development of future low emission aerospace combustion systems by providing access to state of the art facilities and research expertise. 

Research Activities : Strategic research to develop technology critical to the development of next generation combustion systems.

Training : To train current and future aerospace engineers in a critical skill area for the UK. This includes industrial engineers along with post-doctoral researchers including students that form part of a joint Centre for Doctoral Training (with Cambridge and Oxford Universities).

To achieve this the Centre builds, maintains and operates highly specialised experimental facilities that incorporate various levels of technical complexity. For example, the laboratory operates test rigs both at elevated pressures/temperatures (as typically occur within a gas turbine engine) and at sub-atmospheric conditions that occur at high altitude and under which a combustion system must demonstrate its ability to relight.  Maximising the opportunities associated with the test facilities will also require the application of state of the art experimental techniques. Hence, the technical staff provide a role in helping to advance the experimental techniques required and, in particular, support their application within the centres complex test facilities.

Job Purpose 

The position and responsibilities are to act within a six-person technician team supporting the research work of the Centre. Duties will include the need to lead and manage assigned research facilities and areas within the technology Centre, although an ability to provide “transient” and/or “global” support throughout the technology Centre will be fundamental. The post holder will have a major influence in maintaining NCCAT’s reputation for the scheduling and delivery of high quality, high impact, and complex research.

Informal enquiries should be made to Tim Haycock, Technical Operations Manager, via email at [email protected]

Closing date for applications 29 March 2024.

The Job Description and Person Specification can be found here.