The McLaren name is synonymous with motorsport. The story across five decades of racing at the pinnacle of global motorsport is of restless technical development with characters of passion and true grit, all with a single-minded determination to succeed. The trophy cabinet at McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) tells a thousand stories of world champions, great drivers, constructor titles and of all those individuals who have stood on the sport’s global stage to make their invaluable contribution in making that difference: that extra thousandth of second off a lap time.
With a backdrop of continued growth and success, McLaren Automotive is now consolidating its motorsport strategy with specific aims; enriching the customer’s experience on and off track, broadening the McLaren brand appeal to a wider global audience and delivering motorsport experiences that are best in class.
As we begin this exciting journey we are looking for a Principal Aerodynamics Engineer to join our Motorsport function and help deliver our future championship winning GT cars.
Purpose of the role:
As Principal Aerodynamics Engineer you will play a critical part in the definition, development and validation of all Aerodynamic targets for McLaren Motorsport vehicles.
We are also looking for the Principal Aerodynamics Engineer to support all continuous improvement activities by supporting the development of our calculation & testing methodologies and design tool correlation, to aid concurrent engineering of our highly-integrated road cars and provide transferable motorsport technologies where applicable.
Principal accountabilities:
- Programme lead for Aerodynamics from functional specification to programme sign-off, meeting programme attributes, timing and targets
- Utilisation of proper combination of CAD, CFD, wind-tunnel (model- & full-scale) and on-track vehicle testing, to meet programme targets for aerodynamics, powertrain cooling & air-feeding, brake cooling, systems cooling and internal ventilation
- Communicate progress and criticalities to your line-Manager, the programme Management and the Chief Engineer
- Define attribute DVP and work in continual collaboration with Vehicle Development and the Vehicle Validation Coordinator to plan and ensure delivery of DVP activities
- Support with the continual development of the Chassis Vehicle Technologies and Design Engineering testing methodologies (scale wind tunnel, vehicle testing) to reduce development times, improve test data accuracy and correlation of our design tools and increase the level of cross-function/attribute integration
Knowledge, skills & experience:
- Extensive experience in automotive or Motorsport industry
- Experience of Motorsport programmes is required
- Knowledge and understanding in external/internal aerodynamics and heat-transfer fundamentals of vehicles
- Preferred skills:
- Aerodynamic design & optimisation for racing cars (powertrain, systems, brakes and ventilation aero-requirements
- Model-scale & full-scale wind-tunnel testing full management
- On-track aero-testing full management
- CFD / WT / Track correlation assessment
- CAD tool usage mainly for aero surfacing
- Powertrain, systems, brakes and ventilation aero-requirements
- Instrumentation, calibration, measurement and post-processing methods
- 1D systems modelling of cooling circuits: AMESim, GT Power, MATLAB/Simulink
Personal attributes:
- “Can do” approach, “out-of-box” thinking, excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to operate within a team environment
- Creativity and ability to develop ideas from first principle together with independency and intrinsically self-motivation
- Quantitative rigor and an inquisitive outlook to prove design solutions
- Delivery focussed, with demonstrable track record of on-time delivery
- Advanced problem solving abilities
- Self-motivated to deliver excellence with flexible attitude to working hours
We recognise that we can only achieve our vision with the dedication and collaboration of our world class employees. It is our aim to become the employer of choice within the global automotive industry.
At McLaren Automotive we are constantly looking to improve. To become the employer of choice we are always looking to develop our employee offerings. We currently offer a range of benefits to employees at all levels of the business including Private Healthcare, Contributory Pension Scheme, Life Assurance and Personal Lease Car Scheme. We also offer a range of discounts with our partner organisations.