Graduate Development Engineer

You’ll be designing electronic sub-systems for motor controllers.  This includes analogue and digital circuit design and simulation, schematic capture, PCB design, design validation and integration testing.

And if you have the right skills, there could also be an opportunity to develop embedded firmware for 32-bit microcontrollers and PC-based applications,

You’ll be working on the development of a range of AC motor controllers (‘drives’), used in industrial processes across the world (80% of company output is exported).  There are four different frames of drive in the family which span a power range from 22kW to 200kW.

The technology within the drive is highly innovative (only one other company in the world has commercially exploited it) as it allows direct conversion from fixed voltage, fixed frequency AC mains to a variable voltage, variable frequency output to the motor. It has great potential to disrupt global markets,

It can also transfer energy to and from the load (motor) which results in significant energy savings in certain applications.

THE BUSINESS AND TEAM

There has been outside investment of over £4M to accelerate commercialisation.  The investors are expecting the business to grow by a factor of ten over the next five years. So it’s a great time to be joining them.

The business has 25 employees, and 15 of them have recently been moved into a separate company with the intention of creating a high performing, dynamic culture; and designing, manufacturing, and selling the new product

You’ll be joining a team of 6 in the R&D team, and reporting to the Manager. In fact you’ll be replacing him, as he’s just been promoted; he started as a graduate in 2021, which shows the great prospects that are available.

The team is a mix of software, hardware and control engineers.

TRAINING AND SUPPORT

The R&D team is split geographically between those based at HQ in Ford, home workers and those based at a technology centre.  Despite this, the team are close-knit and supportive of one another with regular face-to-face meetings.

The team has a range of skills and experience covering power electronics, analogue and digital electronics, embedded software, motor control and cloud/web technologies.  The six permanent engineers are supplemented by four contractors who collectively have more than 100 years of experience in power electronics and motor control.

Engineers are typically assigned as a leader on a sub-system (hardware or software) but this does not mean that they work on that exclusively.  Other team members are available to peer review designs and, similarly, be reviewers themselves.

Training will be provided where the need has been identified (e.g schematic capture tools) although most training is ‘on-the-job’.

The company supports membership of professional organisations and will reimburse annual membership fees (e.g IET membership).

WHAT YOU’LL GET

Salary is between £30,000- £35,000. There will also be a formal bonus system based on yours and the company performance.

25 days of annual leave plus bank holidays

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

A degree (first or 2:1) in Electrical, Electronic, or Software Engineering.

Some knowledge of embedded web technologies would be ideal.

WHERE YOU’LL BE DOING IT

The offices are in a small town to the north of Littlehampton (west Sussex).  Commutable from Chichester, Worthing, Bognor Regis, and west-Brighton.