The UK is full of amazing engineering companies but not all of them are hiring at any one time. A good way to find out who is looking for graduate engineers right now is to keep an eye on recruitment exhibitions, where companies will usually go if they have multiple positions coming up.

Next month, the National Exhibition and Construction Recruitment (NECR) show returns to the NEC in Birmingham to showcase some of the UK’s top employers looking for engineers right now, and to provide a host of services offering career advice and tailored help for your job search.

Here’s a selection of the top engineering recruiters you’ll find at this April’s show:

1. British Antarctic Survey

The ultimate engineering adventure, working for the British Antarctic Survey means helping scientists to reveal the secrets of this still mysterious continent. Engineers are needed to help keep operations running smoothly by managing the infrastructure, vehicles and scientific equipment that make the missions possible.

2. Penso

Penso specialises in advanced composite materials that make innovations in the automotive, fence and renewable energy sector possible. But it also needs engineers to help provide a wide range of design and manufacturing services for everything from niche vehicles to high-volume production.

3. Royal Navy

Engineers make the Navy’s missions of prevent global conflict, providing humanitarian aid and protecting the UK possible. They manage an incredible selection of technology including nuclear reactors on submarines, advanced radar systems and the sensitive electronics of some of the most sophisticated weapons ever built.

4. Cape

Cape provides a range of services to companies in the energy, mining and industrial manufacturing services. This can include anything from helping to refit an oil rig or power station to designing a cleanup operation to protect the environment at a former chemical plant.

5. BAE Systems

It might be well known but as the UK’s largest employer of engineers, BAE as to be constantly on the lookout for new graduates to work on the huge array of projects it manages, including some of the biggest and most challenging bits of engineering in the country, whether that’s building aircraft carriers or protecting vital infrastructure against cyber-terrorism.

6. Brose

Brose is one of the world’s top 40 automotive suppliers, developing new technology for clients including Jaguar Land Rover, Toyota, Volvo and Nissan at it’s state-of-the-art production facilities in Coventry.

7. JCB

It’s not just diggers. JCB designs and builds over 350 machines that go from 800kgs to nearly 50 tonnes for sectors in clouding defence, waste, recycling, power generation and agriculture, as well as construction.

8. Royal Air Force

The RAF does a pretty good job of selling itself. Here’s what it has to say: “The role of RAF Engineer Officers is to keep aircraft and communications equipment operating at peak performance and working with state-of-the-art technology.The RAF is looking for men and women with commitment, leadership skills and maturity who don’t want to spend their lives in an office.”

9. Safran - Labinal Power Systems

Part of French aerospace giant Safran, LPS produce the wiring for a wide range of aircraft including the world’s largest passenger jet, the Airbus A380. If you’ve ever seen inside an aircraft wing you’ll know just how complex an engineering challenge this is, and one that is growing ever greater as the industry moves further towards electric propulsion and auxiliaries.

10. Triumph 

There are few more aptly-named companies. Triumph has overcome bankruptcy in the 1980s and a major fire at the turn of the century to re-establish itself as one of the UK’s premier automotive brands, mixing classic heritage with advanced technology to produce motorbikes that are famous the world over.

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