Associate Director - Civil Design Engineering (Water)

Tetra Tech Europe; Brighton; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Tetra Tech Europe seeks senior Civil engineers for large UK water programmes, delivering conceptual to detailed designs for clean water and wastewater infrastructure. You'll lead feasibility studies, optioneering and design development within multidisciplinary teams, liaising with clients and partners.

Roles range from Principal engineer to Technical director, with hybrid working and emphasis on delivering high-quality, cost-effective solutions across AMP8 and beyond.

Qualifications

• A degree in Civil Engineering is preferred. Postgraduate qualifications would be an advantage.
• You should be chartered, or working towards chartership, and affiliated with professional institutions such as ICE, CIWEM, IET or IStructE.

Responsibilities

• Lead conceptual, schematic and detailed designs for water and wastewater infrastructure.
• Deliver feasibility studies, optioneering, design development and construction-ready outputs.
• Liaise with clients, contractors and supply chain partners to ensure cost-effective solutions.
• Mentor junior and senior team members and contribute to a positive team culture.

Skills

Civil design experience

Project delivery leadership

Stakeholder engagement

British Standards knowledge

Leadership and mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering

Postgraduate qualifications

Chartered or working towards chartership

Affiliations with ICE CIWEM IET IStructE

Job description

Shape the future of water infrastructure with Tetra Tech

Join a major UK water industry programme and help shape the future of clean and wastewater infrastructure across the country. This is an excellent opportunity to work on long-term frameworks delivering meaningful improvements to essential services.

Purpose And Scope Of The Role

We are seeking talented, experienced and highly effective Civil engineers at senior levels in the business, from Principal engineer through Associate director to Technical director and potentially to Senior technical director. You will play a pivotal role in the delivery of conceptual, schematic and detailed designs for water and wastewater infrastructure, including treatment works, pumping stations, sewers and pumping mains. Working within a multidisciplinary team of engineers, modellers and analysts, you will lead and contribute to feasibility studies, optioneering, design development and construction-ready outputs. You will also liaise with clients, contractors and supply chain partners to ensure high-quality, practical and cost-effective solutions. In more senior positions you will shape our approach to framework delivery, work winning, technical innovation and business process efficiency.

Your Impact In This Position

You will play a key role in delivering significant capital programmes that support AMP8 and beyond, helping to improve river health, resilience and service performance across the UK. In the short term, you will contribute to live projects and design packages. Over time, you will build trusted client relationships, broaden your technical influence and support the development of our core capabilities and beyond. This role offers the opportunity to grow your career within major national frameworks with lasting impact.

Core Capabilities

• Civil design expertise – Proven experience in the multidisciplinary technical design of water or wastewater infrastructure within project environments, with the ability to develop practical and robust design solutions.
• Project delivery support – Confidence direction senior engineers on feasibility, outline and detailed design work, with strong attention to detail across calculations, reports and drawings.
• Stakeholder engagement – Ability to communicate effectively with clients, contractors and other project stakeholders, understanding requirements and responding professionally.
• Technical standards knowledge – Good working knowledge of relevant British Standards, UK Industry Codes of Practice and water sector specifications.
• Leadership and collaboration – Effective influencing and people skills, confident team leadership capabilities, and with a willingness to mentor junior and senior team members and contribute to a positive team culture.

Skills, Qualifications And Experience

A degree in Civil Engineering is preferred. Postgraduate qualifications would be an advantage. You should be chartered, or working towards chartership, and ideally be affiliated with professional institutions such as ICE, CIWEM, IET or IStructE, or be nearing membership application. Extensive experience in wastewater and/or clean water infrastructure development is highly desirable, although we are happy to talk to individuals with less direct water experience if they can demonstrate appropriate development of other associated skills and competencies through exposure to other markets.

Work patterns and locations:

This role supports hybrid working, with the expectation of collaboration across project teams and attendance at client or office locations as required by the framework. Flexible arrangements may be considered depending on project needs and location.

#water

Why join Tetra Tech?

Tetra Tech is a leading provider of consulting and engineering services working across the full project lifecycle worldwide. We have a wide range of expertise across our teams, providing a global support network with a personalised approach to client relationships to better understand where we can add value. We provide a collaborative environment that supports individual performance, innovation, and creativity.

We support public and private sector clients on local, national, and international projects to deliver sustainable and resilient solutions. Our operations in the UK, Ireland, and the Netherlands include more than 6,000 employees who are Leading with Science® to solve our clients’ most complex problems.

In alignment with the Equality Act 2010, we will make reasonable adjustments to support candidates and employees requiring additional arrangements. This could include adaptations to work schedules, training approaches, or the physical workspace. Please inform us if you need any accommodations during the recruitment process or in your day-to-day role.