Graduate Design Engineer (Rail Electrification and Design Automation)

Inovar Ltd; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 27,000 - 33,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Starting salary £30,000

Career progression path

25 days annual leave

Employer pension contribution

Private medical insurance

Annual profit share

Hybrid working

Job summary

Inovar Ltd, a Manchester-based engineering consultancy, is seeking a Graduate Engineer to work on rail electrification and design automation, developing hands-on experience with live railway projects and mentoring toward professional registration.

You will gain exposure to OLE design, wire geometry, CAD tooling and AI-assisted engineering, with a defined career progression and hybrid working arrangements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in mechanical, civil, structural, electrical, mechatronics or closely related engineering discipline.
• Demonstrable programming ability, preferably in Python, with experience developing scripts, applications or automation tools.
• Interest in applying programming and artificial intelligence to practical engineering problems.
• Familiarity with 2D/3D CAD software.

Responsibilities

• Develop as an overhead line equipment (OLE) design engineer on live railway projects.
• Learn OLE design principles: wire geometry, tensioning, clearance, calculations, drawings and reporting.
• Apply programming and automation to design work, parametric modelling and AI-assisted engineering.
• Balance engineering design with automation based on project needs and priorities.

Skills

Python programming

Programming for automation

Technical communication

Independent research

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in engineering

Tools

2D/3D CAD

Job description

Graduate Engineer – Rail Electrification and Design Automation

Inovar is a Manchester-based engineering consultancy specialising in rail electrification design and digital engineering solutions. We are seeking a graduate engineer with strong technical ability, programming skills and an interest in applying emerging technologies to practical engineering challenges.

Our recent projects include Old Oak Common Rail Systems, the TransPennine Route Upgrade and Poplar Electrification, which recently won a National Rail Award. Our previous graduate recruit has since progressed to Design Engineer and will contribute to mentoring the successful candidate.

Working for a small consultancy brings both challenges and opportunities. By taking ownership of a wide range of tasks, you will gain broad engineering experience, work directly with experienced professionals and have opportunities to develop beyond a conventional graduate engineering role.

You will contribute to major railway infrastructure projects while developing your technical skills in both engineering design and digital technologies.

You will receive mentorship towards professional registration with the Engineering Council through an appropriate institution, such as IMechE, IET or ICE.

We also offer:

• A starting salary of £30,000, reviewed annually and on promotion


• A defined career progression path from Graduate Engineer through Design Engineer, Senior Engineer and Principal Engineer, with clear requirements for each stage


• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays


• Employer pension contribution


• Private medical insurance


• Annual profit share based on company performance


• Hybrid working and quarterly team days

The role

Your primary responsibility will be to develop as an overhead line equipment (OLE) design engineer, contributing to live railway projects alongside experienced engineers.

You will learn the principles of OLE design, including wire geometry, tensioning, component selection, clearance assessment, design calculations, drawing production and technical reporting. As your experience develops, you will take increasing responsibility for delivering engineering work for our clients.

Alongside this, you will have opportunities to apply your programming skills to practical engineering problems. Inovar is developing its capabilities in design automation, parametric modelling and AI-assisted engineering, and we are looking for someone who can contribute to this work.

The balance between engineering design and automation will depend on project requirements and business priorities. Our aim is to increasingly integrate programming and automation into our everyday engineering processes to improve efficiency, quality and consistency.

This is primarily an engineering design role, not a software development position. We are looking for someone who enjoys engineering, understands the value of sound technical judgement and is enthusiastic about improving how engineering work is delivered.

The candidate

• A Bachelor's or Master's degree in mechanical, civil, structural, electrical, mechatronics or a closely related engineering discipline


• Demonstrable programming ability, preferably in Python, with experience developing scripts, applications or automation tools


• An interest in applying programming and artificial intelligence to practical engineering problems


• An appreciation of 2D and 3D CAD software.


• A commitment to working towards professional registration as a Chartered Engineer


• Strong written and spoken English, with the confidence to discuss technical matters with colleagues and clients


• A logical and analytical approach to problem solving, with a willingness to research and learn independently


• Initiative, creativity and an ability to approach unfamiliar technical challenges


• Experience with Python libraries, data processing, APIs or engineering automation


• Familiarity with parametric modelling, numerical methods or computational engineering


• Experience using AI-assisted programming tools, with an understanding of the need to verify their outputs


• Previous engineering placement or internship experience

Show us what you have built.

We ask applicants to provide an example of a programming, automation or computational engineering project they have completed. This could be a dissertation tool, placement assignment or personal project.

We are interested in the problem you were solving, how you approached it, what you developed and how you tested the result. Practical ability, independent thinking and a willingness to learn are more important to us than familiarity with any particular software package.