Research Associate/ Fellow (Fixed Term)

University of Nottingham; Nottingham; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 47,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Friendly environment

30 days holiday

Bonus scheme

Staff development

Benefits package

Job summary

The University of Nottingham's PEMC Institute is seeking an Application Engineer. You will design novel power converter topologies, write and validate drive control code, and build and test hardware on state‑of‑the‑art facilities.

Reporting to the project lead, you will collaborate with academics, researchers and industry partners, run experiments, and contribute practical solutions to complex engineering challenges in a fast‑paced, multidisciplinary team.

Qualifications

• Proven design skills in power electronics converters and drive systems.
• Experience writing drive control code in C or similar.
• Hands-on lab skills in converter characterisation, instrumentation and data acquisition.

Responsibilities

• Design novel power converter topologies.
• Write and validate drive control code.
• Build, assemble and commission hardware.
• Run experiments on PEMC’s test facilities.

Skills

Power electronics

Drive systems

C programming

EMC

Lab instrumentation

Data acquisition

Education

PhD in a relevant field

Job description

Salary

£32,080 to £47,389 per annum, depending on skills and experience (minimum £35608 with relevant PhD). Salary progression beyond this scale is subject to performance.

Area

Electrical & Electronic Engineering

Location

University Park

Salary

£32,080 to £47,389 per annum, depending on skills and experience (minimum £35608 with relevant PhD). Salary progression beyond this scale is subject to performance.

Closing Date

Sunday 01 November 2026

Reference

ENG2552726

About The Role

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an Application Engineer to join the Power Electronics, Machines and Control Institute (PEMC) at the University of Nottingham. This is a hands‑on engineering role at the heart of world‑leading research in power electronics and drive systems. Day to day, you will be designing novel power converter topologies, writing and validating drive control code, building and commissioning hardware, and running experiments on PEMC’s state‑of‑the‑art test facilities.

About The Team

The PEMC institute has grown exponentially and now has over 200 members, 24 academics and circa 130 PhD students, researchers, and engineers. The group offers state‑of‑the‑art facilities spanning 3500m², capable of handling up to 5MW for construction and testing, and is world leading in power electronics, machine drives and control for aerospace, automotive, renewable energy and industrial applications. We are a diverse, international team and we believe that a breadth of backgrounds and perspectives makes us stronger. We actively encourage applications from candidates of all cultures, ethnicities, genders and beliefs, and welcome those who bring different experiences and ways of thinking to our work.

About You

We are looking for a motivated and practical engineer with a passion for power electronics. You will need: proven design skills applied to power electronics converters and drive systems from concept through to hardware; a track record of writing power electronics control code in C or equivalent; solid understanding of power converter design including topology selection, gate drive design and EMC; practical lab skills in converter characterisation, instrumentation and data acquisition. If you enjoy solving difficult engineering problems, working in a fast‑paced multidisciplinary environment and seeing your designs come to life on the bench, this role is for you.

Reporting to the project lead, you will collaborate with academics, researchers, technical services colleagues and industrial partners. You will be self‑motivated, well organised and comfortable working on complex, ambiguous engineering challenges, bringing clarity and practical problem‑solving to every stage of the project.

What We Offer

• A friendly, diverse, and supportive working environment.
• Generous holiday entitlement of 30 days (or pro rata) plus standard bank holidays and five university closure days, including closure between Christmas and New Year.
• Our reward scheme grants bonuses of numerous values for excellent work.
• We are committed to staff development through the provision of training, continued support, and career progression opportunities.
• You will have access to a range of benefits and rewards, including fitness and health facilities, staff discounts, travel schemes and many more. To find out more about what we can offer you, visit our benefits website.

Our University is a supportive, inclusive, caring and positive community. We warmly welcome those of different cultures, ethnicities and beliefs – indeed this very diversity is vital to our success, it is fundamental to our values and enriches life on campus. We welcome applications from UK, Europe and from across the globe. For more information on the support we offer our international colleagues, see our Moving to Nottingham Page.

For successful international applicants, we provide financial support for your visa and the immigration health surcharge, plus an interest‑free loan to help cover the cost of immigration‑related expenses for any dependants accompanying you to the UK. For more information please see the our webpage on Financial support for visas and the immigration health surcharge.

Additional Information

If we make a conditional offer of employment, the University of Nottingham will ask you whether you have any unspent criminal convictions as part of our pre‑employment checks. If the position you are applying for is ‘exempt’ from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 you will be asked to confirm both spent and unspent convictions at the point of offer. Examples of such posts include clinical, medical and allied health roles, roles involving childcare services. A DBS check may also be required.

The University will only use information relating to criminal convictions where the law allows us to do so in line with our Data Protection Policy. Personal data relating to criminal convictions will be retained confidentially and securely and access to that data will be strictly controlled.

More information relating to the manner in which we process your personal data is located within our privacy notice for staff, job applicants and others working at the University. Information about your rights relating to the use of your personal data can be found within our website privacy notice.

This post is available on a fixed term basis for 1 year. Your working hours will be 36.25 hours per week (full time). If you are interested in part‑time work (minimum hours to be agreed), we encourage you to apply, please specify your preferred hours in your application. Job share arrangements may also be considered.

What Next

Further information is available in the role profile.

Further details

• Job Description/Role Profile

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer (Level 2) employer. Increasing the diversity of our community is extremely important to us and we are committed to the aims of Disability Confident Scheme.

We are the first university to have achieved Athena Swan Gold Award.

To help you succeed, we published Candidate Guidance to provide support on the application and interview process.

Discover our benefits, visit Your Benefits website.

We welcome applications from UK, Europe and worldwide and aim to make your move to the UK as smooth as possible. Visit the Moving to Nottingham page for details.

Your application will be considered on an equal basis, subject to the relevant permission to work in the UK as set out by UK Visas & Immigration.