Principal Highways & Drainage Engineer

Jobs4; Chester; Hybrid; GBP 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Kier Design in the UK is seeking a Principal Highways & Drainage Engineer to lead delivery across a portfolio of complex projects. The role focuses on highways and drainage, temporary works, and multidisciplinary design management in a supportive team environment.

The successful candidate will be a Chartered engineer (CEng/MICE) with proven leadership, strong client relationships, and a commitment to sustainable design and industry best practice. Agreed hybrid working across locations.

Qualifications

• Chartered member of a relevant institution (e.g., CEng MICE) or equivalent experience.
• Experience leading complex highways and drainage projects.
• Ability to provide technical design management across teams.
• Strong client and stakeholder relationship skills.
• Commitment to sustainable development and best practice.

Responsibilities

• Lead delivery of temporary works design and checks for highways and drainage.
• Provide tender support, outline designs, and feasibility studies.
• Manage project leadership, technical requirements, and deliverables.
• Act as technical help desk for engineering guidance.
• Develop technical standards and design processes for consistent output.

Skills

CEng/MICE

Leadership

Technical design

Stakeholder management

Highways & drainage

Education

CEng/MICE Chartered Engineer

Job description

Job Description

We're looking for a Principal Highways & Drainage Engineer to join our team based in various locations. Kier Design are a highly regarded Tier 1 Contractor, with a 750 plus strong design consultancy team, recognised as a Top 30 employer on Glassdoor. Join us as a Principal Highways and Drainage Engineer and become part of one of the UK's leaders in temporary works design and management and construction-related technical services. As part of our 100-strong team, you'll get to work on hundreds of projects across one of the most diverse and high-profile portfolios in the country, with access to Kier's £11bn+ project pipeline - supporting complex construction and major infrastructure schemes from concept through to delivery.

Location: Birmingham / Bristol / Cambridge / Cardiff / Glasgow / Leeds / Liverpool / London / Manchester / Newcastle / Norwich / Plymouth - agile working, with up to 1-2 days per week from home if desired
Hours: 40 hours per week - some flexibility on hours available if desired, just let us know when you speak to us.

We are unable to offer certificates of sponsorship to any candidates in this role

Are you…

• A Chartered member of a relevant professional institution (e.g. CEng MICE) with significant relevant experience, or demonstrable extensive relevant experience
• Experienced in leading complex construction engineering services with a focus on highways and drainage solutions
• Able to provide technical expertise and design management advice across multidisciplinary teams
• Skilled in developing and maintaining positive relationships with clients and stakeholders
• Committed to promoting sustainable development and best practice in engineering

What will you be responsible for?

As a Principal Highways & Drainage Engineer, you'll be working within the team, supporting them in delivering safe and buildable engineering solutions. We're seeking a highly skilled Principal Highways & Drainage Engineer to lead the delivery of complex construction engineering services. This is an excellent opportunity to work within a supportive and collaborative environment, where your technical expertise will help shape innovative solutions and drive excellence. You'll play a key role in ensuring safe, buildable designs while contributing to the development of our engineering capabilities. If you're passionate about making a meaningful impact and working with a team that values expertise and innovation, we'd love to hear from you.

Your day to daywill include:

• Leading the delivery of temporary works design and checking, focusing on highways and drainage solutions
• Providing tender and bid winning support, including outline design schemes and feasibility studies
• Managing project leadership responsibilities, including agreeing technical requirements and overseeing design deliverables
• Acting as a technical help desk, providing engineering expertise and advice to support understanding
• Leading the development of technical standards and design processes to ensure consistent quality of engineering output

Rewards and benefits

We're proud to be able to offer our brilliant people a wide variety of benefits that you can tailor to your needs. You can see more information of benefits here.

Diversity and inclusion

Making Kier a diverse and inclusive place to work is a huge priority for us. We're proud of the steps we've taken so far, but we know we must always do more. Our employees are key in shaping Kier's diversity and inclusion initiatives and our people have made a huge impact on how we work, by using their experiences to shape our policies. You can see our D&I action plan here. As a Disability Confident employer, we will ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this role will be offered an interview.