Stress Engineer

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join Rolls‑Royce in Bristol and help safeguard the mechanical integrity of our engines across several Defence Programmes including New Product Introduction (NPI).

Stress engineers ensure the integrity of our products. They predict the mechanical behaviour of components and sub-systems, supporting the Design function, considering various failure mechanisms (e.g. proof, ultimate, fatigue (low & high cycle), creep etc.) and contributing factors (e.g. vibration, thermal induced loads, inherent manufacturing anomalies, corrosion, extreme operating conditions). The role of a Stress Engineer includes being influential at all stages in the design cycle (to ensure designs are robust, meet requirements and are optimised) through to the products service life and to component disposal.

These roles involve working with a range of key business stakeholders to support the delivery of key programme milestones thus enabling the delivery of our Defence Combat strategy for the next 50 years.

What you will be doing

With this attractive opportunity you will work across a wide variety of components and commodities with the responsibility of ensuring the integrity and the correct mechanical behaviour of our products by:

• Conducting mechanical design and analysis; this includes the selection, generation and further development of numerical models, the use of numeral calculation methods, the development and implementation of interdisciplinary agreed boundary conditions into own models as well as into models of other disciplines (e.g. thermals, whole engine modelling, performance), the execution, verification and validation, and analysis of numerical model calculations, and actively promoting, encouraging and supporting the identification and implementation of continuous improvements to tools methods and processes.
• Resolving problems through evaluative judgements, analysing factual information from multiple sources, interpreting results and identifying effective solutions by the application of technical knowledge, expertise and engineering judgement.
• Conducting mechanical experiments. This includes preparation of experiment specification for tests on test rigs and engines, supervision and support of experiments to ensure safe execution, plausibility check of results during the execution of the test, analysis and interpretation of test results, and comparison with analytical and/or empirical models.
• Being responsible for defined technical packages/investigations of work as part of a multi discipline team, providing delivery against programme milestones within agreed cost, timescale, and quality requirements.

Who we’re looking for

At Rolls‑Royce we put safety first, do the right thing, keep it simple and make a difference. These principles form the behaviours that guide us and are an essential component of our assessment process. They are the fundamental qualities that we seek for all roles.

To be successful in this role you will need to:

• A bachelor’s or master’s degree in engineering or a STEM subject (or regional equivalent qualification) and have experience in a relevant engineering environment (Mechanical, Aeronautical, Electrical or Controls). Other qualifications, in combination with relevant experience, may also be considered. A materials or mechanical analyst background and a strong interest in developing your career as a mechanical analyst. Membership of a relevant professional body attained/ working towards Chartered status is preferred.
• Strong technical knowledge in mechanical design assessment methodologies (e.g. stress analysis both static and dynamic, fracture and fatigue assessment) with experience of, or a good appreciation of, finite element stressing techniques (ANSYS or ABAQUS preferred) and complex testing (of assemblies, component, and materials).
• An understanding of material behaviour, crack propagation, contact, thermo-mechanical fatigue, and statistics.
• An understanding of cross-discipline engineering concepts which include but are not limited to manufacturing engineering, aerodynamics, thermodynamics, thermal and mechanical analysis, cost engineering and product definition.
• Experience of working with novel designs and problems with the ability to work outside established technical processes, developing these as needed throughout your work.

To work for the Rolls‑Royce Defence business, you will need to hold a Security Check (SC) clearance. Rolls‑Royce will support the application for Security Clearance if you do not currently already have this in place.