Head of Research and Development Design
Brackley, UK
At the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, a group of passionate and determined people work to design, develop, manufacture and race the cars driven by seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton and Grand Prix winner George Russell.
Whether working in our Operations, Technical, Race or Business Support functions, we are all in and aspire to build the greatest team in the history of our sport.
Every individual plays their part. No stone is left unturned in the chase for every tenth of a second. The history of our sport is long and rich, and we are continuing our journey with renewed effort year on year. Record books remember the names of a few, but history is written by the many.
At a time when we are significantly investing in our in-house test and experimental capability, we are looking for an engineering leader to help drive the standards for how we deliver lap time improvements to the track. Working collaboratively across the technical and operations areas of the business you will be responsible for ensuring our Research and Development test capability meets the demands of our Engineering Group, and to ensure we have a continuous long-term view on future technologies. This is a role where you will provide a significant contribution to on-track car performance and reliability, as well as contribute to our long-term Research and Development ambitions.
Key Accountabilities (Duties)
Reporting to the Chief Engineer, Research and Development you will lead an R&D Design team of ten engineers and take direct line management of two team leaders. You will take accountability for delivery across three clear workstreams:
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Continuous improvement of our in-house Research and Development capability through improvements to our rigs, plant and logging. This covers the T&D Laboratory, Dynos (Powertrain, Transmission, Brake, and Heat Rejection cells), and Materials Laboratory. As well as business as usual upgrades to match capability to car performance and reliability improvement, this also covers the delivery of new testing technologies and infrastructure.
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Design of the interfaces between our test rigs and car hardware to enable homologation, safety demonstration, reliability prove-out, and performance testing.
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Long term technology demonstration - using Proof of Concept programmes to showcase applications ready for the design teams to incorporate into development of car systems. This is analogous to taking projects through Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3 though 6.
To fulfil this your duties will include:
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Facilitate requirements capture across areas of the business (including but not limited to vehicle performance, design, aero, data quality and operations) to ensure that new capability programmes are fit for purpose and will deliver to the expectations of the business.
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Act as the design lead for delivering new capability programmes – and build close relationships with our car design, test engineering, finance, facilities and operations groups to ensure right-first-time delivery in terms of specification.
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Prioritising projects and assigning resource to deliver on complex cross-functional programmes.
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Work with Car Concept group and the Composite, Mechanical, Electronics and Powertrain design groups to identify where verification is required for an idea to become a viable solution for a design team to pick up and develop into a raceable solution.
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Build and maintain our networks and relationships on technology and capability matters with suppliers, industry and academia.
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Track the projected progression of the car performance envelope and be proactive in ensuring that our test capability can always facilitate the range of operation required.
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Champion the importance of data quality within our test facilities, to ensure that we ask the correct questions and obtain the correct answers and drive Right-First-Time decisions on what the car requires at the track.
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Support the car design Heads of Departments with design assistance at peaks of design release schedules.
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Support the enablement of our test facilities for commercial use.
Candidate Profile
Essential:
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Engineering or physics degree, or equivalent qualification(s).
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Mechanical design experience to a level where you can approve the output of a design team on safety-critical components.
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Demonstrable experience of working in a high-performance engineering environment.
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Experience in delivering results in support of a fast-paced programme.
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Ability to collaborate and negotiate to deliver results across different departments.
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A proven ability to take the initiative.
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Curious, committed to continuous learning, and ability to adapt quickly to change.
Desirable:
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Knowledge of mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic and/or electrical test capability.
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Race car mechanical, powertrain, composite and/or electronic design and drawing capability.
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Previous line management responsibility, including the ability to empathetically deal with sensitive people matters.
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Project and programme management skills.
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Requirements capture and specification generation.
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Ability to creatively present data in formats that make it accessible and understandable to a wide range of stakeholders and business areas.
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Demonstrable experience of delivering in a competition environment (such as sport) where the deadline is immovable.
Specific Advantageous Experiences:.
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Confident user of the 3DX CAD system and SAP ERP System.
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Detailed understanding of metrology and calibration principles.
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Use of ATLAS 10 for analysing live and logged data.
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Use of Visio or similar products to generate system-level and facility-level schematics.
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Ability to generate and apply performance metrics to inform decisions on car and capability development direction.
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Hydraulic, pneumatic and electrical actuation system design, maintenance and/or operation.
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Understanding of Formula 1 Financial Regulations.
Benefits:
Our riverside campus is powered by 100% renewably sourced energy and features an on-site gym and exercise studio, subsidised restaurant and on-site parking with EV chargers available.
We offer a competitive and attractive package of benefits including a generous bonus scheme, Mercedes car lease scheme, private medical cover, life assurance and 25 days holiday. We pride ourselves on our family-friendly environment and employee well-being programmes.
Why us:
At the heart of our performance are our people. Every member of our team has a voice and plays their part in contributing to our successes on and off the racetrack. We take pride in creating an innovative, collaborative and high-performance culture where all of our team members are respected, empowered and valued.
Through our Accelerate 25 programme, we are continuously working to make our team even more diverse and inclusive. Whatever your background, we believe that you will find working with us rewarding and enriching.