Senior Stress Engineer

Position: Senior Stress Engineer (Permanent)
Westlakes Recruit are currently recruiting for a Senior Stress Engineer. Candidates can be based in either Derby, Warrington, Bolton, Sunderland, Glasgow, or Bristol and will be engaged on a permanent basis.

Your Missions:
Technical Delivery
You will lead project teams and technical work in client facing roles, delivering high-quality stress analysis and structural integrity assessments:

Act as a technical lead for stress and structural integrity, providing expert advice, troubleshooting, and technical oversight.
Serve as an Independent Technical Approver to ensure the highest engineering standards.
Use Finite Element Analysis and traditional hand calculations to justify strength, fatigue, defect tolerance, and structural performance to international codes and standards (including pressure vessel and defect-tolerance codes).
Collaborate closely with safety case authors, design engineers, and multidisciplinary delivery teams.
Mentor junior engineers, offering technical guidance and helping shape our next generation of stress specialists.
Stress Capability Lead
A portion of your time will be dedicated to leading, developing, and growing clients internal stress capability:

Capability Development & Governance

Define the strategic development roadmap for stress engineering capability
Maintain and improve technical processes, methods, best-practice guides and quality frameworks.
Monitor workload, skill gaps and training needs across the stress discipline.
Lead technical upskilling initiatives, coaching frameworks and internal training pathways.
Team Growth, Recruitment & Retention

Work with the Engineering Directors and Business Management teams to forecast demand, plan workforce requirements, and shape the long-term capability pipeline.
Support recruitment campaigns, interviewing and selecting high-quality stress engineers.
Ensure strong retention by fostering a supportive culture, mentoring talent, and providing growth opportunities.
Sales, Bidding & Business Development
Collaborate with Sales and Business Development teams to identify opportunities where stress capability adds value.

Contribute to bids, proposals, client presentations and technical sales materials.
Represent stress capability during strategic planning, major pursuits, and innovation initiatives.
Internal & External Leadership

Act as a visible leader and ambassador for stress engineering across the team and with clients.
Build and maintain relationships with key technical stakeholders, partners and industry bodies.

Qualifications
We want someone who can

Build high-performing teams supporting a range of customers and industry sectors.
Lead stress and structural integrity assessments using modern techniques.
Deliver and review high-quality technical assessments to recognised standards.
Mentor and guide junior engineers while acting as a senior technical reference point.
Work directly with clients to tackle complex stress and integrity challenges.
Demonstrate expert FE analysis capability (strength, fatigue, defects, lifetime assessments).
Apply ASME III / ASME VIII, API-579, BS7910, BS7608, R4/R5/R6 codes.
Desirable: experience in CFD, dynamics, fatigue, and degradation mechanisms.
Must have experience in the nuclear sector or a comparable highly regulated sector.
Your Toolbox Should Include

Degree in engineering + Chartered Engineer (CEng).
Experience in stress assessments in the nuclear sector.
Strong communicator with excellent commercial awareness.
Expert in ABAQUS (or ANSYS, LS-Dyna, etc.).

Experience with Altair Hyperworks or similar tools.
Familiarity with code assessments (ASME, PD5500, BS2573, BS EN 13001, R6).
Coding and scripting using languages such as Python.
Knowledge of manufacturing methods, materials, and inspection techniques.
For more information on this role or to register your interest for future job updates, please visit

Why We're Different:
Westlakes Recruit are a people solutions business that understands the complexities of nuclear and the importance of our clients' mission critical objectives.

Smarter, faster, more agile - we have a laser focus on nuclear, with deep sectoral knowledge.

We develop nuclear talent pools before you know you need them! We do Nuclear. We only do Nuclear. We do all of Nuclear.

Powering a Diverse Nuclear Future:
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