R&D-Product Development Assistant; undergraduate placement

Pirelli is an international group with a global brand presence and is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-performance tyres. Pirelli are also leaders in various forms of motor sport such as Formula 1 and the World Superbike. We supply tyres to many of the world’s major Motor brands such as Jaguar Land Rover, Porsche, Range Rover, Lamborghini, Bentley and Aston Martin to name a few.

Pirelli UK Tyres Ltd is the company responsible for all of the Pirelli Tyre related operations in the UK. For more information, please visit

A 12-month placement is available within our Research and Development Department. As a member of the R&D Product Development team, you will be involved in many aspects of product development and improvements at a technical level in tyre manufacturing. You will also become familiar with the industrialisation process to bring new tyre sizes from prototypes to production. You will support the product development engineers in the day-to-day development activities across both OE (Original Equipment) and Replacement tyre developments.

Assistance will be provided in finding appropriate accommodation, but financial assistance for accommodation will not be given. Student must have a valid work permit/visa for the UK.

The opportunity is based at our site in Carlisle, Cumbria
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• Assist product development engineers in the development of new tyre specifications consisting of results analysis, tyre design using internal tyre design software, post processing of tyre section analysis after the prototype build and preparing of specifications for production where required
• Working with the prototype build team to optimise the building of the tyres for builds that you will be involved with
• Involvement in requesting tests for both indoor and outdoor tyre testing
• Project management of all types of tyre development projects using PLM (Project Lifecycle Management) software, including project timing analysis and milestone tracking, collaborating with local tyre developers and across the Pirelli group to do this
• Import operations for materials used for prototype buildings
• Export operations for prototype tyres to undertake indoor and outdoor testing in other UK locations and across the world
• Support in development of software specifications designed to improve the product development operation, then work with the Smart Manufacturing team to get them developed to the specification and implemented into the department
• Development of machine tooling and components through rapid prototyping using 3D printers
• Working within the Pirelli industrialisation process to move tyre specifications from prototype to full production

I have really enjoyed my time at Pirelli, and I am excited to go back to university equipped with plenty of new soft, hard and personal skills.

The fast-paced nature of this role has required me to be very organised in terms of what jobs I have to do.

Discipline is something which I always struggled with at university, having a strict routine every day really helped me this year. I became more focused at work, and it improved my mental and even physical health. Having to be in a certain place (the office) at a certain time every day was massively beneficial.

Communication is a skill that I have been forced to improve in this year, as the role demands it. Being able to communicate effectively with a wide range of personalities in this role is vital. Whether verbally in-person, on the phone, or in a Teams call, or written communication in emails and Teams messages, knowing how to get what you need from different people is a very important skill in this role.

I was…