A Bath-headquartered engineering company that makes actuators and control systems which open and close valves in oil, gas, water, power and process industries.
Rotork is a British engineering company based in Bath. It makes actuators, which are machines that open and close valves, and the gearboxes, control systems and instruments that go with them. Valves control the flow of liquids and gases in places such as water treatment works, power stations, chemical plants and pipelines, and many are too big or too remote to turn by hand. Rotork's actuators can be controlled remotely, and it also makes Pakscan, a digital control system for actuators, and miniature electric actuators for smaller valves. Its own tagline is 'Keeping the world flowing for future generations'.
Rotork began as a small engineering workshop in Bristol in the 1940s. In 1945 it was bought by Frenchay Products, led by Jeremy Fry, and it made its first actuator in 1952. In 1957 it moved to Bath, starting out at Widcombe Manor, Fry's home, with 12 staff. A new production plant opened at Newbridge in Bath in 1962, and that site is still the headquarters. The company listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1968 and has grown by adding smaller specialist firms, including Skilmatic in Leeds in 2000.
Rotork's stated purpose is 'Keeping the world flowing for future generations', and its chief executive, Kiet Huynh, has said that the purpose is a powerful motivator which drives everything the company does. The company describes its cultural DNA as valuing customers, growing together and winning as a team. It also says it wants to be a fair employer, to promote equal opportunity and to build an inclusive workplace where people from diverse backgrounds can thrive. These are the company's own statements.
The main UK base is the Newbridge site in Bath, with other UK operations that have come from acquisitions, including Skilmatic in Leeds and a flow control business bought in Wolverhampton in 2014. We could not confirm from a current source whether each of those sites still operates in the same way, so check the company's website before assuming. Across the world Rotork employs about 3,500 people (Wikipedia, 2026), which makes it a mid-sized company where individual teams can be fairly close-knit.
The kinds of roles in a business like Rotork include mechanical and electrical design engineers, software and electronics engineers who work on control systems, test and quality engineers, production and assembly teams, project and service engineers who support customers' sites, and sales, finance and supply chain staff. If you enjoy physics, electronics, design and technology or computing, actuators are a neat example of all of those combined in something that keeps water and energy supplies running. The company's own careers pages show what is open.
Website: www.rotork.com
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