Teaching and Research Fellow in Aircraft Structural Design

Cranfield University; Cranfield; On-site; GBP 39,000 - 46,000; Full time

Job summary

Cranfield University invites applications for a Teaching and Research Fellow in Aircraft Structural Design. Based at Cranfield Campus, you will combine postgraduate teaching with high‑level research in aircraft structures and design, spanning metallic and composite structures and modern CAD/FEA tools.

Working with senior colleagues, you will deliver postgraduate modules, supervise research projects, and contribute to industry‑funded contracts and academic proposals, with opportunities to publish

Qualifications

• Significant aeronautical structural analysis and design skills, ideally from industry.
• Ability to develop and deliver postgraduate teaching modules in aircraft structures.
• Experience with CAD/FEA tools and research project supervision.

Responsibilities

• Deliver high‑quality postgraduate teaching in aircraft structures topics.
• Manage academic course delivery, supervise postgraduate research and design projects.
• Develop industry‑sponsored projects, proposals and research contracts.

Skills

Aerospace structural analysis

Aircraft design

FEA/cad tools

Tools

3DEXPERIENCE

CATIA

ABAQUS

NASTRAN

Job description

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Teaching and Research Fellow in Aircraft Structural Design

Employer Cranfield University Location Cranfield, UK Salary GBP 38,655.00 - 46,492.00 per year;GBP 53,108.00 per year Closing date 8 Nov 2026

Organisation: Cranfield University

Faculty or Department: Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Based at: Cranfield Campus, Cranfield, Bedfordshire

Hours of work: 37 hours per week, normally worked Monday to Friday. Flexible working will be considered.

Contract type: Permanent

Salary: Full time starting salary is normally in the range of £38,655 to £46,492 per annum with potential progression to £53,108 per annum

Posted Date: 11/10/2026

Apply by: 08/11/2026

Documents:

• 5412 - JD & Person Spec.pdf
  (PDF, 127.19kb)

Role Description

We have an exciting opportunity for a talented and ambitious individual with industry or academic experience to join our Aircraft Structures team, conducting teaching and research into novel aircraft configurations ranging from zero emissions hydrogen propulsion through to supersonic transport and eVTOL.

About the Role

We are seeking a talented and ambitious individual to join our team. Working with senior members of the team, the position will be mainly responsible for the development and delivery of high-quality teaching at postgraduate level in various topics related to aircraft structures analysis and design, for academic course management, for postgraduate student research and design project supervision, as well as for engaging with the delivery of industrially sponsored projects.

Some of your time will also be spent preparing research proposals and delivering research contracts and consultancy, as well as developing activities that complement and enhance existing research and teaching within the Aerospace and Aviation Theme. You will be supported to establish and grow your research portfolio and publications.

About You

You will be passionate about aerospace and the contribution and value of your specialised topic within this field. The impacts of the aerospace industry and air travel will be important to you, and playing your role in driving progress towards zero emissions aviation will be a personal priority. Your ideal working environment will be collaborative and open to new learning and experience, with personal satisfaction taken in supporting others to grow their knowledge and skills through our teaching activities. Professionally, you will be curious and creative, looking for new solutions and applying thinking from outside the traditional aerospace sector. You may be an academic, looking for a more postgraduate teaching-focused opportunity; you may be an industry professional looking for new challenges and a refreshing new professional environment. All are welcomed within a friendly, supportive, ambitious and energetic team environment.

This specific opportunity is ideally suited, but not limited to, experienced industrial airframe design and analysis engineers, who wish to pursue a career in the academic sector. To be considered for this opportunity, you should have significant aeronautical structural analysis and design skills, ideally accumulated in an industrial setting.

Your knowledge should span across any combination of the following subjects: airworthiness requirements knowledge and application; metallic and/or composite airframe structures analysis and design; fatigue and damage tolerance; computer aided design (3DEXPERIENCE, CATIA); finite element analysis (ABAQUS, NASTRAN / PATRAN / other); structural stability; aeroelasticity; or structural dynamics. Individuals with an industrial/academic background, having spent significant time in a relevant industrial airframe design and analysis post, will be considered.

About Us

As a specialist postgraduate university, Cranfield's world-class expertise, large-scale facilities and unrivalled industry partnerships are creating leaders in technology and management globally. Learn more about Cranfield and our unique impact here.

The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences (FEAS) is a leading provider of postgraduate level engineering education, research and technology support to individuals and organisations. As part of the faculty, the aerospace theme translates specialist research in aircraft design, propulsion, aerodynamics and autonomous systems into practical aerospace solutions through strong industry partnerships. Learn more here.

Our Values and Commitments

Our shared, stated values help to define who we are and underpin everything we do: Ambition; Impact; Respect; and Community. Find out more here.

We aim to create and maintain a culture in which everyone can work and study together and realise their full potential. We are a Disability Confident Employer and proud members of the Stonewall Diversity Champions Programme.We are committed to actively exploring flexible working options for each role and have been ranked in the Top 30 family friendly employers in the UK by the charity Working Families. Find out more about our key commitments to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Flexible Working here.

Working Arrangements

Collaborating and connecting are integral to so much of what we do. Our Working Arrangements Framework provides many staff with the opportunity to flexibly combine on-site and remote working, where job roles allow, balancing the needs of our community of staff, students, clients and partners.

Closing date for receipt of applications: 8 November 2026

This role may require you to have the ability to obtain UK Security Clearance