Civil Principal Engineer / Discipline Head

Civil Principal Engineer / Discipline Head

Working Location: Manchester, UK
Contract Type: Permanent Position

We are looking for an experienced Principal Civil Engineer to take a leading technical role within a multidisciplinary design team in the water sector.

This position is suited to a Chartered Engineer with strong design experience who enjoys solving complex engineering problems, guiding design teams, and ensuring high standards of technical delivery.

You will lead civil engineering design across projects, mentor engineers at different stages of their careers, and provide technical leadership for the Civil discipline across water industry frameworks. The role combines hands-on principal-level design and checking work with discipline-wide technical standards, competency and governance responsibilities.

Working closely with Design Leads and an Engineering Manager, you will play a key role in ensuring projects are delivered to high professional and technical standards, while shaping how civil engineering is delivered consistently across all water industry frameworks.

The Role

As Principal Civil Engineer, you will take ownership of the civil engineering design input across a range of water sector projects, acting as the technical authority for the Civil discipline across the business.

Key Responsibilities

Design Delivery and Technical Assurance

- Ensuring design deliverables meet safety, quality and regulatory requirements
- Reviewing and approving design deliverables, design risk assessments (DRAs), reports and technical specifications
- Developing efficient and practical engineering solutions based on scopes, site visits and client requirements
- Communicating design solutions clearly to clients and project teams
- Directing and supporting engineers, CAD technicians and graduates
- Guiding design work to ensure compliance with technical standards, professional guidance and water company specifications
- Ensuring design changes are properly implemented and recorded within project documentation
- Working within established design processes and procedures to maintain quality and consistency
- Attending and presenting engineering solutions at design reviews and key meetings
- Reviewing, or appointing competent checkers for civil designs produced in-house or by subcontracted designers, to ensure compliance with required technical standards

Discipline Leadership and Technical Governance

- Setting, communicating and maintaining civil engineering technical standards across all live projects
- Verifying the technical competency of civil engineering staff before they are allocated to projects
- Monitoring the discipline engineers' performance and utilisation
- Identifying training needs and supporting CPD planning for the civil engineering team
- Coordinating with other discipline leads on cross-discipline interface items, to ensure clear ownership where scope overlaps
- Estimating civil design hours at tender stage, and supporting resource forecasting and capacity planning across active projects
- Reviewing and interpreting technical standards, procedures and updates relevant to the civil discipline
- Championing safety-in-design principles within civil engineering, ensuring CDM 2015 designer duties are embedded across all design and checking activity
- Providing key technical guidance for both projects and tenders
- Supporting the continuous improvement of engineering standards and design practices

About You

We are looking for an experienced civil engineer with strong knowledge of water industry design and a track record of leading engineering solutions and providing discipline-wide technical leadership.

Requirements

Essential

- 10+ years' design experience within the regulated water industry
- Degree or HND in Civil Engineering or a related discipline
- Chartered Engineer status
- Experience producing hydraulic calculations and hydraulic profiles
- Strong understanding of water and wastewater engineering systems and technologies
- Experience delivering both infrastructure and non-infrastructure designs
- Experience working on outline and detailed design stages
- Knowledge of construction methods, materials and engineering drawing practices
- Strong IT and digital design capability
- Full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle

Desirable

- Previous experience in a Discipline Lead, Technical Authority or Principal Engineer role
- Experience supporting the technical development of junior engineers
- Familiarity with client-specific technical standards across multiple water company frameworks
- Experience as an independent checker across multiple disciplines or projects
- Familiarity with BIM / common data environment workflows
- Experience contributing to recruitment, onboarding or competency framework development
- Experience working in a design-centre or framework consultancy model