STEM Graduate - Platform Systems Division

DSTL

Location: Salisbury
Salary: £21,500
Closing Date: 12 July 2021
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WORK PERMIT:
All applicants must be based in the UK and confirm that they are able to prove their eligibility to work in the UK.

Job Description

Location

Dstl Porton Down, Salisbury & Dstl Portsdown West, Fareham

About the job

Summary

Are you passionate about delivering high impact research and analysis?

Do you want to make a difference to the way Defence and Security operates and how it protects the UK and our armed forces, from real-world threats, both at home and abroad?

We are seeking 20 graduates of science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects to join our 2 year development scheme starting in September 2021. The applicants we select are passionate about delivering high impact research and analysis, with a desire to develop technologies used to protect the UK and our armed forces from real-world threats, both at home and abroad.

Our development scheme offers rotational placements across our Division to let you experience the breadth of opportunities in the organisation, and also offers an external placement in the wider defence community. This will provide you with a thorough grounding in working across defence, with real-world experience and training provided to enhance your technical and core personal skills, enabling you to flourish.

After the scheme you will then join a specific area within our Division where you will continue to develop your specialist knowledge and skills.

The Platform Systems Division of Dstl supports the Ministry of Defence and wider government in a broad range of ground breaking technical research areas. We respond to current and future demands ensuring that the UK retains a battle-winning advantage. We provide a broad range of impartial evidence-based analysis supporting high priority decision-making and evaluate exciting new capabilities and technologies.

We work at the forefront of defence research and innovation, which is a dynamic and rapidly evolving environment. Quite simply, this is work that you cannot do anywhere else.

Job description

In this role you will:

Complete a two year development scheme allowing you to balance project delivery with personal development.

Have the opportunity to work towards chartership with an appropriate institution.

Attend military and industry awareness visits, improving your understanding of our customers requirements.

Work within a multidisciplinary team to provide timely, impartial, evidence-based advice.

Lead small work packages, being responsible for your own research and analysis.

Provide technical advice and direction to industrial and academic partners and suppliers.

Prepare and deliver technical reports and presentations to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Develop your knowledge and understanding of defence and security challenges and issues.

You will work with subject matter experts on a wide variety of projects from modelling and theory to practical demonstrations and field trials in world class laboratories and workshops as well as trial sites in the UK and abroad. You will take vital capabilities and push them to their limits, using creativity and innovation to solve real-world problems for real-world customers.

You will undertake technical work from the very start of your career at Dstl, working with industry, academia and international partners to deliver advice to our customers right across the MOD and wider Government. There will be opportunities to travel to military sites, attend various trials and undertake international travel.

You will work with a project manager and project technical authority who will be responsible for the overall delivery of the project, however you will be expected to lead individual work packages or aspects of the work and deliver these to a high standard.

You will develop the skills needed to explain your complex technical research to diverse audiences and ensure their understanding. You will also develop networks with external partners, always ensuring we continue to deliver the technical quality expected of Dstl and maximising the value of our research.

Your work will contribute to a diverse team of specialists delivering critical scientific, analytical and engineering solutions. This could be:

Developing the latest novel and bespoke tools, models and techniques for improving platforms from nano-drones to aircraft carriers

Getting involved with the UK hypersonic weapons projects

Finding AI solutions to Navy, Army or Air Force problems

Working on trials outside of the office, to develop future armour and sensors

Developing countermeasures for future combat air systems

Developing synthetic environments for testing sensors

Modelling the effects of directed energy weapons

Working with military personnel to improve their personal protection

Performing embedded software analysis of high-profile military systems

The work can be anything used to give our customers the edge in their operations, to do their job and get home safe plus all the great things we simply cant tell you about until you join.

Responsibilities

We are looking for someone who:

Has an inquisitive and enquiring mind

Sees the bigger picture and wider context of our customers needs

Enjoys problem solving

Has good attention to detail

Is creative and innovative

Can solve practical problems

Is keen to put forward own ideas

Has great communication skills

Is self-motivated and comfortable working under their own initiative

Collaborates with others and works well in a team

Technical Skills

Technical Skills

While not essential to all roles within the Division, it is desirable for candidates to demonstrate sound technical skills and reasoning through qualifications, hobbies or interests.

These technical skills extend to:

Being able to operate basic test equipment such as: digital voltmeter, oscilloscope and spectrum analyser

Experience using Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools

Knowledge and experience of using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs)

Ability to set up computational modelling runs; importing a model file, applying boundary conditions and setting suitable run parameters to obtain a useful result

Building and fault finding hobby projects such as drones, personal computers, microprocessor controlled gadgets

Using MATLAB, Mathematica or similar

An awareness of electronic design tools such as: Pspice, OrCAD, Vivado

Using National Instruments equipment and LabVIEW data acquisition

Knowledge of low level software languages such assembly or C and processor architectures, including microprocessors, microcontrollers and digital signal processors

Using tools such as IDAPro and Ghidra to develop an understanding of coding.

Previous experience of working with the military (including cadets) or other government agencies will be considered advantageous but is not a requirement.

Qualifications

We are seeking graduates with a degree in a STEM subject.

In particular PLSD are looking for:

Computational Science disciplines (coding, AI, Machine Learning etc)

Engineering (Electronics, RF, Aero, Mechanical)

Maths

Physics

Operational Analysts

Security Clearance Required

Our work in defence, security and intelligence requires our employees to be British Citizens who are able to gain a high level of security clearance to understand the work you will undertake to protect us from any security threats. For this reason, we regret that only UK Nationals will be able to apply for this role. If you are an international or dual-national candidate, and you think you have the skills we need, please consider applying to any of our government, security or defence partners across the enterprise. We work closely with the Defence and Security Industry on many projects, so it would be great to work with you via one of our partners.

Training and Development

Our development scheme will support your early career development through a mixture of on-the-job, course-based training and placements.

These include:

Internal placements providing you with the opportunity to experience a wide range of technical areas

External secondment to build your experience and networks

A wide range of exciting training modules for you choose from to build your technical ability and military, defence and security domain awareness.

Awareness visits to customers and suppliers.

Formal training courses to develop your technical skills.

Talks and discussion groups led by some of our technical experts.

Personal skills development.

Networking with other graduates, both in our division and across Dstl, including access to our new starter support network.

Qualifications

We are seeking graduates with a degree in a STEM subject

Computational Science disciplines (coding, AI, Machine Learning etc)

Engineering (Electronics, RF, Aero, Mechanical)

Maths

Physics

Operational Analysis

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

Making Effective Decisions

Delivering at Pace

Working Together

Communicating and Influencing

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

Please state the title of the degree you are studying, list the modules you are taking

Please list your top three technical areas of interest or degree modules and include a short explanation of why you enjoy these aspects the most?

What transferable skills can you bring from your work/life/extra-curricular activities which you feel might be relevant for a role at Dstl?

Benefits

We'll provide a great range of benefits including:

- Fully flexible working, including alternative working patterns, annualised hours, compressed hours and job share, to name a few.

- Flexible Working hours, a 12 month reference period and the ability to bank hours. Up to 20 hours can be taken in any calendar month.

- Excellent learning and development to ensure everyone fulfils their potential.

- Maternity, adoption or shared parental leave of up to 26 weeks full pay followed by 13 weeks statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaid, and paternity leave of 2 weeks full pay.

- Chartership and accreditation support.

- Pension.

- Generous annual leave, with the ability to buy and sell up to 5 days holiday per year.

- A competitive salary.

- Onsite gyms and restaurants.

- Staff discounts for high street and online shopping, restaurants and days out.

Our Diversity Networks

DSTL recognises the importance of diversity and inclusion as people from diverse backgrounds bring fresh ideas. We are committed to building an inclusive working environment in which each employee fulfils their potential and maximizes their contribution. We have a number of support networks to ensure all employees feel supported at work.

These include the following:

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Network

Faith and Culture Network

Parents and Carer Support Network

Alternative Working Network

Gender Equality Network

New Starters Network

Enabled Network, for people with visible and non-visible disabilities


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