Senior Civil Engineer & Technical Support and Assurance

Scottish Water; Aberdeen City; Hybrid; GBP 44,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A key water utility provider in Scotland is seeking an experienced Civil Engineer to enhance their water and wastewater infrastructure projects. The role focuses on providing engineering insights, reviewing designs, and supporting teams through complex engineering challenges to ensure reliable, long-term asset performance. The ideal candidate will possess a relevant degree, chartership aspirations, and solid experience in water infrastructure. This opportunity offers competitive salary and benefits, along with a commitment to work-life balance.

Benefits

38 days of holiday

Flexible working hours

Annual company bonus

Paid volunteering time

Pension plan

Qualifications

• Solid civil engineering experience with confidence in high-impact situations.
• Experience in water and wastewater infrastructure with understanding of regulatory environment.
• Ability to provide assurance on civil engineering designs throughout project development.

Responsibilities

• Work on various water and wastewater projects from design to construction.
• Review designs and contribute to technical discussions.
• Provide guidance on standards and engineering practices.

Skills

Civil engineering judgment

Stakeholder communication

Risk assessment

Technical innovation

Education

Degree in civil engineering

Chartered Engineer or working towards chartership

Job description

Overview

Together we are Trusted to Serve Scotland.

It’s not every job where you make a difference for the people of Scotland. But it’s what’s behind every job here. Our work keeps Scotland’s water flowing, from reservoir to tap - and from sewer to treatment plant.

At Scottish Water, we prioritise continuous investment in water and wastewater infrastructure to ensure that these essential services run for homes, businesses and communities across the country. Over the coming years, we have planned £8.3 billion investment to upgrade infrastructure, improve river and coastal water quality, reduce emissions and strengthen Scotland’s resilience to climate change.

This work is of national importance and these challenges are no small feat. The engineering decisions made now will be built into assets that need to perform reliably for decades to come.

This continuous drive to improve the service we delive r is why we are looking for an experienced Civil Engineer to bring valuable engineering insight, and support technical designs through planning, d evelopment and construction; to u ltimately improve the quality, consistency and long-term performance of assets delivered across our capital investment programme.

What you’ll do

You’ll work across a broad range of water and wastewater projects in our capital programme; getting involved at the initial stages where early design decisions are taking shape, tested and agreed, all the way through to live construction of our assets.

This role is about engineering judgement. You’ll review designs, be involved in technical innovation and discussion within our industry and ultimately help project teams work through complex engineering problems - allowing for successfully formed design which can be built into assets that will perform safely and reliably for decades to come.

You won’t be tied to a single programme. You’ll be weighing up service risk, whole-life cost, carbon, constructability and safety throughout projects within the portfolio of work we deliver; spanning regions and asset types, including both large scale investment and capital maintenance work. This gives you sight of the breadth of challenges and emerging risks faced across the wider sector, but importantly also of the opportunities to contribute to the improvement of how things are done, not just on one project, but across the organisation.

At Scottish Water we work hard to deliver our service; however, we continuously strive to better what we do - this is where your experience can make that difference.

A key part of the role is shaping how standards are applied in practice. You’ll work with our Scottish Water engineering Requirements daily, helping ensure that they are appropriate, robust, adhered to, and support in the assessment of waivers where needed. This is where skilful engineering judgment in decisions - big or small - makes a big difference.

You’ll spend a lot of time talking to people. Delivery teams with construction targets. Consultants with different specialisms. Operational colleagues who know all there is to know about how our assets behave once their built. Your role is to bring in those perspectives, and together with your own judgement, provide clear, experienced engineering guidance where it’s needed.

In doing all this, you’ll help build capability across the business, sharing technical insights with colleagues, learning from industry challenges and reduce problems or non-compliance. Safety is fundamental, and you’ll be expected to question designs and approaches where risks can be removed or reduced at the very source.

What you’ll need

You’ll bring solid civil engineering experience and the confidence to apply your judgement in complex, high-impact situations.

You’ll have:

• A degree in civil engineering, and be a Chartered Engineer or working towards chartership

• Experience of water and wastewater infrastructure, with a strong understanding of design and construction principles and the regulatory environment

• The ability to review, challenge and provide assurance within civil engineering designs across different stages of project development

You’ll be comfortable working with standards and requirements, including supporting their ongoing development and assessing waivers against these where needed. You’ll be able to weigh up technical, safety and regulatory considerations and justify your reasoning clearly where needed.

This role involves influencing and supporting successful design rather than directing. You’ll need to communicate well with a wide range of stakeholders, from operational teams and delivery partners to consultants and planners. It is important to be able to challenge constructively and professionally.

Character is important to us. Across the whole of Scottish Water, we look for people who are Bold, Responsible, Inspiring and Caring. (And you can expect these characteristics to make an appearance in your interview with us…)

Looking out for you

While the work we do is important, we know it’s not the only thing that matters. That’s why we make sure you have everything you need to find a good work-life balance.

You’ll get plenty of time to recharge with 38 days of holiday every year (including public holidays). And you can even buy five more if you need a little extra time. You can also take paid time off to volunteer in your community.

When it comes to major life events we have family-friendly policies around adoption, maternity, and parental leave. And for the everyday? We embrace flexible working.

For your future, there’s our pension (the ‘know-what-you’ll-get-when-you-retire’ kind), as well as life assurance.

As for some nice extras? You can expect an annual company bonus. Not to mention access to SW Splash - handy rewards that can save you money on holidays, bills, and shopping.

The not-so-small print

This role will be a Grade 7. If you’re new to Scottish Water, you’ll join us on a starting salary of £44,030. Performance-driven pay progression would then allow you to move through the range to a maximum of £55,000.

If you’re interested in this role - or know someone else who might be - we’ll be accepting applications until midnight on 17th February 2026.

We operate Balanced Hybrid working at Scottish Water and we encourage people to work half their time in a Scottish Water location. You’ll come together with the team in person for a monthly meeting in Edinburgh, and you’ll spend two to three days a week working alongside Technical Support and Assurance colleagues in a Scottish Water office.

Job offers at Scottish Water are conditional, and will be confirmed on completion of our pre-employment screening, e.g. referencing, criminal record checks, license checks, etc. Screening is conducted on our behalf by a third party, and must be completed before your start date. Don’t worry - we’ll only start these checks once you’ve accepted an offer.

A few final things worth knowing…

Research shows that some people avoid applying for jobs unless they can meet every single criteria. If you’re interested in this job, but don’t tick all the boxes, apply anyway! We hardly ever hire people who can do every part of a job from Day One. Everyone has a learning curve. So don’t rule yourself out!

Let us know if there are any changes we can make to our recruitment process to help you perform at your best. Lots of our people have disabilities or neurodiverse conditions (including some of our recruiters!). We’re also aware that some people might be experiencing temporary challenges because of life events, like menopause. We’re very used to making adjustments, so please don’t be afraid to ask.

As part of our commitment to developing a flourishing Scotland, it’s important that all our employees are Scottish taxpayers. If you join us, your home address will need to be in Scotland. If you don’t already live here, you'll need to commit to moving here within your first three months.

Please note, Scottish Water takes the safety, health and wellbeing of our employees, colleagues and customers very seriously and as such you may be subject to Drug & Alcohol testing in line with our policy.

Finally (finally!), candidates who haven’t submitted an application in the last 12 months will have their records removed from our recruitment database. You won’t need to do anything. Your data will be automatically deleted.

We’re here to help. Ask us anything at [e-mail]