Research Specialist Special Coatings Technology

Fantastic challenges. Amazing opportunities.

GKN Aerospace is reimagining air travel: going further, faster and greener! Fuelled by great people whose expertise and creativity set the standards in our industry, we’re inspired by the opportunities to innovate and break boundaries. We’re proud to play a part in protecting the world’s democracies. And we’re committed to putting sustainability at the centre of everything we do, opening up and protecting our planet.

With over 16,000 employees across 33 manufacturing sites in 12 countries we serve over 90% of the world’s aircraft and engine manufacturers and achieved sales of £3.35 bn in 2023. There are no limits to where you can take your career.

It’s great to know you’re making a difference to the future of aviation! Whatever part you play you’ll be helping us deliver operational excellence to our customers. Based at our Luton manufacturing plant you’ll do just that. Established in 1993, GKN Aerospace in Luton is a world leader in commercial and military ice protection systems and transparencies. Offering a full range of capabilities—design, analysis, testing, certification and manufacture of electro‑thermal ice protection, military fast jet canopies and flight‑deck windows to over 20 programmes including:
Boeing 787, Dream liner, Agusta Westland, AW101, Eurofighter Typhoon and Lockheed/ Martin F‑22 Raptor. Our customers include Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Bell Helicopters, Textron, BAE Systems, Pratt & Whitney, Leonardo. Our Luton site is home to 370+ employees and onsite facilities including parking, food hub and vending machines.

The Luton Engineering & Technology team is focussed on developing product and manufacturing process technology related to aircraft ice protection systems, transparencies, coatings and specialist structures for both civil and defence applications.

We’re looking for a Research Specialist – Special Coatings Technology to join our coatings development team based at our Luton Manufacturing facility, to support the development of next‑generation high‑performance transparency polymer coatings, icephobic coatings and coating manufacturing processes.

As a Research Specialist you will bring your knowledge in polymer coatings development, processing, application and coating testing techniques to deliver high‑impact research and development across Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 1–7. You’ll be responsible for ensuring that all research outputs are technically robust, innovative and aligned with our broader engineering and sustainability goals.

In this research role you will provide support to existing programmes within your field of expertise, help resolve manufacturing issues and support continuous improvement efforts. You will have a track record of delivering high‑quality technical work within a project environment. Good written and oral communication skills and confidence working with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders, including non‑technical colleagues, are essential.

Core operational hours at our Luton site are: 07:30 – 16:30 Monday to Thursday & 07:30 – 12:30 Friday.

• Responsible for the technical delivery of allocated project tasks, deliverables or project work packages, ensuring research objectives are satisfied.
• Support or lead any necessary hands‑on development test work and development trials that are required to meet project objectives.
• Contribute to Technology Development Plans, Project definitions and may support creation of Technology Business Cases and external funding proposals as required.
• Support project stakeholder engagement activities including customer presentations and reviews, and may lead management of supply‑chain partner activities in some cases.
• Ensure EHS policy and process adherence for your activities and contribute to a proactive EHS culture in the wider team.

To help us make a difference, you’ll bring your passion and talent for what you do along with the following skills, experience, qualifications and attributes:

• Accredited Chemistry / Materials / Coatings based degree.
• Knowledge / experience of coating development, application…