Development Control Engineer

Barnet Council; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

31 days annual leave

Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)

Flexible working policy

Discounts and lifestyle savings

Payroll benefits (cycle to work, eye‑s

Gym membership

Job summary

Barnet Council seeks a Development Control Engineer to assess highway impacts of developments, process Section 38/278 schemes, and provide technical guidance to developers. The role involves daily site involvement, meetings with stakeholders, and ensuring compliant highway delivery across the borough.

You will work with internal teams to deliver safe, sustainable infrastructure and excellent customer service while supporting growth and adherence to standards.

Qualifications

• Minimum ONC/HNC, ideally degree in Civil/Highway Engineering or Transportation.
• 2+ years post-graduate experience in highways/transportation or development control.
• Proven experience with Section 38 and 278 schemes, including approvals, audits and adoption.
• Strong knowledge of highways legislation, policies, standards and development management practices.
• Experience supervising highway works and contractors, ensuring compliance with designs.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management with a high standard of customer service.

Responsibilities

• Process and oversee applications under Sections 38 and 278 of the Highways Act.
• Provide technical approvals, professional advice and engineering guidance to developers and stakeholders.
• Carry out site inspections and monitor delivery of highway works.
• Negotiate legal agreements and support adoption of new highway infrastructure.
• Represent the Highway Authority at meetings and maintain project records and performance data.

Skills

Communication skills

Stakeholder management

Highways knowledge

Project oversight

Contractor supervision

Technical advisory

Education

ONC/HNC or degree in Civil/Highway Engineering

Job description

Job Description

Important Information for Current Barnet Council Employees

Where possible, employees who have access to Oracle are encouraged to apply via the Opportunity Marketplace (Internal Career Site). This helps to ensure applications are correctly identified as internal and avoids potential delays during the recruitment process.

About Barnet Council

Barnet is a borough with much to be proud of. Our excellent schools, vibrant town centres, vast green spaces and diverse communities all help make it a great place to live and work. As a council we want to build on these strengths as we move into the future. We are growing and developing as an organisation to meet the challenges facing our borough and we are committed to working with partner organisations and residents to make Barnet even better. As an organisation, our staff are committed to Our Values: Learning to Improve, Caring, Inclusive, Collaborative – which drive everything we do.

About The Role

The Development Control Engineer plays a key role in assessing and managing the highway impacts of development proposals, ensuring compliance with relevant legislation, policies, and technical standards. The post holder will process and oversee applications under Sections 38, 278 and related provisions of the Highways Act, providing technical approval, professional advice, and engineering guidance to developers and stakeholders. The post requires daily site involvement on various projects. They will negotiate legal agreements, monitor the delivery of highway works, undertake site inspections, and support the adoption of new highway infrastructure. The role also involves representing the Highway Authority at meetings, maintaining accurate financial and project records, and contributing to the achievement of service performance and income targets. Working closely with internal teams, developers, consultants and residents, the successful candidate will help deliver safe, sustainable and high-quality highway infrastructure that supports growth across the borough.

About You

• Qualification to a minimum of ONC/HNC level, ideally degree qualified (or equivalent) in Civil Engineering, Highway Engineering or Transportation.
• A minimum of two years' post-graduate experience in a highways, transportation or development control environment.
• Proven experience of managing Section 38 and Section 278 schemes, including technical approvals, audits and highway adoption processes.
• Strong knowledge of highways and transport legislation, policies, standards and development management practices.
• Experience of supervising and monitoring highway works and contractors, ensuring compliance with approved designs and specifications.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to provide professional technical advice and deliver a high standard of customer service.

What We Offer

• 31 days annual leave, plus public and bank holidays
• Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme , which provides a valuable guaranteed income in your retirement together with security for your dependents
• A comprehensive Flexible Working Policy which supports work-life balance by empowering staff and management to make decisions around when, where, and how work is done
• A vast range of lifestyle discounts from major retailers, supermarkets, energy suppliers and more
• Broad range of payroll benefits including cycle to work, eye care vouchers, travel and gym membership
• Excellent training and development opportunities
• Employee well- being training programs including confidential employee assistance

System notice

System notice: Some dates shown on our online application system (such as “Apply Before”) appear in US date format (MM/DD/YYYY) due to Oracle system settings.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a useful tool to support your application as a reasonable adjustment, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn, escalated to counter Fraud for further investigation and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Barnet Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Barnet operates stringent safer recruitment procedures, this may include AI Detection Screening, Biometric ID/Right to Work Checks, Qualification and Registration Checks, Up to 6 years of Employment Data and Insights to Accelerate Screening (Konfir), Up to 5 years of Employment History References, DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) Checks, Credit Checks and Social Media, Sanctions and Occupational Health Screening.

To deliver Barnet Council’s commitment to equality of opportunity in the provision of services, all staff are expected to promote equality in the workplace and in the services the Council delivers. As such we value diversity and welcome applications from all backgrounds.

Barnet Council embraces all forms of flexible working (including part-time, compressed hours, and hybrid working) and is committed to offering employees a healthy work-life balance. Candidates are encouraged to talk about relevant requirements and preferences at interview. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want, but we do promise not to judge you for asking.

Barnet Council is a Disability Confident Committed Employer. We welcome and encourage job applications of all abilities. If you require any reasonable adjustments in the application or interview, please contact the lead contact on this advert. We will make reasonable adjustments to make sure our disabled applicants and those with health conditions are supported throughout our recruitment process. We support the access to work scheme, further details are available at www.gov.uk/access-to-work/apply

All posts with the council are subject to a probationary period of four months, during which time you will be required to demonstrate to the council satisfaction your suitability for the position in which you will be employed.

Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts we may close vacancies before the stated closing date if sufficient number of applications are received. Therefore, please apply as soon as possible.

Please ensure you regularly check the email account (including JUNK MAIL folders) that you use to submit your application, as any further communication regarding your application will be sent electronically. Should you not hear from us within four working weeks of the closing date for this post, then regretfully in this instance, you have not been shortlisted.