Research and Development: Design Industrial Placement
Brackley, UK
At The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team we are a team of passionate and enthusiastic people who work together to design and develop 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.
About the Role:
As a Research and Development Design Industrial Placement, you will offer design support across two of our main on-site test facilities – the Dyno and the Test Laboratory. The projects associated with this role will include:
Design of interfaces between car components and test rigs to enable performance testing, reliability prove-out or production sign-off.
Design of “Proof of Concept” installations to demonstrate the validity of a new technology or supplier and put them onto the shelf ready to be incorporated into new car designs.
Support the capture of requirements and development of specifications for new testing facilities and capabilities.
Helping with commercialisation of our high-end test capabilities – for example understanding how to bring a new client in to use our seven post rig or our transmission dyno.
Support car design groups (such as Powertrain, Mechanical, Composites or Electronics) with design and release of CAD geometry and drawings during the critical launch car and build periods.
Own feedbacks for testing rigs – working on immediate containments for issues and developing long term countermeasures to ensure that the next time we perform the experiment it is better than the last.
Successful candidates will have:
Essential:
At least one year left on their studies at the time of taking up the placement in July 2025
Be studying a degree with relevance to engineering (e.g. Mechanical, Automotive, Aeronautical, Mechatronics, Electronics, Physics).
Curious, committed to continuous learning, and able to adapt quickly to change.
Desirable:
Experience and enjoyment of any of the following specialisms would be beneficial: Mechanical design, producing engineering drawings, Finite Element Analysis (FEA), hydraulic design, conducting hand calculations to verify the appropriateness of a design.
Practical experience of building, maintaining and/or analysing motor/electric vehicles (for example – Formula Student, volunteering or racing in a series, building a kit car).
Track record of participation in outreach activities such as volunteering, charity work, mentoring.
Strong communication skills, with ability to present information in formats that make it accessible and understandable to a wide range of stakeholders and business areas.
Skills you could gain from your placement include:
An ability to use a CAD package (we use CATIA 3DX) to design mechanical components and assemblies right-first-time within a high-end motorsport environment.
How to approach and lay out an engineering drawing to British Standards, using Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GDT).
Ability to analyse live and logged data to draw conclusions on system health.
Knowledge of different test methods and rig capabilities in a motorsport environment.
An understanding of how to work effectively across multiple disciplines (within the Research and Development group we consist of Engineering, Operations, Materials Science, Computer Aided Engineering, and Design).
Please note that we plan for full training to be provided in CAD, drawing, FEA, data analysis and testing methods as part of the scheduling of the placement. It does not matter whether you already have an interest in motorsport: We are looking for individuals who are passionate about reaching their full potential and are excited about constantly learning. Whatever your background, we believe that you will find your placement with us a memorable and enriching experience.
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, private medical cover, annual heath assessments, life assurance, free onsite gym 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.
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.
We welcome applications from everyone and are committed to attracting, recruiting and retaining the best and most talented individuals.
Your Application:
We will ask you to complete a questionnaire as well as submitting a cover letter and CV. Please note if you would like to include a cover letter please upload it with your CV as one PDF document.
Online Testing:
As part of the application process, you will be required to complete the following tests (if you have not completed them within the last 6 months)
