Head of Main Plant Design

SP TRANSMISSION PLC; Cambuslang; On-site; GBP 82,000 - 103,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

36 days annual leave

Equity plans

Healthcare options

Life Assurance (4x salary)

Cycle to work

Public Transport loans

Job summary

SP Energy Networks is seeking a Head of Main Plant Design for its Core Projects in Cambuslang. You will provide strategic direction for the Main Plant Design function, leading professional engineers and delivering end-to-end design solutions for large-scale transmission projects valued from £100k to over £100m.

The role requires Chartered Engineer status with an engineering degree, and strong experience with design houses and contractors, plus knowledge of CDM and H&S regulations.

Qualifications

• Chartered Engineer with a degree, and extensive experience in engineering design.
• Experience in transmission substations, switchgear and transformers.
• Ability to lead teams, manage budgets, and coordinate with design houses and contractors.
• Knowledge of CDM and Health & Safety regulations.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic direction and operational management for Main Plant Design.
• Lead and develop teams of engineers and ensure cost-effective design solutions.
• Oversee long-term planning, resource allocation, and budget forecasting.
• Represent function in external technical forums and regulatory matters.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Budget management

Regulatory compliance

Strategic planning

Stakeholder management

Education

Engineering degree

Job description

Head of Main Plant Design – Core Projects Location - Cambuslang. Salary + benefits: Salary from £82,400 - £103,000 + annual bonus (up to 30%), car allowance (£450 per month) and family private medical cover. Closing date - Tuesday 6th October 2026

Help us create a better future, quicker Join SP Transmission as Head of Main Plant Design and become a key influencer in shaping Scotland's energy future. This is an exceptional opportunity to provide strategic direction for Main Plant Design across our Core Projects portfolio, developing innovative engineering solutions for masterplan projects that will directly enable Scotland's goal to be Net Zero by 2044. You'll balance cutting-edge innovation with value-focused engineering consultancy to reduce overall asset lifecycle costs, while playing a pivotal role in investment planning for our Transmission capital project programme, which is set to exceed £1 billion by 2027. This highly visible role offers the chance to drive excellence across our engineering design function while building a team of professional engineers dedicated to delivering world-class transmission infrastructure.

What you’ll be doing

As Head of Main Plant Design, you’ll provide strategic direction and operational management for the Main Plant Design function within SP Transmission’s Core Projects business. You’ll manage teams of professional engineers, ensuring they deliver cost-effective, end-to-end design solutions for transmission projects ranging from £100,000 to over £100 million in value. You’ll drive efficiency and design consistency across the SPT business to deliver standardised design solutions. Through continuous improvement across your discipline and broadly across Engineering Design, you’ll implement new technologies and engineering solutions to achieve reductions in costs and carbon for sustainable projects.

Your role includes ensuring compliance with all HSEQ policies and engineering standards, building a consultancy model founded on safety and excellence. You’ll act as professional authority for regulatory changes, providing direction on complex technical issues and ensuring timely replies to legislation affecting policy and procedures. You’ll undertake long‑term planning and coordination of Main Plant resources across SPT Core Projects, working closely with Design Houses and Contractors to ensure performance and quality outputs. Representing Main Plant within external technical forums, you’ll facilitate cross‑disciplinary service delivery and knowledge exchange.

You’ll provide direct line management to three Design Managers and a Principal Engineer, with your overall team expected to grow to meet increasing demand. Ensuring adequate training, coaching, and mentoring is in place to advance knowledge and skills across your function will be a key priority.

What you’ll bring

You’ll be a Chartered Engineer with a degree and extensive experience relevant to Engineering Design disciplines. Your expert knowledge of transmission Switchgear and Transformers, combined with significant experience designing the Electro‑Mechanical elements of large complex transmission substations, will be essential to your success in this role. You’ll bring demonstrated expertise in implementing new technologies and engineering solutions, along with expert knowledge of CDM and Health & Safety regulations. Your proven ability to implement, apply, and promote best practice in design environments will ensure our projects meet the highest standards.

With substantial experience working with Design Houses and Contractors, you’ll ensure performance excellence and quality outputs. Your proven ability to guide, motivate, and inspire teams to deliver continued professional excellence while pursuing personal development will be crucial as you build and develop your function. You’ll have proven capability in forming effective working relationships with stakeholders across technical and commercial functions. Experience in long‑term planning, resource coordination, and budget management is essential, and you’ll be comfortable contributing to forecasting total expenditure for programmes worth hundreds of millions of pounds annually.

Your well-established ability to drive standardisation, efficiency, and continuous improvement across engineering functions will help us deliver consistent, high‑quality results. Strong communication skills will enable you to represent your function effectively within the business and at external technical forums, while providing strategic direction on complex technical matters and ensuring compliance with evolving regulatory requirements.

What’s in it for you

• 36 days annual leave
• Holiday Purchase – perfect your work/life balance with extra annual leave
• Equity Plans
• Payroll Giving and Charity Matched Funding
• Technology Vouchers – save more and spread the cost of your technology purchases
• Electric Vehicle Schemes – to help you transition to green/clean driving
• Cycle to Work scheme and Public Transport Season Ticket Loans
• Healthcare benefit options including: Dental Insurance, Private Medical Insurance, Health Cash Plan and annual Health Assessments
• Life Assurance (4x salary)
• Access to Savesmart financial wellbeing assistance
• Plus shopping, leisure, restaurant and gym discounts, and unique employee deals on travel insurance and more

Why SP Energy Networks

SP Energy Networks is part of the Iberdrola Group, one of the world's largest integrated utility companies and a world authority in wind energy. We keep electricity flowing to homes and businesses through Central and Southern Scotland, North Wales and in the North West of England. We operate over 4000km of cables and lines that make‑up the transmission network – linking infrastructure like wind farms into the electricity system. It's a role that puts us right at the heart of Scotland's goal to be Net Zero by 2044. And we're taking it very seriously. We're investing >£5.5 billion into our transmission network, directly enabling the rapid growth needed in renewable energy. With diverse opportunities across our businesses and a focus on investing in our own internal talent, ScottishPower can offer people real career opportunities that meet personal and professional goals, in a global organisation. Inclusion, diversity, and a social purpose are at the heart of everything we do. Combined with our values, they bring us into a stronger, more sustainable business with direct links to the communities we serve. It takes all types of people to build a large-scale business like ours, so whatever your background, you’ll fit right in. We are dedicated to providing reasonable adjustments in our recruiting processes for candidates with disabilities, long term conditions, mental health conditions, or who are neurodivergent or require pregnancy‑related assistance.

If you need assistance, please reach out to [e-mail].

Due to the level of this position, successful candidates will be required to complete additional background checks and any offer is subject to passing such checks.

Mobility Please note that any applicant who is not a citizen of the country of the vacancy will be subject to compliance with the applicable immigration requirements to legally work in that country. If/when required, the Company will support the employee with the necessary Immigration requirements.