Senior Asset Health and Defect Engineer

Thames Water Utilities Limited; Reading; Hybrid; GBP 48,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A water services company is seeking a Senior Asset Health and Defect Engineer to conduct inspections at water treatment sites. This role offers a competitive salary of £48,000 to £60,000 depending on experience. Key responsibilities include assessing civil asset conditions, preparing inspection reports, and mentoring junior engineers. The ideal candidate should hold a degree in civil engineering and have experience with water industry standards. The position is hybrid with frequent travel required.

Benefits

26 days holiday, increasing with service

Performance-related pay

Generous Pension Scheme

Access to health and wellbeing benefits

Qualifications

• Experience in construction of new and remediation of water and wastewater treatment plants.
• Ability to recognize root causes of structural defects in concrete.
• Extensive knowledge of repair products for concrete structures.

Responsibilities

• Lead planned inspections of civil assets at treatment facilities.
• Prepare inspection reports meeting OFWAT requirements.
• Recommend investigations for structural defects.
• Develop scopes of work and cost estimates.
• Mentor junior engineers.

Skills

Civil engineering

Asset health inspection

Defect remediation

Good communication skills

Knowledge of UK water industry standards

Education

Degree in civil engineering

Job description

Job title Senior Asset Health and Defect Engineer Ref 43317 Division Asset Operations & Capital Delivery Location Hybrid - Clearwater Court - RG1 8DB Contract type Permanent Full/Part-time Full-time Salary Competitive salary from £48,000 to £60,000 per annum depending on experience. Job grade B Closing date 15/12/2025

We are seeking a Senior Civil Engineer with expertise in asset health inspections and defect remediation to join our Non-Infrastructure Civil Engineering Asset Health team. This role focuses on water and wastewater treatment sites, where you’ll be responsible for undertaking inspections, identifying root causes of asset deterioration, and preparing detailed scopes of work to address identified defects.

What you’ll be doing as a Senior Asset Health and Defect Engineer

This is a highly collaborative role involving coordination with capital delivery, operations, and asset management teams. Your work will help ensure that our civil infrastructure assets remain safe, reliable, and compliant with OFWAT and internal standards.

Key responsibilities of the role include:

• Lead and deliver a planned programme of inspections to assess the condition of civil assets at water and wastewater treatment facilities.
• Prepare detailed inspection reports that meet OFWAT requirements.
• Identify underlying causes of structural defects and recommend further investigations or surveys as necessary.
• Develop and prepare comprehensive scopes of work and cost estimates to address asset defects.
• Act as the Technical Lead on allocated schemes, overseeing engineering integrity and quality.
• Liaise with internal stakeholders, including operations, capital delivery, and asset management.
• Support the Line Manager and Head of Civil Engineering for the Critical Assets Risk Management process.
• Ensure civil assets are maintained in a safe, legal, and operable state, contributing to long‑term asset management planning.
• Develop internal Asset Standards and procedures for inspection and remediation works.
• Develop tools for estimating the residual design life of assets.
• Collaborate with CAD technicians to produce detailed repair sketches and review technical drawings.
• Mentor and guide junior engineers to support their development.

Base location: Hybrid - Clearwater Court - RG1 8DB with frequent travel to different sites to carry out asset inspections.

Working pattern or hours: 36 hours, Monday‑Friday

Necessary requirements for the role: A valid UK driving license

What you should bring to the role

To thrive in this role, the essential criteria you’ll need is:

• Degree level in civil engineering and working towards chartership or equivalent.
• Experience in construction of new and extension/rehabilitation of water and wastewater treatment plants.
• Ability to recognise root causes of defects especially for cracking of concrete structures.
• Extensive knowledge and application of suitable repair products especially crack repair of concrete structures.
• Knowledge of UK water industry standards, specifications and best practice.
• Ability to assess buildability of proposed engineering solutions.
• Experience in producing Design Management/execution plans and delivering to plan.
• Capability to meet confined space entry requirements.
• Good communication skills both internally and externally with ability to collaborate and influence colleagues.

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary from £48,000 to £60,000 per annum, depending on experience.
• 26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service. (plus bank holidays)
• Performance‑related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets.
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
• Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing, and your finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling, to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.

We’re committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work.

Disclaimer: Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.