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Associate Scientist

QinetiQ

QinetiQ

Great Malvern, Malvern WR14, UK
Posted on Mar 17, 2026

Join us as an Associate Scientist at our Malvern site where you will have the opportunity to work with cutting-edge technology and many of the industry’s most brilliant minds.

The role
As an Associate Scientist, you’ll have a role that is out of the ordinary, you will join the Radar and Electronic Warfare (EW) team which has unrivalled expertise in the UK. Our work covers a wide area, from sensor design and running of demonstrator systems, through algorithm research and development including signal processing and machine learning / deep learning techniques, to customer support activity in all domains. You will have the opportunity to specialise in either Radar or EW, or to work flexibly across both areas.

These activities enable our customers to exploit new technologies, improve sensor and system performance and provide specialist advice to assist in the procurement of new Radar and EW capabilities.

Day to day you will:

  • Apply your expertise and knowledge on a variety of assignments
  • Perform scientific/engineering/technical assignments requiring the integration of a range of skills and knowledge
  • Research customer’s needs and requirements to align outputs
  • Work directly with customers to ensure successful delivery and identify new business
  • Promote innovation, inventiveness and standards of excellence within the delivery and/or capture teams

This role is full time, 37-hours per week, based at Malvern Technology Centre, with a flexible, adaptive working arrangement.

Skills and experience of the Associate Scientist

  • Experience of working as part of technical and non-technical teams. Including joint ownership of goals and accomplishments and individual contributions towards those
  • Expertise in one or more applicable areas of Radar and/or passive RF sensing, particularly in a military context such as EW
  • Able to provide technical guidance and act as a coach or mentor to more junior members of the team.
  • Specifically, demonstrable experience in one or more of the following areas is required:
    • Algorithm development using Python or MATLAB or through theoretical development of ideas.
    • Radar waveform design and detection, tracking and recognition of targets in Air, Land and Maritime domains;
    • System requirements, design solutions, testing and performance of current and future ground-based, maritime or airborne radar systems;
    • Design and implementation of passive RF sensing and geolocation techniques (e.g. interferometric direction finding, Time Difference of Arrival).
  • Expertise with some or all of the following would be desirable, but not essential:
    • Use of C or C++, machine learning, Keras / Tensorflow
    • Electromagnetic environment and its impact on radar and communication systems, Electronic Protection Measures;
    • Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR); Space-Time Adaptive Processing (STAP); Moving Target Indication (MTI); Automatic Target Recognition (ATR).
    • Understanding of communications systems including RF propagation, modulation schemes (analogue and digital), coding techniques.

Qualifications for the Associate Scientist

  • A first degree in Science or Engineering, or an equivalent, nationally recognised, professional qualification, with relevant on the job experience and growth of key skills, working in the domain and backed up with a tangible track record of achievement
  • Full professional membership / chartership of a relevant body or similar accreditation, or working towards

The successful candidate will be a sole UK national, who holds or has the ability to achieve SC security clearance as a minimum, with a view to obtaining Developed Vetting (DV); National security vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)