Research Engineer - Electrical at GKN Aerospace · Bristol

Fantastic challenges. Amazing opportunities.

GKN Aerospace is reimagining air travel: going further, faster and greener! Fuelled by great people whose expertise and creativity sets the standards in our industry, we’re inspired by the opportunities to innovate and break boundaries. We’re proud to play a part in protecting the world’s democracies. And we’re committed to putting sustainability at the centre of everything we do, opening up and protecting our planet. With over 16,000 employees across 32 manufacturing sites in 12 countries we serve over 90% of the world’s aircraft and engine manufacturers and achieved sales of £3.6bn in 2025. There are no limits to where you can take your career.

Job Summary

Based at GKN's Global Technology Centre the role of an Electrical System Engineer is to support the Electrical Network team in developing and delivering electrical systems within GKN Aerospace Hydrogen Systems. This work will directly contribute to the advancement of sustainable aerospace power and propulsion systems, integrating electrical technologies through the design and development of innovative components, assemblies, and system architectures.

The Electrical Systems Engineer will be responsible for supporting the development, management and verification of system-level electrical requirements throughout the product lifecycle.

Working within a multidisciplinary engineering environment, the engineer ensures that electrical systems are specified, analysed, modelled, tested, and verified to achieve performance, safety, reliability and certification objectives.

How You'll Contribute

The Research Engineer will be responsible for the following:

Requirements Management

• Capture, analyse, and manage stakeholder, customer, regulatory, and certification requirements
• Decompose high-level requirements into subsystem and component-level requirements

System Architecture Development

• Support the development and maintain electrical system architectures and interface definitions

Modelling & Simulation

• Support the Development of system models to evaluate electrical system behaviour and performance
• Conduct simulations to assess functionality, efficiency, control strategies, and failure responses
• Perform trade studies to support architecture and design decisions
• Validate and maintain engineering models throughout the development lifecycle

Verification & Validation

• Generate test specifications, procedures, and acceptance criteria
• Support laboratory, rig, subsystem, and system-level testing activities

What You'll Bring

To help us make a difference, you’ll bring your passion and expertise/ talent for what you do along with the following skills, experience, qualifications and attributes:

Essential:

Technical Skills:

• Minimum B.Eng degree or equivalent, with relevant experience in Electrical Engineering and Systems Engineering
• Experience in systems requirements elicitation and analysis
• Strong understanding of safety assurance practices for safety-critical systems and their relationship to systems engineering practices (FTA, FHAs, FMEAs, bow-ties etc.)
• Experienced using a requirements management tool (e.g. Codebeamer, Polarion, DOORs) as part of a systems development lifecycle process. Desirable
• Understanding of electrical architecture – specifically DC microgrid architectures
• Proficiency in modelling and simulation tools such as Matlab and Simulink
• Ability to define and execute verification methods including analysis, inspection, demonstration and test

Soft Skills:

• Has a learning mindset who can work with ambiguity

Desirable:

• Use safety and reliability methods for novel systems such as FHA, FMEA and Bow-ties

What We'll Offer

Once you’re on board you’ll get the following perks and benefits:

• Competitive salary dependent on experience
• Industry Leading Pension Scheme = we’ll match your contributions up to 8% on a 1 : 1.5 basis
• Life Assurance 8 x salary
• 25 days holiday + bank holidays
• Flexible working hours including the ability to finish at 12noon on a Friday
• Income protection
• Shopping discounts
• Cycle To Work Scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Virtual GP Clinic for you and immediate family
• A collaborative, dynamic working environment

We’ll offer you fantastic challenges and amazing opportunities. This is your chance to be part of an organisation that has proven itself to be at the cutting edge of our industry; and is committed to pushing the boundaries even further. And with some of the best training on offer in the industry, who knows how far you can go?

A Great Place to work needs a Great Way of Working

Everyone is welcome to apply to GKN. We believe that we can only achieve our ambitions through a coming together of diverse minds who enjoy collaborating in an inspirational environment. Through our commitment to diversity, inclusion and belonging and by living our five powerful principles we’ve created a culture where everyone feels welcome to contribute. It’s a culture that won us ‘The Best Workplace Culture Award’. By embracing and celebrating what makes us unique we encourage everyone to bring their full self to work.

We’re also committed to providing an accessible recruitment process, so if you require reasonable adjustments at any stage during our recruitment process please get in touch and let us know.

We are the place where human dreams, plus human endeavour, shape the future of aerospace innovation and technology. ​ ​