Principal Fluid Analyst

Job Title:                     Principal Fluid Analyst

Location:                     Ashton Vale, Bristol + Hybrid Working Arrangements

Compensation:           Competitive Salary + Benefits

Role Type:                   Full time / Permanent

Role ID:                       SF73878

Shape the future of naval engineering through advanced fluid analysis

At Babcock, we’re working to create a safe and secure world, together. If you join us, you can play your part as a Principal Fluid Analyst at Ashton House, near Bristol, Somerset.

Join our Mission Systems business and become part of a highly skilled Analysis, Modelling & Simulation team delivering critical engineering solutions across complex defence programmes. Here, your expertise will directly support the performance, safety, and reliability of systems that protect lives and national infrastructure.

The role

As a Principal Fluid Analyst, you’ll lead the delivery of high-integrity fluid dynamics analysis across a portfolio of submarine and surface ship programmes. This is an exciting opportunity to solve complex engineering challenges, influence system design, and provide technical authority within a growing and innovative team.

You’ll work at the forefront of defence engineering, combining first-principles thinking with advanced modelling tools to deliver robust, customer-facing evidence for critical systems. In doing so, you’ll shape best practices, mentor others, and elevate engineering excellence across the business.

Day-to-day, you’ll be required to:

• Lead the resolution of complex, high-consequence fluid dynamics problems, applying first-principles thinking.
• Provide customer-facing technical evidence to support qualification of mechanical and fluid systems across submarine and surface ship platforms.
• Influence and optimise system designs through robust modelling and analysis, ensuring performance, safety, and compliance.
• Act as a technical authority, shaping best practice, improving methodologies, and raising capability across the team.
• Take responsibility for the technical review and assurance of others’ work, ensuring accuracy, robustness, and consistency of analysis outputs.

This role is full time, 37 hours per week and provides hybrid working arrangements with days onsite and days working from home.

Essential experience of the Principal Fluid Analyst

• Extensive experience in fluid dynamics within a high-integrity or safety-critical environment (e.g. defence, nuclear, aerospace).
• A strong grounding in first-principles fluid dynamics, with a demonstrated ability to deconstruct, lead and solve complex problems from fundamental physics.
• Strong capability in 1D system modelling, ideally using MATLAB and/or Simcenter Amesim.
• Experience in developing, applying, and continuously improving fluid modelling methodologies and approaches, including driving efficiency through standardisation and automation of analysis workflows.
• A track record of mentoring, coaching, or technically guiding others with experience in reviewing and assuring the quality of technical work produced by others.

Qualifications for the Principal Fluid Analyst

We value difference and don’t have a fixed idea when it comes to background or education, provided you can show the required level of experience and/or willingness to learn then we would like to hear from you.

Security Clearance

The successful candidate must be able to achieve and maintain Security Check (SC) security clearance for this role.  Sole UK National.

Many of the positions within our company are subject to national security clearance and Trade Control restrictions. This means that your eligibility for certain roles may be affected by your place of birth, nationality, current or former citizenship, and any residency you hold or have held. Further details are available at United Kingdom Security Vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

What we offer 

• Generous holiday allowance
• Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance
• Access to a Digital GP, annual health check, and nutritional consultations through Aviva DigiCare+
• Employee share scheme
• Employee shopping savings portal
• Payment of Professional Fees
• Reservists in the armed forces receive 10-days special paid leave
• Holiday Trading is a benefit that allows the majority of employees to buy additional leave or to sell up to one working week of annual leave from their annual entitlement
• ‘Be Kind Day’ enables employees to take one working day's paid leave a year (or equivalent hours) to undertake volunteering work
• Flexible working – we give people more options to better integrate their work and personal life, whilst ensuring that business needs are met
• A dynamic working environment

Babcock

We’re Babcock — a global FTSE 100 organisation with over 26,000 people working together to make a difference.

Here, you’ll be part of something bigger. From initial design to final decommissioning, your work will contribute to products and services that are essential to national security and public infrastructure. Together, we’re building a future that lasts — not just through the impact we make, but through meaningful careers that respect your work-life balance.

We call that lifetime engineering.

Join us and see how far we can go, together.

We are a disability confident committed employer. If you have a disability or need any reasonable adjustments during the application and selection stages, please email careers@babcockinternational.com with the subject header ‘Reasonable adjustments requirement’. We’re committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone’s free to thrive. We are happy to talk about flexible working – please ask about alternative patterns of work at interview.

Closing date: 07/07/2026

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