Vacancy: Power Electronics Engineer at UCL (Closed)

About us

In our single biggest development since we were founded, UCL is expanding to East London. Located on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, UCL East will be dedicated to disruptive thinking and discovery across disciplines and beyond academic walls, to find solutions to the biggest challenges for future living. We are located in Newham, East London – one of the most socially diverse parts of the UK – and we would like our staff recruitment to reflect this.

With its first two buildings opening in 2022 and 2023, UCL East will be a place for creating solutions that change the world. By breaking down barriers and creating new practices in sustainable spaces and best-in-class facilities, we will be giving our staff and students the tools to take their learning and discoveries further. More than just a conventional campus, UCL East represents a future focused mindset. We will deliver new research, technology and innovation, and more than 50 undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes for up to 4,000 students.

One technical post is available in this round of recruitment to the Advanced Propulsion Lab (APL). The post will sit in the Marshgate Building of the UCL East campus which has world-class collaborative research laboratories. The APL is a cross-faculty hub, bringing together researchers from the UCL departments of Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, with the Department of Mechanical Engineering as the lead partner for this APL recruitment, with a separate set of APL recruitments led by the Department of Chemical Engineering.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Sciences

UCL Mechanical Engineering has been pioneering the development of engineering education, having taught the core discipline for over 170 years. UCL was home to the UK’s first-ever Professor of the Mechanical Principles of Engineering, Eaton Hodgkinson, in 1847. It was also where Sir Alexander Blackie William Kennedy introduced organised laboratory practicals in university education training, a world-leading educational innovation at the time. Today our students are taught core engineering disciplines and supervised in individual and group research projects by academics that are recognised research world-leaders in their fields. In the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014), over 90% of the Department’s research was judged “world-leading” or “internationally excellent”. At UCL Mechanical Engineering, we develop and apply core competencies to produce world-class research into a wider range of engineering challenges than most would imagine.

Research in the APL will focus on the critical challenge of decarbonizing the transport sector, including land, sea and air applications, as well as the generation of electrofuels to service these sectors. The APL will have a truly molecules-to-systems reach and this is reflected in the breadth of experience this round of recruitment will target.

We are keen to recruit a technical staff member in this round to strengthen the APL delivery team. You will be expected to work collaboratively with colleagues within the department and other departments that form part of the APL, as well as within UCL East more widely. The recruitment of new technical staff to support the development of UCL East, and the APL in particular, represents an exciting opportunity to enhance our critical mass in these areas and to establish new, multidisciplinary research activities in a modern, state-of-the-art environment.

About the role

UCL Mechanical Engineering is seeking to appoint a specialist in the field of power electronics. The main purpose of the job is to provide and manage technical support to researchers, academic staff, students and others within the Advanced Propulsion Lab (APL), in order to help the APL achieve its strategic research and teaching objectives. The post holder would also be able to lead on the development of research projects, modeling, simulation, developing, analysing and validating power electronic design solutions. You will also be expected to manage other technical staff involved in supporting APL research and teaching, to and to assist in the maintenance and management of equipment, instruments and laboratory facilities.

The post holder will be able to work on power electronics projects in good time and under minimal supervision and have the ability to lead to completion projects once they have agreed the instructions. It is essential that you are approachable, can work within a team and be open to offer advice and direction when requested to fellow staff members and students in the form of individual and group meetings, email and telephone.

The post holder must engage with staff and students in discussion, as presented in sketches and preliminary drawings, and having understood the requirements of the component or rig, advise the student or staff member on modification and further development of an electrical system or an electronic circuit. By way of example, you will also assist the student and staff in development of printed circuit boards (PCBs), assembly of the PCBs, and offering advice on the choice of appropriate electrical components.

For more insight into the duties and responsibilities of this position, please refer to the attached job description and person specification.

About you

We welcome applications from candidates with experience of the following:

• Designing and testing of power electronic convertors (AC: AC, DC: DC, DC: AC) or Motor Drives

• Use of simulation tools such as PSIM, MATLAB/SIMULINK, PLECS, and Imperix

• Power electronics design

• Working with one and three phase systems, electrical machines, and electrical equipment.

• Working without direct supervision and taking responsibility for meeting service standards and agreeing targets and workloads.

• Proven understanding and experience of implementing and adhering to safety protocols within a workshop or laboratory environment

While not essential, experience of operational management of workshops or laboratories, purchasing and budget management, and supervision of junior staff or students will be a bonus.

Collaboration is at the heart of our Ways of Working and as such the ability to work as part of a team is core to the role. Additionally we are keen to hear from applicants with a firm commitment to high quality teaching and fostering a positive learning environment for students.

Additional Information

Application deadline:  24 April 2023 at 23:59 GMT. Early submissions is recommended.

If you have any queries about the role, please contact t.darko@ucl.ac.uk.

What we offer

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits some of which are below:

• 41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days)

• Additional 5 days’ annual leave purchase scheme

• Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)

• Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan

• Immigration loan

• Relocation scheme for certain posts

• On-Site nursery

• On-site gym

• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay

• Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service

• Discounted medical insurance

Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/rewards-and-benefits to find out more.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong.

We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women.

Our department is committed to an inclusive and supportive culture for all. In recruiting, we welcome the unique contributions that everyone can bring in terms of their education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, religion, disability, sexual orientation and beliefs. We continually strive to have the systems in place to ensure that all members of the department have equal access to opportunities, reach their full potential and maintain a work-life balance.