Industrial Placement Designer

About PA Consulting

We believe in the power of ingenuity to build a positive human future. As strategies, technologies, and innovation collide, we create opportunity from complexity. Our teams of interdisciplinary experts combine innovative thinking and breakthrough technologies to progress further, faster. Our clients adapt and transform, and together we achieve enduring results.

We are over 4,000 strategists, innovators, designers, consultants, digital experts, scientists, engineers, and technologists. And we have deep expertise in consumer and manufacturing, defence and security, energy and utilities, financial services, government and public services, health and life sciences, and transport.

Our teams operate globally from offices across the UK, Ireland, US, Nordics, and Netherlands.

PA. Bringing Ingenuity to Life.

Role Overview: Industrial Placement Designer

Are you ready to develop your creative skills and contribute to breakthrough product design? As an Industrial Placement Designer in our studio in beautiful Co. Wicklow, Ireland, you’ll join a fantastic team of researchers, designers, engineers, and prototypers helping to create future products for leading consumer, professional, and healthcare brands.

Why apply for our Industrial Design Placement?

• Get hands-on experience contributing to real client projects and internal innovations.
• Work in our fully-equipped, collaborative studio, workshops and labs, designed to maximise creativity and rapid prototyping.
• Benefit from mentoring, practical learning, and network with expert colleagues.
• Be part of a forward-looking, multidisciplinary team creating impactful, category-defining solutions.
• Enjoy a unique work environment situated close to Bray seafront and minutes from Dublin City Centre.

What You Can Expect

• Participate in design research to gain user insights and inspire creative solutions.
• Contribute to outstanding product concepts across a wide range of industries.
• Develop holistic user experiences with a sustainability mindset.
• Hone your craft across freehand sketching, digital tools, and physical modelling.
• Collaborate openly with global colleagues and clients, learning from their expertise.
• Present your ideas and design work to stakeholders, refining your concepts with feedback.
• Stay up to date with industry trends and emerging technologies such as AI and XR.

Assessment Process

First Stage Assessments:

• Application form
• Portfolio review

Final Stage Assessments:

• Virtual interview to discuss your portfolio and experience
• In-person interview at our Bray studio

The Offer

• Full-time, 12-month placement starting July 2026 (exact date confirmed at offer).
• Salary: £28,570 per annum.
• Supportive mentorship, a vibrant team culture, and the chance to develop your skills working on impactful products.

A career at PA is what you make of it — so power your curiosity and prepare to make an impact

Qualifications

Essential requirements

• On track to gain a relevant product/industrial design degree and seeking an industrial placement as part of your course.
• Exceptional portfolio demonstrating creative process.
• Skilled in 3D CAD and rendering (e.g. Rhino, SolidWorks, and Keyshot or equivalent).
• Confident in hand sketching and craft modelling.
• Strong aesthetic sensibility and keen eye for user experience.
• Proficiency with relevant digital tools (e.g. Miro, Figma, Adobe Creative Suite).
• Collaborative, organised, and passionate about learning and new challenges.
• Understanding of engineering and manufacturing principles is desirable.

This role is open to undergraduates with an industrial placement within their course structure. If you intend to return to university after the internship to complete an MSc, you will also be eligible for this position.

We know the skill-gap and ‘somewhat need to tick every box’ can get in the way of meeting brilliant candidates, so please don’t hesitate to apply – we’d love to hear from you.

Apply today by completing our online application

Please be aware that some of our UK roles at PA Consulting require a UK security clearance.

All PA people are required to undergo background checks and to achieve the Baseline Personnel Security Standard however, some UK roles also require higher levels of National Security Vetting, where applicants must have at least 5 years of continuous residency in the UK.

We therefore ask that you only apply if you meet the residency requirements (i.e. you are a British citizen or have been resident in the UK for the past 5 years), as this is the prerequisite for a security clearance. If you're unsure about your eligibility, we encourage you to review the UK Government’s guidance on security vetting before applying.

Life at PA Consulting

Life At PA encompasses our peoples' experience at PA. It's about how we enrich peoples’ working lives by giving them access to unique people and growth opportunities and purpose led meaningful work.

Our purpose guides how we work with our clients and our teams, and support our communities, to deliver insight and impact, solving the world’s most complex challenges. We're focused on building a workplace that values human difference and diverse mindsets, and a culture of inclusion and equality that unlocks the potential in our people so everyone can be their best self.

Find out more about Life at PA here.

We are dedicated to supporting the physical, emotional, social and financial well-being of our people. Check out some of our extensive benefits:

• Health and lifestyle perks accompanying private healthcare
• 25 days annual leave (plus a bonus half day on Christmas Eve) with the opportunity to buy 5 additional days
• Generous company pension scheme
• Opportunity to get involved with community and charity-based initiatives
• Annual performance-based bonus
• PA share ownership
• Tax efficient benefits (cycle to work, give as you earn)

We’re committed to advancing equality. We recruit, retain, reward and develop our people based solely on their abilities and contributions and without reference to their age, background, disability, genetic information, parental or family status, religion or belief, race, ethnicity, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity (or expression), political belief, veteran status, or any other range of human difference brought about by identity and experience. We welcome applications from underrepresented groups.

Adjustments or accommodations - Should you need any adjustments or accommodations to the recruitment process, at either application or interview, please contact us on recruitmentenquiries@paconsulting.com

Key skills/competency

• Product Design
• Industrial Design
• CAD Software
• 3D Rendering
• Sketching
• Prototyping
• User Experience (UX)
• Adobe Creative Suite
• Design Research
• Sustainability Mindset