Principal Engineer - Development Infrastructure

Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. We are more than 34,000 people, in over 30 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.

The Enabling Infrastructure team is an established team of experienced engineers specialising in the delivery of development led infrastructure projects centred around our Birmingham, London, Bristol and Cardiff offices. As part of our wider growth strategy, we are seeking an experienced Principal Engineer to expand our capacity in the north of England. The role will nominally be based out of Manchester, but candidates will be considered in line with our agile / hybrid working policy. The team works on projects across all of our global business areas - Mobility, Places and Resilience. We work in a wide variety of market sectors including strategic housing & residential, commercial & employment, transport hubs and major transport (rail and highways) projects. We are actively developing new client relationships within the ports and logistics sector, and we would welcome applications from candidates with previous experience in these sectors.

The role provides a variety of interesting projects, opportunities for career progression and will combine technical delivery and deliverables management with hands‑on design work. We are seeking to locate a career minded Principal Engineer who has gained proven work experience in leading the design and management of infrastructure and drainage solutions for development infrastructure projects. The successful applicant would manage the delivery of projects to meet budget, timeframe and quality targets, meeting or exceeding client expectations, work on bidding, support the growth of our team through line management and mentoring, and be an active member of our Community of Practice which aims to improve standardisation and quality.

Role accountabilities:

• Reporting to the Technical Director/ Associate Technical Director, you will be responsible for leading project teams and supporting the wider growth strategy of the Enabling Infrastructure team with line management responsibilities.
• You will lead by example through the successful delivery of infrastructure, highways and drainage projects.
• Project duties will include the preparation of design solutions at various stages of a project; production management of drawings / BIM models, reports, specifications and estimates; document management; attendance at meetings, and overseeing the work of other team members to deliver project objectives.
• Project management duties will include co‑ordination of a wide range of discipline inputs; monitoring and protecting our client relationships; planning and programming; commercial management and presenting projects for audit.
• Leading on the resolution of technical issues on projects and providing technical guidance to other team members, such as more junior engineers, technicians and apprentices.
• Working in collaboration with other design disciplines and contractor D&B teams to ensure the integrity of the overall design.
• Promoting and developing the technical capability of other team members, both within the UK and within our Global Excellence Centre.
• Overseeing the financial performance and contractual management of single discipline projects.
• Responsible for ensuring compliance with quality management and reporting systems.
• Keep up to date with developments in the industry sector and with technical and legislative developments and seek out opportunities to develop your professional profile.

Qualifications & Experience:

• Applicants shall have substantial design experience gained in development infrastructure, with prior experience of leading the design and management of infrastructure and drainage solutions for development infrastructure projects.
• Some experience of overseas projects would be desirable but not essential.
• A proven background in the design and delivery of development infrastructure including surface water, foul water drainage, highways, earthworks, and utilities design.
• Sound knowledge of SuDS, SfA, DMRB, and Local Authority design standards.
• Experienced in preparing initial feasibility and site appraisal studies, working as part of a multi‑disciplinary team to deliver successful planning applications.
• Experience supporting the discharge of planning conditions would be an advantage.
• Detailed design delivery for development and transport infrastructure including delivery in a D&B environment.
• Expertise in software design methods such as MicroDrainage/ InfoDrainage, and AutoCAD Civils3D including integration with BIM models.
• Technically competent in fundamental design principles with the ability to apply manual calculation methods where software methods are not available.
• Line management and performance management experience.
• Demonstrated experience in a client facing position.
• Have a BSc/BEng or MSc/MEng or equivalent in Civil Engineering. Chartered status although those close to achieving chartered status would also be considered and supported in development of their professional qualifications.

Why Arcadis?

We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It’s why we are pioneering a skills‑based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together. You’ll do meaningful work, and no matter what role, you’ll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark, on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you. Together, we can create a lasting legacy.

Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We believe that by working together diverse people with different experiences develop the most innovative ideas. Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of how we improve quality of life and we work closely with our people across six ED&I Workstreams: Age, Disability, Faith, Gender, LGBT+ and Race. A diverse and skilled workforce is essential to our success.