Authorising Engineer - Electrical

Job Overview

To act as an independent Authorising Engineer (AE) for HV/LV electrical systems within data centre and critical environment operations throughout the UK, providing recognised technical authority, governance, assurance and control of work activities. The AE shall operate independently of day-to-day operational delivery, with sufficient authority to challenge, stop, suspend or escalate unsafe or non-compliant activities, and shall report functionally to the Co-ordinating Authorising Engineer. The role supports statutory compliance, Mitie Safe Systems of Work (SSoW), client governance requirements, operational resilience expectations and recognised critical environment standards including both EOPs & SOPs

Main Duties

Technical Authority, Independence & Control of Work

• Act as the independent technical authority for HV/LV electrical safety, switching, isolation, energisation and restoration activities in data centre and critical environment operations.

· Approve, maintain and assure the application of Mitie HV/LV safety rules, electrical safety procedures, switching schedules, permits, isolation standards and supporting Safe Systems of Work.

· Define system boundaries, assets, demarcation points, operational responsibilities and escalation routes for electrical systems and critical infrastructure interfaces.

· Exercise clear authority to challenge, delay, suspend or stop work where safety, compliance, competency or resilience requirements are not demonstrably met.

Authorisation & Competency

• Assess, recommend, appoint, audit, suspend or remove Authorised Persons (APs), and other electrically competent persons in accordance with Mitie and client governance arrangements.

· Maintain competency frameworks, appointment records, audit evidence and ongoing assurance schedules for authorised electrical personnel.

· Provide technical coaching, challenge and assurance while remaining independent from operational delivery decisions.

Governance, Audit, Risk & Compliance

• Lead independent audits, technical assurance reviews and compliance inspections of HV/LV systems, electrical safety management arrangements and critical environment controls.

· Identify systemic risks, non-conformances and control weaknesses, ensuring clear corrective and preventive action plans are agreed, tracked and closed.

· Ensure compliance with the Electricity at Work Regulations, BS , relevant HSE guidance, client standards, applicable industry good practice and Mitie HV/LV safety rules

· Provide concise governance reporting to the Co-ordinating Authorising Engineer and relevant senior stakeholders, highlighting risk, compliance status, assurance findings, resource levels and required decisions.

Incident, Change & Operational Resilience

• Provide independent technical leadership for electrical incidents, near misses, significant switching events and resilience-related failures.

· Support root cause analysis, lessons learned, corrective and preventive actions, and governance improvements to prevent recurrence.

· Review and advise on electrical risk associated with planned works, maintenance strategy, change control, energisation activities, testing and business continuity exercises.

· Support operational resilience requirements, including business continuity planning, critical system recovery arrangements and evidence-based assurance of control effectiveness.

Standards & Framework Alignment

• Ensure alignment with recognised critical environment standards and guidance, including Uptime Institute principles where applicable.

· Apply relevant EN principles for data centre availability, resilience, maintainability and operational risk control.

· Support ISO-aligned management systems, assurance frameworks and client operational resilience requirements, including FCA PS21/3 expectations where relevant.

What we are looking for

Qualifications

· HNC/HND/Degree in Electrical Engineering, Building Services Engineering or equivalent demonstrable experience.

· Extensive HV/LV operational experience within data centres, critical environments or high-availability infrastructure.

· Previous Authorising Engineer, Senior Authorised Person or equivalent electrical safety governance experience.

· Strong working knowledge of the Electricity at Work Regulations, BS , HSE guidance, electrical safety rules, permit-to-work arrangements and critical environment controls.

· Chartered Engineer status, Incorporated Engineer status or active progression towards professional registration is desirable.

Experience & Governance

· Proven experience operating with independence, authority and professional judgement in technically complex, safety-critical environments.

· Demonstrable ability to control work activities through robust governance, assurance, audit, competency assessment and escalation.

· Experience managing electrical safety rules, authorisation processes, switching governance, isolation standards and permit-to-work arrangements.

· Experience of external audit, internal audit, risk management, incident investigation and corrective action closure.

· Ability to provide executive-ready reporting on compliance, risk, assurance findings, control effectiveness and required interventions.

Interacting & Communicating

· Able to establish credible relationships with operational teams, client representatives, senior stakeholders, contractors and specialist suppliers while retaining independence of judgement.

· Confident to challenge unsafe, non-compliant or poorly controlled activities and to escalate appropriately through the Co-ordinating Authorising Engineer and senior governance forums.

· Excellent written, verbal and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate technical risk clearly to executive, client and operational audiences.

· Diplomatic but firm, with the resilience and authority to make evidence-based decisions and see them through.

Analysing & Reporting

· Able to produce clear, concise and structured reports, technical papers, audit findings and governance updates.

· Strong analytical capability, with the ability to assess complex electrical risk, identify root causes and recommend practical, proportionate controls.

· Competent in using digital systems, compliance platforms and reporting tools to manage evidence, actions, trends and assurance outputs.

Adapting & Performing

· Able to respond effectively to live incidents, high-risk works, critical change events and business continuity scenarios.

· Maintains professional composure and sound judgement under pressure, particularly where safety, service continuity or client impact is at stake.

· Flexible, adaptable and able to travel UK wide to support assurance, audits, incident response and governance activities across relevant sites.

· Committed to continuous improvement, learning from incidents and strengthening electrical safety governance across the contract.

Other

· Provides clear expectations, standards and guidance to authorised personnel and operational teams.

· Maintains independence, impartiality and professional integrity when making authorisation, assurance and escalation decisions.

· Promotes a culture of safety, compliance, operational resilience and continual improvement.

Our market-leading offering provides you with benefits that suit your lifestyle.

We have a virtual GP on hand for you and members of your household. So you can get expert advice by video or phone without having to leave your home. We offer financial wellbeing assistance through our Salary Finance scheme. For example, you could access 50% of your earned pay before payday for a small fee. Salary Finance also offers competitive loans.

When you join us, we’ll give you a link to our flexible lifestyle benefits platform, Choices. You might choose to purchase up to five extra days’ holiday each year. You might buy critical illness insurance, seek dental treatment or buy technology products at an affordable cost. There are many choices!

We give you access to high street discounts from thousands of well-known retailers, gyms and more through our MiDeals platform. And we have a cycle-to-work scheme. Life cover of up to four times your salary is available. We also offer enhanced pension contributions, a save-as-you-earn scheme, and a Mitie Matching Share Plan (you could even be awarded free shares in Mitie).

We award our employees with Mitie Stars as recognition for their hard work. There are cash prizes up for grabs each month and at the end of the year there’s a chance to scoop a top prize of £10,!

Our success is a direct result of the experience and quality of our people. Progressing your career is therefore a top priority for us. We offer a diverse variety of training and development avenues via a wide selection of learning resources to suit you.

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you have a disability or long-term condition (for example dyslexia, anxiety, autism, a mobility condition or hearing loss) and need us to make any reasonable adjustments, changes or do anything differently during the recruitment process, please let us know by emailing Inder Mann at .