Engineering jobs
The oil and gas and renewables industry offers a wide range of challenging and rewarding jobs, whether you are a recent graduate, who cares about the environment and wants to contribute towards a better future, or a seasoned engineer who wants to be part of this growth sector. Whilst energy companies will create job opportunities across all disciplines, the main rise will be for engineering jobs.
Traditionally, Engineering jobs in the UK were to be found in the manufacturing, shipbuilding and industrial sectors. However, the oil and gas and renewable energy sector is expanding rapidly. Jobs exist for people with experience of these sectors and also those with relevant technical and management skills that can transfer easily from other engineering disciplines.
There are still many job opportunities in the traditional engineering sectors, but demand for engineers to power our new energy requirements from both fossil fuels and renewable energy is on the up.
Within oil and gas and renewable sectors, there are jobs in a very wide range of specialities and roles at many levels from engineering technician to senior engineer, including management and research. In the oil industry, you can expect to find a variety of engineering jobs including those in drilling, production, process and controls engineering.
Renewable energy engineers are involved in the production of energy through natural resources such as wind energy, solar power and marine energy. They are involved in developing and maintaining power stations and the machinery used in alternative energy sourcing and production eg biofuel sourced from crops. Engineers in the renewable sector often construct equipment designed by engineering designers, and conduct testing and make modifications prior to installation and running. This involves extensive use of computer and CAD technology.
People working in engineering jobs in the renewable energy sector may work for industry, university or government research departments. They may hold senior positions, head up a team of energy engineers or have a key post in the team. Ultimately these engineers are focused on finding efficient, clean and innovative ways to supply energy to millions of households for years to come.
The main functions of the engineers working in these jobs are to research concepts, investigate methods of harnessing power and build product prototypes. Once a product concept is proven, it will then go into production. This is particularly true in early stage renewables such as marine energy where you will find that typical renewable engineering jobs are Marine Engineers, Structural Engineers, Electrical Engineers, R&D Specialists and CAD Technicians.
In wind solar power, where the concept is proven, the engineering jobs are more likely to focus on manufacturing engineering, building of structures to harness the power and installation work.