Lead Specialist – Software Development for Engineering Analysis

Rolls-Royce SMR; East Midlands; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 79,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Performance bonus

Job summary

Rolls-Royce SMR seeks a Lead Specialist – Software Development for Engineering Analysis to drive technical leadership across software solutions supporting engineering analysis. You will own the vision and strategy for the software, ensure robustness and governance, and coach engineers to deliver high‑quality outputs.

You will act as the technical authority for engineering software, collaborate with IT and engineering teams, and guide the adoption of AI and digital approaches.

Qualifications

• Strong background developing software (Python) to automate or streamline engineering workflows.
• Deep knowledge of good practice, external standards and quality principles for engineering software development.
• Passion for using software to improve efficiency, accuracy and repeatability in engineering analysis.
• Appreciation for engineering analysis/simulation workflows and related user stories.
• Experience applying quality management principles to engineering tools, methods and software workflows.
• Ability to provide robust technical oversight for software developed internally or by suppliers, including governance processes.
• Ability to coach, mentor and train engineers in software methods and best practice.
• Ability to represent RR‑SMR externally with customers, regulators or industry bodies.
• Strong awareness of industry trends, digital advancements and AI‑driven opportunities.
• Degree in Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science or related discipline.
• Chartered or actively working toward Chartership

Responsibilities

• Lead a small team of dedicated software engineers, driving high‑complexity or cross‑discipline projects.
• Develop and own the strategy, tools, processes and guidance for high‑quality engineering software development.
• Act as the technical authority for quality of all analysis‑related software developed internally or by suppliers.
• Identify opportunities for efficiency and quality improvements across analysis workflows and lead initiatives to deliver them.
• Build organizational capability through coaching, mentoring and training of engineers.
• Collaborate with DigIT to ensure tool availability and integration with broader digital transformation programs.
• Support complex and ambiguous problem‑solving across analysis domains.
• Engage with external suppliers, industry forums and research communities to share RR‑SMR capabilities.
• Influence long‑term strategy for engineering software development, including AI and digital approaches.
• Work with specialists across the Engineering Specialist Taxonomy to support cross‑domain challenges and integration

Skills

Python

Engineering workflows

Quality principles

Technical leadership

Coaching

AI/ML awareness

Chartered alignment

Education

Engineering/Math/Physics/CS degree

Job description

Pay Range

£60,000.00

Role Title: Lead Specialist – Software Development for Engineering Analysis

We are Rolls‑Royce SMR and we’re doing something that’s never been done before. We’re revolutionising an industry. That’s a once‑in‑a‑career opportunity for those excited by such a challenge. This is more than just a job; this is a legacy.

Rolls‑Royce SMR has an engineering analysis capability covering a broad range of technical disciplines including structural analysis, thermo‑fluid analysis, electrical systems analysis and many more. Some of these play a fundamental role in the safety case for our power station. Software solutions play an increasingly vital role in automating analysis workflows like these, e.g. by streamlining data transfer between disciplines and hence enabling multi‑disciplinary workflows; or by enabling automated design optimisation through analysis.

Today, many of these solutions are created using Python‑based tools, and delivered in a democratised fashion by engineers across the analysis teams. Looking ahead, AI/machine-learning-based methods will need to be adopted to stay at the cutting edge of capability, as part of our mission to deliver higher accuracy, faster analysis cycle times, and greater efficiency across the analysis lifecycle.

About The Role

As the Lead Specialist – Software Development for Engineering Analysis, you will provide technical leadership for the creation and development of software solutions that support engineering analysis across the organisation. Using your experience of both relevant software development and engineering workflows, you will create and own the vision for the benefits that this sort of software can provide. You will also define and own the strategy for how RR‑SMR develops this type of software, ensuring the outputs are robust, efficient and have appropriate quality assurance given the safety significance.

You will act as the company’s singular technical authority for how this type of software is developed, ensuring all internally developed or supply‑chain‑developed tools meet the highest standards of quality, reliability and governance.

A key part of this role is capability building: coaching, mentoring and upskilling engineers undertaking software development, helping them to apply good development practice and ensuring consistent, high‑quality outputs. You will directly build and lead a team of a few dedicated software engineers to look after the more complex tasks, and also support a much broader population of engineers doing some software development as a part of their roles within our analysis discipline teams.

This role forms a part of our engineering specialist community, a carefully curated group that provide technical vision and leadership across our engineering capabilities.

We’ll Need You To

• Lead a small team of dedicated software engineers, who will drive software development projects that are either of higher complexity, or which naturally cut-across multiple teams rather than being contained to a single discipline.
• Develop and own the strategy, tools, processes and guidance required for high‑quality engineering software development
• Act as the technical authority responsible for the quality of all analysis‑related software created internally or by supply‑chain partners
• Identify major opportunities for efficiency and quality improvements across analysis workflows and lead initiatives to deliver them
• Build organisational capability in engineering software development through coaching, mentoring and training
• Work with our DigIT (Digital + IT) function to ensure the right tools and platforms are available, and to integrate the work in your area with the business's wider programme of digital transformation.
• Support complex and ambiguous problem‑solving activities across analysis domains
• Engage with external suppliers, industry forums, research communities etc, to positively represent RR‑SMR, and secure us access to leading capabilities, ideas, ways of working etc.
• Influence and shape RR‑SMR’s long‑term strategy for engineering software development, including the use of AI and advanced digital approaches
• Work collaboratively with specialists across the Engineering Specialist Taxonomy to support cross‑domain challenges and integration

Key Skills Required

We know there’s no such thing as the ‘perfect’ candidate. If you meet around 75% of the criteria below, we would love to hear from you:

• Strong background developing software (using Python or similar) to automate or streamline typical engineering workflows
• Deep knowledge of good practice, external standards and quality principles for engineering software development
• A passion for using software to improve efficiency, accuracy and repeatability in engineering analysis
• An appreciation for typical engineering analysis/simulation workflows, and the associated user stories.
• Experience applying quality management principles to engineering tools, methods and software workflows
• Ability to provide robust technical oversight for software developed internally or by suppliers, including in defining the governance processes needed to enable this.
• Ability to coach, mentor and support engineers developing software solutions, and provide formal training as required to upskill engineering teams in software methods and best practice
• Ability to represent RR‑SMR externally, including with customers, regulators or industry bodies
• Strong awareness of industry trends, digital advancements and AI‑driven opportunities
• Degree in Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science or related discipline
• Chartered or actively working toward Chartership

We welcome candidates from a broad range of sectors including nuclear, aerospace, energy, advanced manufacturing, software engineering and other high‑integrity industries.

Location

Hybrid working with one of the following as your primary site:

Derby, Manchester or Warrington

Salary And Package

The salary band for this role will be between £60,000 - £78,750 dependent on the skills, values and knowledge you bring. There may be some flexibility in exceptional cases, and the role may evolve as the organisation grows.

Benefits Include

• Bonus – Performance‑related target opportunity 12.5%