Graduate Blast Engineer

We're looking for Graduate Blast Engineers to join our team in London. You'll join an unrivalled community of experts, where everyone is supported in their career path and encouraged to work towards a professional qualification. Your role will be to prepare blast engineering analysis and design of structural and façade systems, working in coordination with the multi-disciplinary design team of architects, engineers, cost consultants and project managers to integrate our design solutions into the building design. 

Blast engineering is one aspect of protective design, as part of this team you will be looking at counteracting malicious threats by considering options to minimise the effects of blast threats. This is often achieved by the introduction of Hostile Vehicle Mitigation measures, your role will be to develop Hostile Vehicle Mitigation strategies that complement the assumptions made in determining the magnitude of blast loads. 

Unlike traditional codified design, blast engineering requires a very different approach to the design but requires a designer's empathy with regard to aesthetic, form and function of any proposed facility. As such, this is a great opportunity for a structural engineering graduate to position their future career, providing strategic input and undertaking first-principles design as traditional forms of mainstream structural engineering design are increasingly being automated and undertaken by code-compliant software. Working outside mandatory codes of practice in a risk-based framework, you will be responsible for developing the design basis as well as then preparing a design to meet these requirements. You will work with our threat specialists to assist our clients develop their design requirements, and will manage the client relationship throughout the project to ensure the client remains involved in the decision-making process about the level of blast performance they require, the risk they are prepared to accept and the design and cost impact of mitigating these risks. 

Arup's blast engineers have designed some of the world's leading buildings to withstand terrorist attacks. Our resilience, security and risk practice has consistently been at the forefront of the field since it was formed in the mid-1990s. The practice brings together threat specialists, physical and electronic security engineers, operational security specialists and blast engineers in a unique multi-disciplinary environment, helping our clients manage malicious risk, natural hazards and operational reliability in each aspect of their businesses and operations. 

We bring together a talent for engineering and design with a sound knowledge of fluid theory and the theory of structural dynamics, allowing us to use first principles to understand the fundamental behaviour of structures under extreme loads and develop innovative design solutions. 

Is this role right for you? 

We're looking for graduate blast engineers with curiosity, personal drive and technical knowhow. You will be able to confidently and articulately communicate concepts of threat, risk and risk mitigation, supported by our threat specialists, will be able to develop and present conceptual ideas, understand the planning, design and construction process in the development of design solutions in a multi-disciplinary design environment and will be able to manage the detailed analysis, design and specification of blast and vehicle hardening measures. 

We're looking for the following qualifications, skills and knowledge: 

Essential

• Masters degree in Engineering Science, Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering or Structural Engineering with Architecture, on track to achieve a 2:1/60% or above 
• Excellent written, verbal and sketch communication skills 
• Interest/experience in Fluid Dynamics, Structural Dynamics, Post-elastic Structural Response 
• Strong understanding of structural behaviour and philosophy of Structural Design 

Desirable skills and knowledge

• MSc, PhD or other postgraduate qualification in Structural Dynamics, Computational Structural Mechanics or a related area 
• Interest in further learning in a relevant area e.g. Computational Structural Mechanics, Structural Dynamics 
• Appreciation of design for unusual or extreme loading conditions 
• Study of structural dynamics in the design of structures e.g. for vibration, blast, seismic or impact loading 
• Intermediate or higher ability in programming in Visual Basic, C++, Python or other scripting language 
• Experience in the use of a structural analysis software package such as GSA, Strand7, SAP2000, LS-Dyna for analysis and design 

We're looking for people who are curious and ready to evolve how you think and work.  Our strength comes from how we respect, share and connect our diverse experiences, perspectives and ideas. At Arup, you belong to an extraordinary collective – in which we encourage individuality to thrive. If you can share your knowledge and ideas and encourage others to do the same; whilst having a desire to deliver excellent services for clients – we'd like to hear from you. 

You should be able to start this opportunity in September 2024.