NCC – Innovating for Industry
Principal Sector Engineer - Fan Blade
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Location: Bristol hybrid working (2 days in the office as a minimum)
Salary: £56,641 - £77,183 depending on experience + benefits
At NCC, we’re shaping the future of civil aerospace—from eVTOLs to next-generation passenger aircraft and rotorcraft. Our work spans structures, propulsion, fuel systems, control systems, landing gear, braking systems, and interiors.
We’re seeking a Principal Sector Engineer to lead the technical delivery of a customer fan blade development portfolio within the civil aerospace team, directly reporting to the sector Chief Engineer.
What you’ll be doing:
The role focusses on developing manufacturing composite blade solutions for high-bypass turbo fan engines in close collaboration with the customer and industrial partners under Collaborative Research & Development (CR&D) and Private Venture (PV) funding routes.
As a technical leadership position, you will be expected to manage internal and external stakeholders, lead research teams, plan research and Technical Readiness Level (TRL) progression and monitoring.
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What we’re looking for:
- A proactive and accountable leader with a commitment to high performance culture, attention to detail and a willingness to challenge the status quo through leadership, governance and effective risk management.
- Strong customer engagement skills, ensuring clear requirements and communication.
- A structured, capable engineer with proven experience in advanced composite manufacturing development for aerospace or similar sectors.
- Proven experience in manufacturing development of turbo fan aero-engine components (ideally composites).
- A systems thinking mindset, able to manage complexity, uncertainty and competing technical, commercial, programme and quality requirements.
- Extensive knowledge of composite materials, manual and automated manufacturing processes.
- Experience of composite tooling, design, process simulation, digital manufacturing technologies and inspection techniques.
- Demonstrated ability to lead multi-disciplinary technical teams in R&D, ideally within TRL 3–6.
- Experience in supply chain engagement activities and ability to build productive supplier relationships.
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Please go to our careers pages where you can see the attached job description for more details.
Closing date for applications: 23:59 on Sunday 23rd August 2026.
Please don't wait for the closing deadline if you are interested in this role as we retain the right to close the applications process early depending on the volume of candidates applying.
What we offer in return
- 12.5% employer pension contribution
- Private medical cover
- Hybrid and flexible working as standard
- Support to keep learning and progressing
- University of Bristol honorary staff status
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