Welcome to Next Phase Recruitment! Please see below our current jobs that match your search criteria. For a broader job search please visit the home page or call us on 01403 216216 to discuss career options in other areas of Life Science and Technology.

Welcome to Next Phase Recruitment! Please use the above link to see our current jobs that match your search criteria. For a broader job search please visit the home page or call us on 01403 216216 to discuss career options in other areas of Life Science and Technology.

Human Factors

Human Factors, also referred to as ergonomics, human engineering or usability research, is the scientific discipline that applies theory, principles, data and method to design in order to optimise how humans behave physically and psychologically in relation to particular environments, products, or services.

Human factors are a consideration for design across a wide range of industries and ultimately ensure that the end user can use and interact with the product effectively. This becomes more important in sectors such as healthcare/medical devices due to the ramifications on the patient if this is not the case, or if the patient fails to accept the device altogether. The concept of human factors engineering within medical devices has become more recognised in recent years and is now included in international manufacturing standards and the collected data, plus how human factors have been applied to the design process, now forms part of the FDA regulatory approval within the US. In the last 12 months over 500 thousand companies were declined approval due to failure to display adequate human factors considerations/and or correct application of the human factors data collected during the research phase.

The demand for human factors engineers is growing as organisations become increasingly aware of the benefits of the application of human factors in terms of issues such as safety, comfort and productivity.

Skills required for a career in Human Factors

  • Relevant science or engineering degree
  • Knowledge/experience of human factors engineering
  • Ability to understand technical medical device language
  • IT skills
  • The ability to work as part of a team as well being able to work on own initiative
  • Detail oriented
  • Communication & organisational skills

Salary Levels

The salary within Human Factors will typically range from around £27,000 for a graduate entry level 

Swindon

Swindon is a town in Wiltshire, in the South West region of England.  It is located approximately 35 miles from both Bristol and Reading and 78 miles from London.  Other major towns within reasonable distance include Oxford, Cheltenham and Salisbury.  Swindon is on the main railway line from Bristol to London Paddington and, with an average journey time of only 1 hour to London, it is a major commuter town.  Road connections are also good, thanks to the proximity of the M4 motorway.  Although many residents commute to London, Bristol and other cities, a substantial number of major employers are located in Swindon including engineering firms such as Honda, BMW/Mini and Halcrow as well as W H Smith's HQ and distribution centre and pharmaceutical companies including Patheon, Catalent Pharma Solutions and Vygon (UK) Ltd.   Swindon also has the head office of the National Trust, the UK Space Agency and national Research Councils including the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

Swindon has two major museums; the STEAM Museum which provides a detailed history of the Great Western Railway and the Museum of Computing, it is also home to the Bodleian Library's book depository, which contains 153 miles of bookshelves

Famous people from Swindon:  Billie Piper; actress and Melinda Messenger; glamour model and TV presenter