Associate Technical Director / Principal Engineer - Dams & Reservoirs

Arcadis; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Arcadis is seeking an Associate Technical Director specialising in reservoir engineering to lead complex safety projects and shape a national capability. You will balance hands‑on technical leadership with strategic delivery, client engagement and risk management.

You will mentor engineers, oversee governance, and collaborate across disciplines to deliver resilient water infrastructure solutions for clients across the UK.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in Civil Engineering or equivalent required.
• Chartered Engineer status (ICE/CIWEM/IStructE or equivalent) preferred.
• Proven delivery and assurance experience in reservoir engineering and dam safety.
• Experience mentoring engineers and supporting capability growth.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex reservoir safety projects from inception to completion.
• Provide technical direction, client communication and risk management.
• Governance across projects ensuring safety, sustainability and compliance.
• Lead bids and develop compelling technical delivery plans.
• Mentor engineers and shape a growing reservoir engineering capability.
• Collaborate across disciplines to deliver integrated water infrastructure solutions.

Skills

Reservoir engineering leadership

Mentoring engineers

Technical judgement

Client communication

Risk management

Education

Master's degree in Civil Engineering

Chartered Engineer (CEng)

Tools

Hydraulic modelling software

Job description

Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets.

We are more than 34,000 people, in over 30 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.

Role description:

Due to continued expansion of our UK reservoir safety and water infrastructure portfolio, we are seeking an Associate Technical Director specialising in reservoir engineering to join our team. This is a key leadership opportunity for an experienced reservoir engineer who wants to take responsibility for complex reservoir safety projects, shape technical delivery, and help develop a specialist capability within a collaborative national team.

Our work supports clients responsible for critical reservoir assets, helping them manage safety, statutory compliance, resilience and long‑term investment decisions in response to ageing infrastructure and a changing climate. Our portfolio spans the full asset lifecycle, including feasibility, inspection, optioneering, design, construction support, refurbishment, asset management, statutory compliance, independent technical review and strategic advisory services.

You will play a visible role in delivering nationally important reservoir safety projects, strengthening our technical capability, mentoring others and influencing how we support clients in managing some of the UK’s most important water infrastructure. This is a role for someone who wants to combine hands‑on technical leadership with the opportunity to shape a growing reservoir engineering team.

Role accountabilities:

• Act as a trusted technical advisor to clients, bringing technical judgement, leadership and commercial awareness to complex reservoir safety commissions and shaping successful project outcomes.
• Be responsible for leading complex reservoir safety and associated hydraulic infrastructure projects from inception to completion, including technical direction, client communication, risk management, programme, commercial performance and quality assurance.
• Maintain technical oversight and governance across projects, ensuring quality, safety, sustainability, financial accountability, risk management and compliance with relevant legislation, standards and best practice.
• Lead and contribute to bids, framework opportunities and commercial proposals, developing compelling technical approaches, robust delivery plans and strong client relationships.
• Shape technical approaches, support service development, and provide leadership, mentoring and line management for engineers and specialists, helping to build a strong reservoir engineering capability.
• Collaborate across disciplines and geographies to deliver integrated climate adaptation, flood risk, water infrastructure and asset management solutions.
• Promote digital tools, data‑led approaches and emerging technologies to improve reservoir inspection, assessment, design, delivery and asset management.
• Represent Arcadis externally through professional engagement, industry networks, technical papers, conferences and thought leadership.

Qualifications & Experience:

• Master's degree (MEng, MSc or equivalent) in Civil Engineering or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.
• Chartered Engineer (CEng) with a relevant professional institution (ICE, CIWEM, IStructE or equivalent).
• Proven experience leading the technical delivery and assurance of reservoir engineering and dam safety projects, including work on operational reservoir assets.
• Experienced in mentoring and developing engineers and specialists, supporting capability growth, technical excellence and business development.
• Strong technical knowledge of reservoir safety management, including Reservoirs Act compliance, inspection, surveillance, risk assessment, refurbishment, spillways, drawdown facilities, embankment dams, outlet works and associated hydraulic structures.
• Experience working with or supporting Undertakers, Supervising Engineers, Inspecting Engineers, regulators and asset owners on reservoir safety, compliance and investment planning.
• Membership of the DEFRA Reservoir Panel of Engineers, or demonstrable progression towards panel membership, is desirable.

Why Arcadis?

We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It’s why we are pioneering a skills‑based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.

You’ll do meaningful work, and no matter what role, you’ll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark, on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.

Together, we can create a lasting legacy.

Join Arcadis. Create a Legacy.

Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We believe that by working together diverse people with different experiences develop the most innovative ideas. Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of how we improve quality of life and we work closely with our people across six ED&I Workstreams: Age, Disability, Faith, Gender, LGBT+ and Race. A diverse and skilled workforce is essential to our success.