Careers

Apprenticeship Scheme

HMGCC require ambitious and motivated people to join our Apprenticeship Scheme. With advanced tuition at Bedford College, apprentices will be developed to meet the demanding needs of our Mechanical Manufacturing and Electronic Assembly Departments.

We are looking for people who are serious about engineering and that will treat the scheme  as the first step to a long-term career.

You will be keen to learn and continously develop, making the most of every opportunity that comes your way.

You will spend the first year at Bedford College, followed by two years in on-site placements at HMGCC. By the end of the three years, you will have gained an NVQ Level 3 and work towards a HNC in Engineering.

You can currently apply for an Advanced Apprenticeship in the two technical areas:

• Mechanical Manufacturing Engineer
• Wiring and PCB Assembly Engineer

Other Apprenticeship Schemes will be available in 2013.

Selection Criteria

The selection process is designed to assess your abilities in a number of ways, and ensure that your potential to join the HMGCC Apprenticeship Scheme is maximised.

You will need to:

• Meet all of our eligibility requirements 
• Be over the age of 18
• Be fully commited to gaining your apprenticeship qualification through attending college and completing modules to a high standard

How to apply

Please visit our vacancy page and complete an application form, you will also need to attach:

• Your CV
• A written statement of no more than 500 words about something that inspires you (please attach as a MS word document)

APPLY HERE

The closing date for all applications is 2nd March 2012 and interviews will take place the week commencing 16th April 2012.

Software Engineering

Our software teams here at HMGCC deliver a huge range of products, from enterprise-class server systems, to custom desktop applications.

Our teams work in the following laboratories:

Telecoms infrastructure

This team provides secure infrastructure for fixed-line and mobile telephones and other communication devices. We work with providers at home and overseas to evaluate new products and technologies. We not only develop new products that are able to work with existing infrastructure, but also research next-generation technologies surrounding telecoms and internet convergence.

Messaging and data infrastructure

We deliver enterprise-class messaging and data processing systems that have high bandwidth and fault tolerance requirements. These products are business-critical, and as such need to be scalable and robust.

Secure desktop messaging

We create user-friendly applications that enable our clients to communicate securely. This includes the development of secure applications that are able to sit on 3^rd party, commercially available operating systems, such as Windows 7.

Applied information security

This area delivers 'security science'. (In other words, tools and guidance that makes sure our products are always secure, even if design decisions or sub-standard coding introduces vulnerabilities.)

Platform security

We provide practical guidance and tools to help defend our products (and the platforms they operate on) from attackers. To do this, we have to thoroughly understand the current threat from malware and how an operating system can become vulnerable from attack.

Mobile device development

This team works on a variety of technologies and mobile platforms, including Android, iOS, Symbian and Blackberry. Project types include application development, platform customisation, security and research. This team delivers user-friendly mobile applications for secure communications.

Product evaluation, adoption and deployment

This lab delivers the products to our clients. Product evaluation and adoption are just part of the handover process for developments. This team also handles in-service support. They make sure the products remain secure and meet our high-availability requirements throughout their lifetimes.

Software test

We are a virtual team of test analysts located within the development labs to identify and define the test approach, monitor the results and evaluate the overall quality produced. This team has the flexibility to either touch on a wide range of projects/systems, or gain specialist knowledge of a particular field. In either case, you'll need to have an enquiring mind, and a knack for breaking things.

Systems Engineering

At HMGCC, we believe that conscious and pragmatic systems engineering will deliver the overall project objectives by assuring that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Our experienced systems engineering team collaborate across government organisations and industry to champion best practice and raise professional standards.  Whatever the application area, the ultimate aim is to leverage value for our customers by combining our broad capability with a consistent 'excellent' approach to systems engineering.

Electronic Engineering

In the Wireless Systems Team, we design leading-edge communication systems. From short range to global communications, software defined radio systems and satellite communications including high-speed telemetry, our workload is hugely varied. We pride ourselves in the delivery of high-tech, innovative solutions and we revel in the associated challenges.

Our team supports all facets of wireless system development, including system design and modelling, circuit design, antenna design, signal processing and algorithm development. We have access to the latest advances in the R.F. field and work closely with academia and industry to ensure that we maintain our leading edge. We require a range of professionals, from wireless systems engineers, to circuit designers and mathematicians.

Embedded Engineering

Join us in our embedded systems team and you'll enjoy a hugely varied workload, from projects with no operating system at all, to fully embedded Linux systems. We design communication systems based on a range of modern microcontroller architectures, from 8-bit to 32-bit devices. What's more, we can also design our own embedded processing units and build them on site - giving you the opportunity to work on the full product lifecycle.

We also use industrial embedded processing boards - to which we add our own custom peripherals and bespoke C and C++ software to produce systems quickly for our customers.

Mechanical Engineering

The mechatronic & mechanical engineering technical team creates a very wide range of products to our customers' unique - and very diverse - requirements. We provide two main functions.

Firstly, the design and development of specialist electro/mechanical products. These range from compact precision measurement devices to larger pneumatic and hydraulic systems where the design is owned from concept through to production.

Secondly, the provision of design skills and consultancy to our electronic engineers and PCB layout teams. In these projects we take the responsibility of producing the products' build-to documentation.

Our engineers co-operate closely with our in-house manufacturing facility and Production Engineers, designing solutions that are suitable for both low and higher volume manufacturing builds.

Our state-of-the-art CAD equipment is used to model the designs and create engineering drawings for manufacture. It also enables simulation of structural loads on all designs.

Manufacturing

Our in-house Engineering Support and Manufacturing division (ESM) works closely with our design teams to turn innovative prototypes into manufactured and reliable products. They're generally low volume production or prototype systems, which makes for a challenging, fast-paced working environment.

We have a modern, extremely well-equipped manufacturing facility. Furthermore, we're constantly developing our plant and equipment, investing between £0.5 and £0.75 million every year.

Our extensive manufacturing capabilities include:

Mechanical fabrication

We produce a wide variety of components using standard manufacturing processes including manual and CNC machining, sheet metal, injection moulding, vacuum forming, vacuum casting and surface coating.

Printed circuit board manufacture

We manufacture bare boards from simple, double-sided PCBs to complex multi-layer boards. These include PCBs that incorporate blind and buried via technology and track and gap widths down to 50µm.

Automated SMT assembly

Our automated line is capable of placing 01005 passives and fine pitch BGA devices in production volumes.

Assembly

Our assembly technicians are IPC qualified and experienced at introducing fine wire assemblies through to large mains-powered racks.

Test

Our Test Engineers ensure our products meet the exacting standards required, using manual and automated test methods. They fault find down to component level. The team also advise on and test/validate mains safety compliance.

Project Management

Our Project Management team is at the heart of HMGCC's success, bridging the gap between our customers and the huge wealth of technical talent we have. The team works across the whole lifecycle, from initial concept to in-service support, using their leadership and experience to plan, monitor and control the delivery of a diverse range of projects. Every Project Manager takes personal responsibility for ensuring that their project produces high-quality deliverables, to a defined schedule and budget.

Well-honed communication skills and familiarity with an engineering environment enable the team to be our single integrative point of responsibility for delivery. Increasingly, the team is also working with public and private sector partners to meet some of our most challenging requirements. This requires additional competencies such as contract management and remote team working.

Our preferred delivery methodology has been developed and refined in-house, but we are also open to other approaches such as Agile. HMGCC is aligned with the UK APM (Association for Project Management) competency framework. We enthusiastically support APM certification at all levels. In addition there are a number of clearly defined career paths that you can follow here as a Project Manager.

Corporate ICT Delivery

Non-stop, interesting, challenging and never dull. That's our Corporate ICT delivery in a nutshell. Whether we're providing ICT for a member of the team who needs to do nothing more complicated than send an email, or to someone who is designing and developing highly-complex systems, we provide the highest-quality service to everyone.

Our teams work across the entire service delivery spectrum, from system design and implementation to build, maintenance and end-user support via a dedicated service desk function. At HMGCC, priorities and objectives evolve fast - and we maintain an ever-changing set of systems that ensure all our people have the tools they need to meet those objectives.

Corporate Services

Our corporate services are vital to helping HMGCC run smoothly. From IT to Finance, HR to site services, we make sure that our delivery divisions can get on with their critical work. We feed our corporate service teams' professionalism and ambition by providing wide-ranging training and development opportunities - including the chance to work towards industry-standard qualifications. 

Supporting Capabilities

From making sure key projects run smoothly, to ensuring the highest-quality standards prevail, our supporting capabilities team plays a vital role.

The business management team oversees the entire portfolio of projects using the latest enterprise project management and portfolio management tool set.

The specialist support team provides expertise in a range of technologies including EMC, making use of recently upgraded state-of-the-art facilities.

Our quality assurance section has wide-ranging responsibility across the entire organisation and ensures compliance with IS09001 and IS027001. Meanwhile, our trials and evaluation department assesses the latest technologies and equipment - independently validating everything that's developed and produced on site.