Senior Water & Flood Risk Engineer – SuDS Lead

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

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