Open Positions

Job Reference: See the Satellite Applications Catapult "Space Placements in Industry" website.

Salary: Starting from £3,663 (GBP)

Contract Type: 8 weeks minimum fixed term contract to be agreed with successful candidate, 5 days holiday to be taken during the placement

Location: Hybrid - Gloucestershire, UK

Closing date: 11:59pm, 20th May 2025 BST

Company Background

NAICKER SCIENTIFIC is a cross-sector technology development micro-SME based in Tetbury, England.

The company was incorporated in 2021, initially as a technical consultancy, supporting hardware technology start-ups research/design/build/test early proof-of-concept prototypes - a mixture of space and non-space related projects.

Our broad-spectrum delivery capability has allowed the company to evolve into an originator of technology innovations.

NAICKER SCIENTIFIC was recently named the overall winner of the Aqualunar Challenge by the UK Space Agency - a competition to develop new technologies that could reliably supply water to a permanent crewed base on the Moon by purifying ice frozen in the lunar soil.

Job Description:

This internship opportunity involves the research and development of a hybrid energy storage system which allows Lithium-Ion battery life extension in remote and long-lived space infrastructure, such as a lunar base, through the pairing of a second battery with substantially different operational characteristics.

As part of this internship, the successful candidate will:

1. Conduct an extensive review of advances in terrestrial hybrid battery technology and implementations
2. Based on information gathered, propose design requirements and constraints for a lunar-based hybrid battery technology
3. Conduct a literature survey of previously proposed lunar base microgrid architectures and concepts of operation.
4. Based on information gathered, propose design requirements and constraints for a lunar-based microgrid architecture.
5. Possible stretch-goal, depending on candidate background: propose a baseline lunar microgrid architecture for study and build a basic Matlab Simulink model of the main architecture elements.

Details of the proposed tasks can be tailored for the intern. 

The successful applicant should have the following qualities and abilities:

Academic:

Examples of relevant science and engineering degree programmes are chemistry (or closely related scientific field with sufficient chemistry content), physics, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, aerospace engineering

Desirable:

Enthusiasm for absorbing new knowledge and skills across traditional fields

Application Process 

Apply at the Satellite Applications Catapult "Space Placements in Industry" website. NOT BELOW.

Job Reference: #001

Salary: £30 000 per annum (Negotiable based on work experience)

Hours: Full-time (Part-time may be possible)

Contract Type: Initially 1 year fixed-term (Renewal may be possible) 

Location: On-site, South-West England, UK

Company Background

NAICKER SCIENTIFIC is a cross-sector technology development micro-SME based in South-West England.

The company was incorporated in 2021, initially as a technical consultancy, supporting hardware technology start-ups research/design/build/test early proof-of-concept prototypes. 

We specialise in technical generalism - traversing the learning curve to develop new technology, in new technical fields, in a short timeframe. 

Our development projects have ranged from kitchen appliances to rocket engines.

This broad-spectrum delivery capability has increasingly been turned towards internal technology development projects, allowing the company to evolve into an originator of product innovations.

Role

We are looking for a recent graduate or early-career chemist to support us develop technology with a "chemical processing in space" theme (e.g. In-Situ Resource Utilisation technology for the moon), as well as directly derived technologies for terrestrial applications. 

This R&D role would suit someone who has good command of the theoretical and experimental fundamentals of chemistry, enjoys working on more applied research and development, enjoys working on projects where the 'right approach' isn't known (because no one has done it before). 

As we are a small company just beginning to expand its operations, execution-level autonomy is an important productivity requirement i.e. you will be supported and guided by a senior chemist and the technical director, but you should be comfortable working autonomously to "fill in the blanks" on a day-to-day basis.

Key Responsibilities

• Spend approximately 70% of your time on laboratory work which is focused on the design and execution of experiment campaigns
• Spend approximately 30% of your time on desk work. This will include literature review, experiment planning, experiment campaign risk assessments, results report writing, supplier engagement regarding equipment and consumable procurement and external analytical services
• Collaborate with the engineering team to interpret and apply knowledge gained in experimental work to the design and development of product hardware.
• Plan and organise workflows, manage deadlines, and execute tasks according to a structured project plan
• Write clear and well structured progress reports and experimental results reports
• Work on multiple R&D projects in parallel, with continually changing priorities between these projects

Key Requirements

• Bachelors degree in Chemistry (or closely related scientific field with sufficient chemistry content)
• Enthusiasm for absorbing new knowledge and skills in the field of chemistry
• Comfortable with the prospect of extending outside the comfort zone of a chemistry knowledge base, to at least the knowledge base of chemical engineering
• Critical thinker with a methodological and rigorous approach to laboratory experiments, data analysis and report writing
• Proficiency in English
• Right to work in the UK 

Desirable Requirements

• Industry placements during degree
• Postgraduate degree
• Wider breath of skills and knowledge, as our projects overlap traditional disciplines
• Interest in space technology

Job Reference: #002

Salary: £30 000 per annum (Negotiable based on work experience)

Hours: Full-time (Part-time may be possible)

Contract Type: Initially 1 year fixed-term (Renewal may be possible) 

Location: On-site, South-West England, UK

Company Background

NAICKER SCIENTIFIC is a cross-sector technology development micro-SME based in South-West England.

The company was incorporated in 2021, initially as a technical consultancy, supporting hardware technology start-ups research/design/build/test early proof-of-concept prototypes. 

We specialise in technical generalism - traversing the learning curve to develop new technology, in new technical fields, in a short timeframe. 

Our development projects have ranged from kitchen appliances to rocket engines.

This broad-spectrum delivery capability has increasingly been turned towards internal technology development projects, allowing the company to evolve into an originator of product innovations.

Role

We are looking for a recent graduate or an early-career "technical generalist" or systems engineer to support with delivery across a VERY broad range of projects. 

This R&D role would suit someone who has good command of fundamental theory, is practically orientated, and enjoys working on projects where the 'right approach' isn't known (because no one has done it before). 

As we are a small company just beginning to expand its operations, execution-level autonomy is an important productivity requirement i.e. you will be working closely with the technical director to help ensure delivery across all projects, but will be given sufficient autonomy to "fill in the blanks" on a day-to-day basis.

Key Responsibilities

• Work on multiple R&D projects in parallel, with continually changing priorities between these projects
• Concept and detailed design of component-level and system-level hardware though hand calculations, simulation, modelling and CAD 
• Hands-on assembly of prototype hardware 
• Hands-on testing of prototype hardware using experiment design principles, standard or custom data acquisition equipment, accepted data analysis methods
• Internal and external facing project status reporting
• Support with supplier and subcontractor search, onboarding, and management
• Support with proposal writing, including project scoping, planning and cost estimation

Key Requirements

• Critical thinker with a methodological and rigorous approach to problem solving
• Bachelors degree foundation in a science and/or engineering field 
• Evidence of operating outside the silo of that foundation degree, through further education and/or work experience and/or hobbies
• Enthusiasm for absorbing new knowledge and skills across traditional fields
• Proficiency in English
• Right to work in the UK 

Desirable Requirements

• Industry placements during degree
• Postgraduate degree
• Systems Engineering education and/or work experience
• Interest in aerospace technology