Diamond Light Source is the UK’s national synchrotron science facility. Located on the Harwell Science & Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire a 20 minute drive south of Oxford in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Diamond Light Source conducts world-class research in virtually all fields of science and offers rewarding career opportunities covering both technical and scientific disciplines.

The aim of this role is to support the design, development, commissioning and operational support of control systems (closed loop feedback and feedforward) through the characterisation of system components, development of models of the system, analysis of the model to ascertain performance as part of the overall design process, and the subsequent characterisation and optimisation of the resulting systems.

Duties to include:

• Develop new simulation models of control processes;
• Maintain and improve existing simulation models;
• Measurement and characterization of install systems to correlate with simulation;
• Model and assess system design to ascertain expect performance as part of the design process;
• Provide technical expertise on control systems and system modeling tools;
• Provide support and analysis of operational control systems;
• Interface with internal customers, including Engineers and Scientists, during the design and development life cycle to provide advice and support in terms of system modeling, analysis and interpreting results;
• Report on progress in all areas on a periodic basis;
• Maintain and develop technical expertise in control theory;
• Maintain a current knowledge of other, comparable, beamline and accelerator projects internationally.

• Phd degree in Control Theory, Physics, Engineering or Mathematics;
• Honours degree in Physics, Engineering or Mathematics;
• Demonstrate ability to communicate effectively, both orally and written;
• Ability to solve technical problems, evaluating alternative courses of action and innovating where necessary;
• Demonstrate self-motivation and a willingness to take responsibility;
• Demonstrate ability to work as part of a team;
• Demonstrate ability to work effectively alone and without direct supervision;
• Knowledge and experience of MATLAB/Simulink or similar modelling environment;
• Knowledge in control theory applied to linear SISO and MIMO systems; 
• Knowledge and experience of characterisation of components and systems;
• Experience in producing computer simulations (eg Simulink models) from a mathematical specification or from system characterisation information;
• Practical experience of working with large plant systems;
• Be willing to work overtime at unsociable hours as required;
• Be willing to travel in the UK and abroad, including occasional periods away from home;
• Be prepared to undertake further training.

• Demonstrate an understanding of staff supervision;
• Demonstrate an understanding of project planning and management;
• Knowledge and experience in programming in C or Python or Java;
• Knowledge in control theory applied to nonlinear systems.