Power Electronics Engineer – KTP Associate

Although you will be employed by the University of Sheffield, you will be predominantly based at Mettler Toledo Safeline X-ray’s office in Royston, Hertfordshire and may be required to work from Sheffield occasionally.

Being a KTP, a generous development and training budget of £4000 is available to assist candidates in their continued professional development. You will also be encouraged to register for an MPhil degree alongside this role.

Main duties and responsibilities

* Develop a power supply subsystem for an X-ray inspection machine
* Explore and analyse existing solutions, determining areas for improvement
* Develop, simulate, implement and test power electronic conversion circuits
* Assist in the development of closed-loop controller for power electronics circuits
* Develop suitable and safe testing methods for effective testing of various high voltage subsystems
* Lead the project, monitor milestones and produce technical documents as required.
* Work with SLXR and the university to identify and protect intellectual property and work with commercial partners
* Work within an existing agile scrum project management framework
* Participate in regular project meetings with Mettler Toledo Safeline X-ray and the university.
* Plan your own workload to ensure the overall project milestones and objectives are met on time.
* Engage fully with the requirements of the knowledge transfer partnership scheme, including personal development and reporting
* Work across multiple sites, including at Mettler Toledo Safeline X-ray and the University of Sheffield
* Carry out other duties, commensurate with the grade and remit of the post

Person Specification

Our diverse community of staff and students recognises the unique abilities, backgrounds, and beliefs of all. We foster a culture where everyone feels they belong and are respected. Even if your past experience doesn’t match perfectly with this role’s criteria, your contribution is valuable, and we encourage you to apply. Please ensure that you reference the application criteria in the application statement when you apply.

Essential criteria

* Have at least a Master’s degree (PhD is desirable) or have equivalent experience in electronic, electrical or control engineering (assessed at application)
* Experience in designing, constructing and experimental testing of power electronic systems (assessed at application/interview)
* Experience with analogue/digital control for power electronics systems (assessed at application/interview)
* Experience of using computer-aided engineering including PCB design, schematic capture, embedded programming and circuit
simulation (assessed at application/interview)
* Evidence of working effectively in a team and presenting findings to a wide range of audiences (assessed at application/interview)
* Ability to plan own workload and prioritise conflicting deadlines. (assessed at application/interview)
* Ability to make decisions and apply creative approaches to solving complex technical problems (assessed at application/interview)
* Appreciation of the commercial implications of decisions, particularly for costs (assessed at application/interview)
* Willingness to be based in Royston, Hertfordshire but regularly visit Sheffield (assessed at application)
* Have not previously worked on and completed an Innovate UK-funded KTP project (assessed at application)

Desirable criteria

* Experience of working on high voltage power electronic systems (assessed at application/interview)
* Experience with finite element analysis (FEA) for magnetics or thermal devices (assessed at application/interview)
* Experience in hardware and layout design for thermal management, EMC/EMI, circuit insulation and isolation. (assessed at
application/interview)
* Experience of working on industrial projects (assessed at application)
* Experience of working with wide-bandgap semiconductors (assessed at application/interview)

Key elements of this role include design, implementation and testing of digitally controlled wide-bandgap power electronic systems such power factor correctors and high voltage inverters to improve X-ray generator performance. You will lead this project, liaising with and assisting SLXR engineers in product development and in the journey towards commercialisation.