Principal Engineer (Water and Flood Risk)

SYSTRA; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

SYSTRA is seeking a Principal Engineer in water engineering and SuDS to lead design delivery across UK projects for United Utilities. The role focuses on advanced SuDS knowledge, technical leadership, and cross-disciplinary collaboration to ensure on-time, on-budget deliverables that meet client specifications.

The successful candidate will manage work packages, provide coaching to engineers, and develop repeatable methods to shorten design cycle times, while coordinating UK and international

Qualifications

• Advanced knowledge of SuDS design and relevant design standards/regulatory requirements.
• Experience on infrastructure, transportation or civil engineering projects.
• Ability to lead and coordinate multi-disciplinary teams.
• Proficiency with drainage design software and tools.

Responsibilities

• Define the design approach, integrate inputs from multiple disciplines, and resolve standards or stakeholder conflicts as the internal specialist.
• Lead production of work packages, breaking work into tasks, estimating inputs, setting dependencies, and maintaining programme, budget, and quality control.
• Drive technical excellence and first-time-right delivery, setting QA and Safe by Design checkpoints and approving key technical decisions.
• Ensure solutions meet client specifications and acceptance criteria, with clear reporting and cost estimates, delivered to programme and within budget.
• Provide day-to-day technical guidance, review, and coaching for engineers and graduates, giving clear direction and constructive feedback.
• Develop and document innovative, repeatable methods and tools to address design problems and reduce cycle time.
• Allocate work effectively across designers and locations, delegating clearly and reviewing outcomes.
• Coordinate UK and international teams (including offshore production centres) to deliver integrated drainage designs with consistent quality.
• Lead CDM/design compliance activities, evidencing hazard elimination and capturing lessons learned for continuous improvement.

Skills

SUDS designs

Leadership

Project delivery

Cross-disciplinary coordination

Education

Engineering degree

Chartered Engineer (MICE/CIWEM) preferred

Tools

Microdrainage

InfoWorks

Openroads

Job description

Around the world, SYSTRA’s specialists plan, design, integrate, test, commission, project manage and deliver mass transit and mobility solutions that are relied on by more than 50 million people every day.

For more than 60 years, the Group has been committed to helping cities and regions contribute to their development by creating, improving and modernising their transport infrastructure with sustainability, accessibility and innovation at the heart of our designs. With over 10,300 colleagues globally and around 1000 in the UK & Ireland we are growing significantly and seeking out the very best talent to join the SYSTRA signature team and be part of leading the way in infrastructure design.

Context

A Principal Engineer in water engineering and SuDS is required to support our delivery of works across our projects for United Utilities. This individual will provide technical leadership across SuDS design and integration with other disciplines. We are looking for someone who has an advanced technical knowledge of SuDS and be able to demonstrate strong understanding of relevant design standards, regulatory requirements and best practice.

The Principal Engineer will be accountable for the design delivery of allocated engineering work packages within our Water team, ensuring the delivery of all the specified project outcomes on time, within budget and to the client’s specifications. The role holder should ensure project requirements are fully met and technically sound design solutions are produced, including all associated reporting and cost estimating, to programme and within budget.

Missions/Main Duties

• Define the design approach, integrate inputs from multiple disciplines, and resolve standards or stakeholder conflicts as the internal specialist.
• Lead production of work packages, breaking work into tasks, estimating inputs, setting dependencies, and maintaining programme, budget, and quality control.
• Drive technical excellence and first-time-right delivery, setting QA and Safe by Design checkpoints and approving key technical decisions.
• Ensure solutions meet client specifications and acceptance criteria, with clear reporting and cost estimates, delivered to programme and within budget.
• Provide day-to-day technical guidance, review, and coaching for engineers and graduates, giving clear direction and constructive feedback.
• Develop and document innovative, repeatable methods and tools to address design problems and reduce cycle time.
• Allocate work effectively across designers and locations, delegating clearly and reviewing outcomes.
• Coordinate UK and international teams (including offshore production centres) to deliver integrated drainage designs with consistent quality.
• Lead CDM/design compliance activities, evidencing hazard elimination and capturing lessons learned for continuous improvement.

Profile/Skills

• Degree qualified in a relevant Engineering discipline
• Chartered Engineer, MICE or CIWEM preferred
• Essential demonstrable knowledge of SUDs designs
• Experience of working on infrastructure, transportation or civil engineering project
• Software - Experience of using Microdrainage and/or InfoWorks, Openroads
• Experience of team leadership (line management and/or virtual project team)

Workplace Type

Hybrid