Principal Engineer - Sled

UTAC; Bedford; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

An automotive testing company in Bedford is looking for a Reporting to Senior Manager in Safety Test role. The ideal candidate will be responsible for health and safety management, team oversight, and establishing customer relations while ensuring compliance with testing standards. A bachelor's degree and 5+ years in automotive safety testing are essential. This role offers opportunities for personal development and career growth.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years' experience in passive safety testing or development.
• Experience in managing teams or a similar size business.
• Demonstrable success in planning and organisation.

Responsibilities

• Manage Health and Safety and conduct risk assessments.
• Oversee a small team and manage work scheduling.
• Build relationships with customers and determine future workload.

Skills

Understanding of passive safety test scenarios

Expert knowledge of automotive safety standards

Data interpretation and analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent in automotive discipline

Tools

FARO Arm or CMM devices

High-speed cameras

Job description

Job Description

Role :

Reporting to Senior Manager - (Passive) Safety Test

UTAC’s Servo-Sled test facility is a sub‑department of our Passive Safety test offering located at our Millbrook site. The successful candidate will have responsibility for the performance of the department from a health and safety, and operational delivery perspective. They will support the Senior Manager and Chief Engineer who will have overall responsibility for financial performance and technical delivery. They will ensure that all work is completed in a competent and professional manner to the satisfaction of all customers and will support the development of the department going forward both in terms of capability and capacity. The successful candidate will also work as part of a wider team within the Passive Safety department; supporting the delivery of Systems testing which covers a wide range of static rigs.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for Health and Safety, risk assessments and safety observation tours within area of responsibility.
• Management of a small team.
• Work scheduling and resource management.
• Liaise and build relationships with customers to determine future workload and requirements.
• Support the implementation of continuous improvement following established group processes and tools.
• Develop, report and improve department metrics to inform future strategy.
• Financial; including invoicing, purchase order sign off and forecast maintenance.
• Support to maintenance of ISO17025, ISO9001 and other applicable accreditations.
• Staff training and development plans.
• Sled test equipment utilisation, issues and analysis.
• Sled testing procedures.
• Act in accordance with the behaviours for UTAC staff at all times.

Qualifications

• Qualified to bachelor’s degree or equivalent, preferably in an automotive discipline.

Experience

• Minimum 5 years’ experience in automotive or aerospace passive safety testing or development to European / Federal / Global standards (essential)
• Management of teams or business of similar size (essential)
• Demonstrable success of planning and organisation (essential)
• Sled testing (essential)
• Systems (Static Rig) testing (preferred)
• Experience of using FARO Arm or other CMM devices
• Experience of setting up and operating high speed cameras, GoPros and DSLR cameras
• Data acquisition experience

Skills

• Solid understanding of the requirements of various passive safety test scenarios, relevant to Sled Testing, and how that translates to the configuration of test facilities (essential)
• Expert level knowledge of industry automotive passive safety European, Federal and Global testing standards and regulations
• Understanding of human injury levels and the limitations of ATD instrumentation
• Familiarity with passive safety testing tools and equipment, including data acquisition, measurement devices and data processing.
• Data interpretation and analysis

Personal Behaviours

• Agent for change
• Strong leader
• Organised and methodical
• Works well under pressure
• Pragmatic
• Shows initiative
• Amicable

Additional Information

• Flexibility to travel as and when required
• Full UK driving licence
• Willing to undergo a Criminal Disclosure check