Highways Technical Lead / Associate Director (UK Wide)

Jacobs; Leeds; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Learning & development

Wellbeing support

Job summary

Jacobs in the United Kingdom is seeking a Highways Technical Lead to shape major transport programmes across the UK and internationally. You’ll steer technical delivery, mentor engineers and ensure safety, quality and performance on schemes that affect millions of people.

Join a global business that promotes flexible working, digital engineering and collaboration with clients like National Highways and Transport Scotland.

Qualifications

• Experience leading highway design projects.
• Strong knowledge of design standards (DMRB or equivalents).
• Experience in multidisciplinary environments.
• Commitment to safety, quality and technical excellence.
• Ability to build client relationships and influence outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage highway design activities across schemes.
• Provide technical leadership and mentoring to engineers.
• Collaborate with clients and multidisciplinary teams.
• Drive adoption of digital engineering and innovative delivery methods.

Skills

Highways design

Project leadership

Stakeholder mgmt

Safety culture

Multidisciplinary teamwork

Education

Engineering degree

Chartered Engineer / IEng

Job description

At Jacobs, we're challenging today to reinvent tomorrow by solving the world's most critical problems for thriving cities, resilient environments, mission-critical outcomes, operational advancement, scientific discovery and cutting-edge manufacturing, turning abstract ideas into realities that transform the world for good.

Your impact

You know that great transport infrastructure doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when experienced engineers make the right technical decisions, challenge assumptions, and create practical solutions that improve how people and communities move.

As a Highways Technical Lead, you'll play a pivotal role in shaping major transport programmes across the UK and internationally. Your expertise will influence the quality, safety and performance of projects that millions of people rely on every day.

This is an opportunity to be the technical voice on complex schemes, helping multidisciplinary teams solve challenging engineering problems while raising standards across projects and programmes. You'll bring clarity to difficult decisions, mentor talented engineers, and help clients navigate increasingly complex infrastructure challenges.

Your contribution will directly influence project outcomes, strengthen technical excellence across teams, and help deliver infrastructure that supports economic growth, connectivity and sustainability for years to come.

About The Opportunity

We're delivering some of the most significant highways and transportation programmes in the UK and around the world.

From major strategic road improvements and urban transport schemes to large-scale international infrastructure developments, our teams are tackling increasingly complex design, delivery and digital engineering challenges.

You'll work with clients including National Highways, Transport Scotland, local authorities and major infrastructure partners, while also contributing to globally recognised projects such King Khalid International Airport.

What makes this opportunity different is the breadth of influence. You'll have the chance to shape technical delivery across multiple projects, collaborate with specialists across a global business, and help drive the adoption of smarter, more efficient ways of working through digital engineering and innovation.

Success in this role means delivering high-quality engineering solutions, developing strong technical teams, building trusted client relationships, and helping create better outcomes across a diverse portfolio of projects.

Here’s what you’ll need

• Experience leading or managing engineering design activities within highways, transportation or related infrastructure projects.
• Strong technical understanding of highways design and relevant industry standards, such as DMRB or equivalent frameworks.
• Experience delivering projects within multidisciplinary engineering environments.
• A strong commitment to safety, quality and technical excellence.
• Ability to build effective relationships with colleagues, clients and stakeholders.
• Degree-level qualification in a relevant engineering discipline, or equivalent professional experience demonstrating comparable technical capability.
• Chartered Engineer (CEng), Incorporated Engineer (IEng) or equivalent professional accreditation.

Why Join Us?

Work That Matters

Deliver infrastructure projects that improve connectivity, support communities and create long-term positive impact.

Technical Challenge

Work on a diverse portfolio ranging from local transport improvements to some of the world's largest and most ambitious infrastructure programmes.

Influence and Growth

Take a lead role in shaping technical delivery, driving innovation and influencing how future projects are designed and delivered.

Career Development

Whether your ambition is to deepen your technical expertise, grow into people leadership, expand your client-facing responsibilities or progress into senior leadership, you’ll have opportunities to develop your career in the direction that interests you.

Learn From the Best

Collaborate with experienced engineers, technical specialists and project leaders across multiple disciplines and geographies.

Flexibility and Trust

We recognise that great people deliver their best work when they have flexibility and autonomy. We support flexible ways of working that help balance professional and personal commitments.

Reward and Recognition

Benefit from a competitive salary, comprehensive benefits package, and access to learning, development and wellbeing support designed to help you thrive

#UKTransportation

Joining Jacobs not only connects you locally but globally. Our values stand on a foundation of safety, integrity, inclusion and belonging. We put people at the heart of our business, and we truly believe that by supporting one another through our culture of caring, we all succeed. We value positive mental health and a sense of belonging for all employees.

With safety and flexibility always top of mind, we’ve gone beyond traditional ways of working so you have the support, means and space to maximize your potential. You’ll uncover flexible working arrangements, benefits, and opportunities, from well‑being benefits to our global giving and volunteering program, to exploring new and inventive ways to help our clients make the world a better place. No matter what drives you, you’ll discover how you can cultivate, nurture, and achieve your goals – all at a single global company. Find out more about life at Jacobs.

We aim to embed inclusion and belonging in everything we do. We know that if we are inclusive, we’re more connected and creative. We accept people for who they are, and we champion the richness of different perspectives, lived experiences and backgrounds in the workplace, as a source of learning and innovation. We are committed to building vibrant communities within Jacobs, including through our Jacobs Employee Networks, Communities of Practice and our Find Your Community initiatives, allowing every employee to find connection, purpose, and belonging.Find out more about ourJacobs Employee Networks here.

Jacobs partners with VERCIDA to help us attract and retain talent from a wide range of backgrounds. For greater online accessibility please visit https//www.vercida.com/uk/employers/jacobs to view and access our roles.

As a disability confident employer, we will interview disabled candidates who best meet the criteria. We welcome applications from candidates who are seeking flexible working and from those who may not meet all the listed requirements for a role.

We value collaboration and believe that in-person interactions are crucial for both our culture and client delivery. We empower employees with our hybrid working policy, allowing them to split their work week between Jacobs offices/projects and remote locations enabling them to deliver their best work.

Your application experience is important to us, and we’re keen to adapt to make every interaction even better. If you require further support or reasonable adjustments with regards to the recruitment process (for example, you require the application form in a different format), please contact the team via Careers Support.