National Instruments Employ Your Imagination From the company’s inception more than 35 years ago, National Instruments has grown from a three-man operation based out of the founders’ homes to an international corporation with more than 5,500 employees. As the company continues to grow, the entrepreneurial spirit that led to the creation and early success of NI remains entrenched in the company. NI maintains a fun and innovative corporate culture by recruiting the best and the brightest employees and motivating them in a work-hard, play-hard environment. Discover the opportunities National Instruments offers as you employ your imagination. uk.ni.com/careers Company Overview National Instruments transforms the way engineers and scientists around the world design, prototype and deploy systems for test, control and embedded design applications. Using NI LabVIEW open graphical programming software and modular hardware, customers at more than 30,000 companies annually simplify development, increase productivity and dramatically reduce time-to-market. From testing next-generation gaming, to controlling the world’s largest instruments, to creating breakthrough medical devices, NI customers continuously develop innovative technologies that impact millions of people. NI customers use NI software and hardware tools to research, design, manufacture, test and improve a wide array of products and services. By creating innovative tools, NI gives its customers a better solution for measuring and automating the world around them. The NI strategy is to innovate, constantly improve and deliver a steady stream of new products that deliver greater productivity and higher value to customers. National Instruments in the UK & Ireland In the UK & Ireland, NI is headquartered in Newbury, Berkshire, providing local sales, marketing and support, and has been recognised by the Great Place to Work® Institute as one of the 50 Best Workplaces in the UK for the last six years. Winning this award reflects the hard work each NI employee contributes in creating the company’s unique corporate culture, which gives all employees the opportunity to work–hard and play–hard. NI in the UK is full of talented people, committed to the company’s success, who have fun helping to build one of the UK’s leading providers of measurement and automation technologies and one of its best workplaces. 2 uk.ni.com/careers committed to continuing to grow an inspiring work environment ‘‘We that areemphasises individuality, innovation, respect, growth and ownership. Our ‘people advantage’ – hiring the best and brightest, creating a great work environment and offering superior employee development – is central to the long-term success of all NI stakeholders, creating and sustaining ’’ competitive advantage for us. Robert Morton, BSc, MEng – UK & Ireland Managing Director hen I left university, I thought it might be a challenge to find a technical role at an engineering ‘‘Wcompany and enjoy a vibrant, dynamic work environment. When I looked at NI, I was really impressed to see that they list in the UK’s 50 Best Workplaces. What I appreciate most about the culture at NI is that you are given responsibility early on in your career. During my time at NI I have been able to take on a variety of roles each of which have given me a new range of experiences. I now have a complete range of skills from technical sales & leading a sales team to in-depth technical expertise with a series of different platforms & tools. Internal Sales Engineer – 10 Months ’’ Mahdieh Ghoddusi, University of Reading – MEng (Hons) Electronic Engineering Inside Sales Engineering Team Leader – 2 years Applications Engineer – 10 Months+ working at NI I have learnt a huge amount about real world engineering. I constantly work ‘‘Since with different technologies with different customers and industries; from complex embedded systems to lab experiments generating huge amounts of data, it really keeps you on your toes! As well as this I have had the opportunity to present to customers from small classes of 6 up to 500 people at NIDays and you are always encouraged to push yourself further. ’’ James McNally, Loughborough University – MEng (Hons) Systems Engineering Applications Engineer Intern – 12 Months Applications Engineer Graduate – 12 Months Applications Engineering Specialist – 1 Month+ have been working at NI for less than 2 years and during that time I’ve been given numerous ‘‘Iopportunities to develop myself as a person and develop my career. National Instruments is full of fantastic people and the company is based on a culture of hard work but also fun and enjoyment. My work challenges me on a daily basis, whether this is through delivering a formal training course for customers, troubleshooting problems in a complex system or liaising with our customers to specify a system that meets their stringent requirements. It’s also satisfying to know that I’m always going to be rewarded and recognised for my hard work. ’’ Christian Hartshorne, Cardiff University – MEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering with Automotive Studies Applications Engineer – 7 Months AE Team Leader – 14 Months Internal Sales Engineering Rotation– 1 Month+ when looking for an industrial placement, I wanted a role that would be diverse and ‘‘Initially provide an insight into industry. National Instruments provided this and more, it was a great internship where everyone is willing to help, in and outside work. Upon returning as a graduate, NI has been challenging, rewarding and great fun! I have really enjoyed interacting with customers on technical issues through different mediums as well as mentoring and providing leadership to others within the department. Every time I look back it always amazes me how much I have achieved so far. I look forward to developing my engineering career further at NI. Ashish Naik, Loughborough University – BSc (Hons) Engineering Physics Applications Engineer Intern – 12 months Applications Engineer Graduate – 6 Months ’’ Applications Engineer Team Leader – 5 Months+ uk.ni.com/careers 3 The Engineering Leadership Programme for Graduates Your career at NI starts with the Engineering Leadership Programme (ELP), the entry point and training scheme for graduate engineers. The ELP is focused on delivering the future leaders of the NI business. It is made up of two departments in the UK: Applications Engineering and Internal Sales. As part of the ELP, you will spend time working in one or both of these departments to support the business and learn about the company, products and customers. Both roles provide development opportunities in a fast-paced, challenging environment. Engineering Leadership Programme Support Customers. Develop Leaders. Internal Sales Applications Engineering ■ ■ ■ ■ Learn how customers use NI products in their applications Provide technical post-sales support to the customer base Deliver professional training courses to customers Work with Field Sales to develop proof of concepts for customers ■ ■ ■ ■ Learn about the commercial needs of engineering and scientific applications Understand customer requirements and match these to NI products Provide technical pre-sales support to the customer base Work with a Field Sales Engineer to manage a sales territory As part of both departments you will: ■ ■ Present at seminars and conferences throughout the UK Take the chance to rotate between the Applications Engineer and Internal Sales departments, as well as the opportunity to work with Technical Marketing ■ Receive comprehensive ongoing training throughout your time in the ELP ■ Work with customers to write case studies for innovative applications Career Development You will be expected to take ownership of your own career development. Throughout the ELP, there will be opportunities to work on a variety of challenges which enhance your training and advance your career. The ELP is not a fixed-length programme; your rate of progression will depend on you and your own drive to accelerate your opportunities and development. So what is next after the ELP? Field Sales This is a field based role where you spend most of your time visiting different engineering customers in a given area. Use your technical, business and team working skills by demonstrating and applying NI technology to help resolve customers engineering problems. 4 uk.ni.com/careers Systems Engineering Technical Marketing Applications Engineering Specialist In this role you will be a technical expert in a certain product group. You will use your expert knowledge to provide in depth advice on NI products as well as developing and delivering proof of concepts onsite to help customers understand how NI technology can help resolve their engineering challenges. In Technical Marketing you work with NI’s latest products. Use your technical knowledge to create demos, seminars, a variety of content and events to help ensure that NI’s products and vision are effectively communicated to both customers and internal colleagues. As an Applications Engineering Specialist you will work to support customers who have complex NI systems. As part of this you will visit customers’ onsite to help them get started and architect their systems. In addition you will provide technical expertise and support to the Applications Engineering team. The Engineering Leadership Programme for Interns As an engineering intern at NI, you will be part of our Engineering Leadership Programme and work in the AE group, receiving much of the same training and experience as our graduates. Interns in the ELP work for 12 months and, during that time, you can expect to develop your problem solving skills, your commercial awareness and your ability to present, giving you a big advantage over your peers when you return to university. NI also offers support to selected students once they have returned to university, through sponsorship, advice or tools for your university projects. As an ELP Intern you will: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Receive training in key NI technologies, including measurement and instrumentation technology and graphical programming with LabVIEW Learn about our products, customer needs and markets by providing creative and timely solutions to customers' technical issues Work on challenging projects, such as developing a proof-of-concept LabVIEW program to assist a Field Sales Engineer with a key customer or developing marketing materials Develop presentation skills through delivery of technical material both internally and externally at seminars and trade shows Develop leadership, communication and problem solving skills through team work to prepare you for a career in Engineering Have the opportunity to work in the Internal Sales Department and with Technical Marketing ‘‘ When looking for a placement I wanted to ensure that the job would be diverse, and in that respect NI has been perfect. The broad variety of companies which I have worked with whilst at NI has made for an excellent experience. Also, due to the work here being so varied, if you have a specific field of interest, mine being motorsport, you can pursue that. For example I have worked at the Formula Student event this year at Silverstone racetrack. I have also been very impressed with the way that NI doesn’t treat you any differently than a graduate; we all get the ’’ same training and work opportunities and this equality extends across the whole company. Rhys Bowley – Rhys Bowley, University of Cardiff – BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering ‘‘ When looking for a placement I wanted to find a job that would broaden my skills and introduce me to new concepts, whilst working in a friendly and fun environment. National Instruments has definitely done this. I have been able to develop my engineering skills by working with a wide range of engineers and problems, through group and individual projects, event support, training and teaching. During my time at NI I also spent 2 months as part of the Inside Sales department and this combined with my work as an Applications Engineer has contributed to a fantastic experience which I think will prove to be very useful ’’ in the final 2 years of my degree and later in my career. Stephanie Limb – Stephanie Limb, University of Surrey – MEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering uk.ni.com/careers 5 The ELP Projects As part of the ELP, there is the opportunity to be involved in a variety of projects to help gain teamwork and technical skills, with the end result being a product demo to be used for trade shows, seminars or customer events. Application Engineering Projects Nintendo® Wii® Automated Test System n Having been asked to create an automated test system, the team of Application Engineers used NI LabVIEW and NI TestStand to test the Nintendo® Wii® remote controllers. An intuitive Wii®-like interface was used to fully automate the verification of the controllers’ Bluetooth®, accelerometer, rumble, speakers and the infrared camera. n As an added bonus the whole system is then controlled with a Wii® Nunchuk®. n Inside Sales Engineering Projects Turbine-Blade Tip Clearance Sensor The aim of the project was to understand customer needs in developing a test system for a Turbine-Blade Tip Clearance sensor. n n n Using NI tools they created a fully working proof of concept, submitted a professional proposal document and conducted a sales presentation to management. The winning team developed a height adjustable magnetic pendulum suspended over a sensor, with working electronic circuitry to interface with a NI PXI Arbitrary Waveform Generator and a NI Digitiser. The NI myDAQ Project n The NI myDAQ product shows that myDAQ and LabVIEW can be used to teach electronics and to prove theories within a university environment. The project was also a chance to learn more about NI technologies, specifically the NI myDAQ and also an opportunity to demonstrate engineering principles. n n Examples of the applications include; the myDAQ Security System, featuring a pressure pad and motion sensor and the myPOD; which is a stereo audio amplifier and a graphic equaliser. Student Design Contest Are you using LabVIEW in your project? If you are an undergraduate student, why not enter your application into the NI Student Design Contest, showcasing the most innovative student applications. With the chance to win £500, plus the opportunity to present at NIDays and be published online on ni.com, all you need to do is submit your completed projects, high resolution photos and a video or academic poster. For more information, and to download the author packet, visit uk.ni.com/studentdesign Follow NI UK & Ireland on Facebook and Twitter 6 uk.ni.com/careers Engineering Scholarship Programme The NI Engineering Scholarship Programme is available to students studying an Engineering, Computer Science or Physics Degree. This programme allows students who have shown outstanding academic achievement to develop their professional engineering career. In order to be eligible for the NI Engineering Scholarship Programme, you must be in your first year of study and be on track for a 2.1 or higher in your studies. Scholarship students will be awarded £1500 for their second year of study as well as being provided with an NI mentor who will keep you up-to-date with company news. Successful candidates will join NI for a 1 year paid industrial placement and may then be offered a full-time role in our Engineering Leadership Programme after graduation. To apply visit uk.ni.com/careers/scholarship Who Uses NI Technology? Designing and Implementing a Control System for an Electric Supercar When the Racing Green Endurance (RGE) team departed from Alaska to begin their 16,000 mile journey on the Pan-American Highway, they did so in an electric sports car powered, in part, by NI LabVIEW and NI CompactRIO. RGE is a student-led project at Imperial College London that aims to demonstrate the potential of zero-emission cars. They use a fully electric powertrain that can achieve a top speed of 120 mph and the car also has a unique twin-motor electric drive system, which makes it possible for the car to travel further than any other electric car before needing to be recharged. Performing Structural Health Monitoring of the Olympic Venues Using NI LabVIEW and NI CompactRIO The loss of life and property in catastrophic events such as earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, or bomb blasts is mainly the result of damages to or the collapse of structures. Consequently, engineers worldwide are continually trying to validate structural models and iterate structural designs to reduce tragedies caused by these types of events. Civil engineers building the Olympic venues in China, including the iconic “Bird’s Nest” Olympic Stadium in Beijing, used the LabVIEW graphical programming environment and CompactRIO hardware platform to design a highly accurate structural health monitoring (SHM) system with time-based GPS synchronisation to monitor structures at critical points. At the heart of the NI graphical system design platform is LabVIEW, a programming environment used by engineers and scientists worldwide to tackle both simple and complex challenges across a variety of industries. The intuitive nature of LabVIEW makes it easy for educators and researchers to incorporate the software in a range of courses and applications. Please visit us at ni.com/labview See how engineers and scientists worldwide are using NI tools to increase productivity, reduce cost and improve everyday life at uk.ni.com/casestudies uk.ni.com/careers 7 National Instruments UK & Ireland Contact us today to launch your engineering career at National Instruments. We offer engineering graduates a world-class training and development programme, a competitive compensation package and a challenging role at one of the UK’s Great Places to Work. About Newbury Newbury in Berkshire is a market town situated in the centre of Southern England, easily accessible from the M4 and A34, and at the heart of the Thames Valley technology corridor – home to companies including Vodafone, Intel and Microsoft. Newbury has regular direct rail connections that get you into London Paddington within an hour. Newbury What We Look For Candidates for the ELP will have achieved a minimum of second class degree in engineering or science-related field, such as electronic engineering, physics or mechatronics. In the ELP, it is not just about having the right grades; we also find that many of our most successful recruits have the following traits in common: Communication Ownership NI is a technology company, releasing innovative products at a rapid rate. Engineers at NI thrive on the challenge to stay in touch with this technology and be the expert advisors to our customers. At NI, not only do we need our engineers to have great technical skills, they also need to be geeks with social skills, and have the ability to communicate effectively with customers and colleagues. At NI, you will need to take ownership of your own career and drive its development. Engineers at NI also need to be able to take responsibility for tasks and decision making. Ambition Problem Solving Customer Focus Passion for Technology Careers at NI often involve early responsibility and sometimes rapid progression. We look for people who relish this challenge. Customers come to us for help, whether for a new or existing system. Engineers at NI must be able to Making our customer successful is key to our business growth. Engineers at NI have to be quickly analyse the nature of the problem and think committed to going the extra mile to ensure that creatively to provide a solution. our customers are satisfied. How to Apply To apply for any of these positions, please send your CV to ukrecruitment@ni.com and refer to the ELP or ELP Internship positions in your email title. Find out how National Instruments people, products, technology and vision comes together at ni.com/company >> Learn more about careers at NI in the UK at uk.ni.com/careers National Instruments UK & Ireland Measurement House Newbury Business Park Thames House Portsmouth Road Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2PS UK 01635 572400 Ireland 01 867 4374 ukrecruitment@ni.com uk.ni.com/careers ireland.ni.com/careers n n n n n n n National Instruments Corporation (UK) Ltd Measurement House Newbury Business Park Newbury RG14 2PS Registered Office: Thames House Portsmouth Road Esher Surrey KT10 9AD United Kingdom: Company Registration No. 2999356 VAT No. GB493598779 Ireland: Company Registration No. 904311 VAT No. IE9514656W n n n n n n n n n n ©2011 National Instruments. All rights reserved. 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