Principal Research Engineer Industrial AdoptionJoin to apply for the Principal Research Engineer Industrial Adoption role at NCC – Innovating for Industry.About The RoleThis is a Fixed Term Contract (FTC) for 12 months. NCC is driving digital and AI adoption to help UK businesses, especially SMEs, unlock new opportunities for growth and competitiveness. By applying advanced digital tools and artificial intelligence across engineering and manufacturing lifecycles, we empower companies to innovate faster through development of smarter products and processes. From digital roadmaps through to deployment of technologies, our work helps industry embrace the future of engineering and accelerate transformation across the UK’s key growth sectors.About Industrial Adoption At NCCFollowing our Engage, Discover, Transform SME customer journey, you will be working with SMEs across all sectors advising them on where they can implement digital business change to rapidly drive productivity and net zero gains through lean, digital and sustainable transformation. We support manufacturers across the South West through our digital transformation capability as the lead partner on the Made Smarter Adoption Programme, a funded digital transformation programme for UK SMEs.Capability – providing tools, infrastructure, and support that enable SMEs to adopt and integrate digital technologies and AI effectively.Competency – knowledge, skills, and behaviours of individuals or teams to apply digital and AI tools to solve engineering challenges and drive innovation.Pragmatism – delivering practical routes to adopting digital technologies tailored to each SME’s circumstances.What You’ll Be DoingManufacturing Business TransformationLead diagnostic assessments of customer operations to identify digitalisation opportunities that drive productivity gains and enable sustainability improvements.Shape and guide integrated digital transformation projects that result in successful adoption of advanced technologies.Design and implement digitally enabled solutions such as real-time process flow monitoring, data-driven value stream mapping, predictive decision-making, and digital tools for tracking carbon/energy performance.Service DevelopmentIdentify emerging industrial challenges, technology trends, and policy drivers, and translate them into new adoption service offerings for industry.Lead the design and development of new business transformation services that integrate digital, lean and sustainability approaches.Create and refine delivery methodologies, toolkits, and frameworks to standardise and scale adoption services across customers.Customer InteractionEstablish effective partnerships internally and externally. You will have broad technical networks nationally and/or internationally and be regarded as an expert in your specialist field.Represent the NCC in relevant industrial events and forums – championing NCC’s strategy and services.Utilise your network of internal and external contacts to develop and influence strategic collaborative partnerships.What We’re Looking ForSignificant experience in a manufacturing, engineering, or industrial operations environment, preferably across multiple sectors.Demonstrable and significant experience in deploying digital tools and technologies in industrial settings.Demonstrable technical leadership in delivery of digital projects or programmes.Experience working directly with industrial customers, including engaging at senior levels (operations managers, directors, technical leaders).Experience guiding and mentoring engineers, shaping capability, and ensuring high-quality technical delivery.See the full job description attached for the fuller list of role responsibilities.Closing date for applications Sunday 7th November 2025 – If you are interested please don’t wait for the closing date to apply. We will retain the right to close applications early depending on the quality and volume of candidates.Notes for Recruitment TeamAbout The CompanyNCC is a world-leading innovation organisation that turns cutting-edge research and technology into industrial impact. We bridge the gap between academia and industry, helping companies of all sizes to capitalise on cutting-edge innovation to deliver more. The future of composites manufacturing relies on NCC, and we rely on the right individuals to make it happen, whether they’re engineers or not!Why NCC? We see our success in yours. We strongly encourage you to apply and welcome diverse applicants. We ensure that all hiring decisions are made without regard to age, race, national origin, sex, disability, gender, gender identity, religion, or any other protected characteristics, and will treat all applications with confidence. We’re open to flexible working arrangements including part-time work. All requests will be fairly considered. We wish you every success in your job search.Diversity and Development – we work across sectors and with a variety of customers, providing opportunities to work on diverse challenges. NCC is a world-leading R&D centre that values continued learning, innovation, and flexible working patterns.We look forward to hearing from you. #J-18808-Ljbffr