Employment Opportunities
Consultancy Vacancies
1. The Company
Orcina is a software and engineering company supplying dynamic analysis software principally, although not uniquely, to the offshore industry. Our main product is a program called OrcaFlex that is used throughout the world to model the dynamics of systems in the marine environment, in particular flexible or rigid risers. In addition we supply two specific purpose analysis programs, OrcaLay and OrcaBend. OrcaLay is used to analyse pipelay operations and OrcaBend is used to design elastomeric bend stiffeners.
The company has been trading for over twenty years during which time it has grown steadily. There are at present fifteen employees. We are a small friendly company divided loosely into five groups: software, technology, administration, business development and consultancy.
The software group writes the software and deals with development of the user interface of the program. They are assisted in the technical development of the program by the technology group, who develop the mathematical models used in the software. There is inevitably considerable overlap between the activities of these two groups.
The administration group deal with accounts, software issue and licensing, and IT hardware and support. The business development group promotes the sales of our products world-wide through direct visits, exhibitions, trade shows and conferences, assisted by our appointed agents where appropriate.
The consultancy group carry out paid analysis work for external clients generally using our software, provide the bulk of software support to software clients, give training to users either at their offices or our own, and provide additional resources for all business development group functions.
2. The Post
We are currently seeking to recruit an analyst / consultant into the consultancy group at either senior or junior level. The successful applicant will have a sound technical background, as evidenced by a good honours degree, or higher, and a confident outgoing manner consistent with the group’s customer liaison activities. In general we find that those with a liking for mathematics and attention to detail are best-suited to our type of work.
For junior analyst level we expect to appoint someone who has recently graduated. For the senior analysis position we are looking for someone with several years’ technical analysis experience, but not necessarily in the offshore industry.
Previous recruits to the company have worked in the defence and nuclear industries and have successfully made the transition to offshore work. It is essential to have analytical ability combined with a sound understanding of basic engineering principles, ideally in the areas of stress analysis and hydrodynamics. For this reason we welcome applications from those with a background in mathematics or physics as well as from Engineers.
The appointment will lead to involvement in the full range of activities of the Consultancy Group. This includes undertaking consultancy project work, handling software support questions from our software user base, delivery of OrcaFlex training courses, support to the marketing effort, etc.. However, we expect senior analysts to become involved directly with customers at a much earlier stage and also to contribute to the marketing work of the group.
Much of our business comes from overseas. Consequently both domestic and international travel is expected to fulfil our training and marketing commitments. However, travelling is usually distributed within the Group and so does not become a particularly onerous for individual staff members. Also many travelling commitments can be planned reasonably well in advance, allowing good periods of notice.
After initial training with our principal analysis tool (OrcaFlex), the successful applicant will begin carrying out analysis projects for clients under the supervision of an experienced member of staff. As they become more conversant with the software, they will become involved in providing support to other users. Software support is an effective way of introducing trainees to a wide range of models and the problems experienced by users. The experience of identifying users’ problems and explaining to them how to resolve them in turn provides a good introduction to presenting training courses and finally marketing activities.
3. The Consultancy Group
The consultancy group currently consists of five people with backgrounds including marine hydrodynamics, bend stiffener manufacture, armaments, stress analysis and heat transfer. All have gained considerable experience of riser system dynamics and related fields during their time at Orcina. The work of the group falls into four main areas: analysis, software support, training and marketing.
The bulk of analysis projects are carried out for external clients, although we do occasionally carry out some in-house work. Frequently this involves design and analysis of dynamic systems for the manufacturers of flexible risers, umbilicals and hoses. The work involves close liaison with clients and frequent attendance at project meetings. In the early stages of a project this is often to define the scope of work, and in the final stages to assist our client in presenting our work to their client. We are often expected to work to tight timescales and called into meetings at short notice.
The experience gained in using Orcina software on consultancy projects is also invaluable in helping us provide support to external users of our software. Software support forms a large part of the work of the group and is, by its very nature, unpredictable both in terms of quantity and content. Support work often entails working on complex and challenging models which by their nature are not ‘routine’.
Training our clients is an important part of the group’s work; it is vital that users of our software know how to use it properly and efficiently. We offer both open training, which is open to all, and client specific training, which takes place in either the client’s office or our own. This year we will give courses in the USA, Norway, Brazil, Australia and France, as well as the UK – in some locations we often provide several courses per year.
Clearly all companies need to market their products, and while the current climate in the offshore industry means we do not need actively to seek consultancy work, we do put considerable effort into marketing our software. For the consultancy group this usually means manning exhibition stands at conferences or trade shows, with occasional direct visits to potential customers. In either case this often entails building OrcaFlex models of the types of systems the clients wish to investigate. Where these activities take place outside the UK, they may be supported by our local agents, whom we currently have in the USA, S. America, Norway, Korea, SE Asia and India. Supporting the marketing effort is a growing demand on the resources of consultancy group and is expected to remain so.
4. The Location
Orcina’s purpose built office is on the outskirts of Ulverston, Cumbria, a market town with a population of about 12,000 on the south-west fringe of the Lake District. We are 30 minutes from junction 36 of the M6 motorway and two hours from Manchester airport by either car or train. Existing members of staff live in or around Ulverston within easy commuting distance.
We pride ourselves on having a friendly, flexible, informal working atmosphere, believing this to be conducive to achieving technical excellence.
Please apply by e-mail, attaching your CV, to recruitment@orcina.com. Please also include an explanation of what attracts you to the job and why you think you are suitable. For further information or an informal discussion, call Colin Blundell on +44 (0)1229 584742. No agencies.