2027 UK Graduate Control and Instrumentation Engineering Career Path

Mott MacDonald Group; Brighton; On-site; GBP 26,000 - 32,000; Full time

Job summary

Mott MacDonald Group in the United Kingdom seeks a Graduate Control and Instrumentation Engineer to support energy projects across generation and nuclear sectors. You will contribute to designing control, monitoring, automation and protection systems, while gaining exposure to safety documentation and engineering calculations.

The role emphasises development through mentoring, structured training, and a three-year early careers programme, Accelerating your Future, with opportunities to work on

Qualifications

• Less than 12 months of relevant experience (excluding placements).
• Bachelor's degree obtained no earlier than 2025, or expected in Electrical or Control and Instrumentation Engineering.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop control system architectures, including programmable controllers and HMIs.
• Contribute to Control System Philosophy documents and functional specifications.
• Produce engineering calculations, cause-and-effect matrices, and safety documentation.
• Create instrument diagrams: location, hook-up, termination, loop, and cable routing.
• Develop instrument data sheets, I/O schedules, and alarm schedules.

Skills

Proactive initiative

Effective communication

Attention to detail

Structured problem solving

Education

Electrical Engineering

Control and Instrumentation Engineering

Job description

CVs and cover letters are not required as part of the application process. Candidates will be assessed through a single-stage strengths-based interview.

Start your career with a global, employee-owned consultancy where your work can make a real difference. At Mott MacDonald, you'll work alongside experts, contribute to meaningful projects, and have the support, learning opportunities, and experience needed to grow your career from day one.

Job Description

We are looking for passionate, curious, and driven graduates to join ourEnergy teamas aGraduate Control and Instrumentation Engineer. This is more than just a job—it’s a chance to grow, make a difference, and be part of something bigger.

Control and Instrumentation engineering is central to the safe, reliable and efficient operation of complex energy assets. As a graduate, you may apply your skills across two key areas of our Energy business:

Energy Generation (ETR): You could support projects involving renewable energy, hydropower and thermal transition, helping to design the control, monitoring, automation and protection systems that enable generating assets to operate safely and efficiently.

Nuclear: Defence and Civil (NDC): You could contribute to nuclear generation, decommissioning, defence and industrial process projects, where robust instrumentation, control systems and safety documentation are essential for monitoring plant conditions, managing risk and supporting reliable operations.

As a Graduate Control and Instrumentation Engineer, you’ll play a key role in delivering technical excellence and innovation to:

• Design and develop control system architectures, including programmable controllers and Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs).
• Contribute to Control System Philosophy documents and functional specifications.
• Produce engineering calculations, cause and effect matrices, and safety documentation.
• Create detailed diagrams: instrument location, hook-up, termination, loop, and cable routing.
• Develop instrument data sheets, I/O schedules, and alarm schedules.

Please note applications will be assessed throughout October and November and successul candidates will be invited to an interview/assessment centre in December.

Candidate Specification

At Mott MacDonald, we’re looking for curious, motivated graduates who want to make a real difference. Join our purpose-driven teams where your ideas matter, your growth is supported, and your work enhances the world we live in.

To be eligible for this opportunity, you will haveless than 12 months’ relevant experience(excluding placements) and have a minimum bachelors degree (obtainedno earlier than 2025) or expected to achieve one of the following degree disciplines:

• Electrical Engineering
• Control and Instrumentation Engineering

For some of our opportunities, a master’s degree is essential – this is reflected in the list of opportunities in the application form. Some of these opportunities will also require you to be eligible to achieve security clearance. Security clearance is dictated by the types of projects we work on and normally requires you to be a UK British national or lived in the UK for five years or more.

In your application, you should aim to demonstrate your genuine interest in both the opportunity and in joining Mott MacDonald. You can do this by highlighting any relevant experience or interests - such as modules you've studied, previous work experience, or any research you've undertaken about our company, values, and projects.

We personally review every completed application form we receive as this part of our selection process is entirely human led – we do not use AI tools at this stage and kindly ask you not to either. We want you to answer each application question with authenticity so we can get to know the real you. Joining us as a graduate is your opportunity to shape your own story.

We are looking for graduates with the following strengths

• Proactively takes initiative to complete tasks efficiently and independently.
• Communicates effectively and clearly with clients and colleagues.
• Delivers high quality written work with strong attention to detail and clarity.
• Demonstrates a structured and analytical approach to problem solving.

UK Immigration

Mott MacDonald Ltd. are not currently offering sponsorship to candidates under the Skilled Worker visa route in the UK. This decision is as a consequence of the changes made to the Skilled Worker route by the UK Government in April 2024.

Our ethos is to develop, train and retain our graduates and therefore we are looking for a long-term relationship with our graduates. For this reason, we cannot accept applications from candidates who would be working under the Graduate visa route or other time-limited visas, (irrespective of visa duration), due to their temporary nature and the requirement for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route in future.

We continue to welcome applications from candidates who are eligible for alternative immigration routes in the UK, that do not require sponsorship as a Skilled Worker now or in future.

AI Usage

At Mott MacDonald, we see the value AI can bring, but we take a people-first approach to hiring. While AI tools can help candidates prepare and build confidence, every application and hiring decision is reviewed by our recruitment and hiring teams. We encourage the responsible use of AI while ensuring we get to know the real person behind the application.

Accessibility

We want you to feel supported and able to perform at your best throughout our recruitment process. If there is anything we can do to make applying or interviewing with us more accessible, please contact us at [e-mail] and we'll be happy to discuss how we can help.

About Your Development

A graduate position should be more than just a job. We know this and so do you. That’s why with our graduate roles we aim to give you the experience and technical knowledge you need to progress your career. From the moment you join us, you’ll receive the training you need. You will be assigned a mentor, who will guide you to meet the objectives of your professional training needs. You will join our three-year early careers soft skills development programme – Accelerating your Future, which is designed to give you the skills and tools necessary for a long-lasting successful career here at Mott MacDonald.

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