Senior / Principal Electrical Engineer

Calibre Search; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 59,000 - 72,000; Full time

Job summary

Calibre Search is partnering with a Cambridge-based consultancy to recruit a Senior/Principal Electrical Engineer. The role strengthens the electrical design capability across university, healthcare and commercial projects in a small, agile team.

You'll have the option to lead your own discipline or oversee full projects, with opportunities for early-stage design involvement and some client-facing work. Office-based a minimum of three days per week near Cambridge.

Qualifications

• Background in building services electrical design.
• Comfortable in a small, collaborative team where input shapes projects.
• Willing to lead a discipline (senior) or own full projects (principal).
• Interested in early-stage design involvement rather than only executing concepts.

Responsibilities

• Lead own discipline on projects as a senior, or take ownership of full projects as a principal.
• Engage in client-facing activities across the project lifecycle.
• Contribute to fee proposals, pricing and business development when invited.
• Support early-stage design involvement and integrated engineering delivery.

Skills

Electrical design

Job description

Senior/Principal Electrical Engineer

Cambridge

Up to £65k

Overview

Three and a half years ago, one of Cambridge's newer building services teams was just getting going. It's grew steadily since, built on a simple idea: take the best bits of the big consultancies and the best bits of the small ones, and leave the rigid banding and reduced autonomy behind. The mechanical side of that team is now well established. The electrical side needs reinforcing, and that's where this role comes in.

The Role

You’ll join a growing Cambridge‑based consultancy as an Electrical Engineer, reporting into an Associate who leads the discipline. The level is genuinely open, so whether you're operating at senior or principal capability, there's a route that fits.

Get involved earlier in the design process. The team has historically leaned heavily on Stage 3/4 onwards work and is actively rebalancing towards more early‑stage involvement.

• Senior engineers are expected to lead their own discipline on projects, and principals are given the scope to lead full projects outright
• Because the team is small, client‑facing exposure is available at pretty much every level, not just reserved for the top of the tree
• At senior/principal level there's the option to get involved in fee proposals, pricing and business development, but it's an invitation rather than an obligation. This isn't a place that will force a technically brilliant engineer into a BD role they have no interest in.

About You

• A background in building services electrical design, ideally with experience across a range of sectors
• Comfortable working in a small, close‑knit team where your input actually shapes how projects and processes run, not just executes someone else's plan
• Happy to lead your own discipline (senior) or take ownership of full projects (principal)
• Interested in genuine early‑stage design involvement rather than just picking up projects once the concept is locked
• Based within a commutable distance of Cambridge, with the flexibility to be office‑based a minimum of three days a week

The Business

The Cambridge office sits within a wider group with additional offices around the UK, giving you the backing and resource of a larger organisation while keeping the day‑to‑day feel of a smaller, more agile team. The project mix is varied and genuinely interesting:

• A steady stream of university and college work across Cambridge, making up around a third of the current workload
• A very active healthcare pipeline, largely hospital‑based rather than GP or medical centre work, including a recently completed Special Care Baby Unit ward, another ward currently in progress, and associated back‑of‑house areas
• Commercial, science and research projects alongside the above

Cambridge is a tough market to hire in and everyone in it knows it. Good, experienced electrical engineers are in short supply industry‑wide, and this business is very aware that the way to compete isn't just on salary, it's on the kind of team and career you're actually offered. If you want more of a say in how a team is run, more early‑stage design involvement, and a genuine choice over whether BD is part of your future rather than a requirement of it, this is worth a conversation.

Calibre Search promote equality in the workplace and we welcome applications from all suitably skilled or qualified candidates regardless of their sex, race, disability, religion/beliefs, sexual orientation or age.