Principal Civil Engineer, Priority Project Design

Join Our Team: Principal Engineer, Priority Project Design. Navigate your future and lock in your career as we keep our canals open and alive. As an Engineer, who wouldn’t want the chance to work on structures that Telford, Jessop and other engineering greats had a hand in creating?

We are the Charity who look after and bring to life 2,000 miles of waterways across England and Wales, because we believe that life is better by water. Every role across the Charity plays its part in transforming our canals and rivers into spaces where local people want to spend time and feel better, bringing wellbeing benefits to millions while conserving our fantastic heritage.

We are a team of engineers and technicians that design and/or manage the design of repairs on a diverse range of our historical assets to keep our canals open and alive. We provide the designs of technical solutions, preparing specifications and briefing documents mainly for our external Contractors and Consultants. Our works are focussed on conserving and enhancing our precious waterways for future generations.

Our role is to provide designs to maintain, repair and rebuild the Charity's infrastructure to enable visitors to safely enjoy our canals and rivers, and safeguard them for future generations. Our aim is to develop efficient and innovative engineering solutions to the multitude of challenges we face maintaining our waterways and infrastructure day to day.

Working Hours & Location

The Principal Engineer vacancy is offered as a remote-based role, with a requirement to attend our main hub locations as needed for team collaboration and meetings. Regular travel across the regional waterway network will also be required to support site visits and stakeholder engagement, particularly across the West Midlands, North West, and Yorkshire regions. Relevant hub locations include: Ellesmere Port, Burnley, Stoke-on-Trent, Birmingham, Leeds, and Newark. The frequency and flexibility of travel will be discussed further at interview stage; however, it is essential that candidates can reliably access this network.

Role Overview

As a Principal Engineer you will be responsible for leading a team of Senior Engineers, Engineers and Technicians to undertake the designs and specifications, whilst optimising resources and engaging with our delivery partners to ensure successful delivery of the programme. The role is accountable for determining the most cost effective design and construction solutions which are driven by a risk management approach.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and support a team of engineers, providing technical oversight, guidance, and development to ensure high-quality outputs across projects.
• Review background information and supporting data for multiple projects across the Trust’s network.
• Identify information gaps and coordinate the collection of additional data through research, and engagement with internal teams, external specialists, and stakeholders.
• Undertake site visits, including engagement with local teams, specialist contractors, and early contractor involvement activities.
• Develop and assess proportionate conceptual options tailored to each individual project.
• Prepare cost estimates for each option using Trust tools, with support from the Cost Intelligence team.
• Evaluate concept options, including risks and opportunities, and produce summary reports for review by the Project Sponsor.
• Investigate and develop cost-effective design and construction solutions, ensuring best value and consideration of user requirements and whole-life costs.
• Prepare and deliver presentations of preferred solutions at Governance Gateway 2 (Option Selection stage) using Trust templates.
• Act as Designer under CDM 2015, producing and specifying engineering solutions in line with regulatory requirements.
• Define maintenance, repair, and renewal works for delivery by Trust teams and contractors, ensuring compliance with statutory, technical, operational, and customer requirements.
• Engage and brief Principal Engineers, stakeholders, and specialists, seeking additional expertise where project risks require deeper consideration.
• Collaborate with engineers and technical specialists to develop robust engineering designs and specifications.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of Design Guidance, Standards, and Specifications.
• Where required, provide temporary works designs to support internal construction teams.

About You

Skills & Qualifications

• Technical: Chartered Engineer or equivalent professional qualification (ICE). Membership of relevant professional body at an appropriate level e.g. MICE. Experience of civil engineering design, and construction preferably in a water environment. Substantial relevant experience of delivering complex engineering or concepts. Experience of line managing a range of staff including professional engineers. Knowledge and understanding of historic infrastructure and the natural environment. Demonstrable experience in cross-functional working delivering performance across range of functions. Able to negotiate with internal and external contacts and support other areas of the business in an appropriate manner, taking account of overall business priorities and resources as appropriate. Able to review conflicting (and cross-functional) risks making appropriate judgements to establish and communicate appropriate order.
• General: Confirmation of right to work in the UK (without sponsorship). Experience or working within a diverse and multi-disciplined project team. Able to effectively communicate with internal and external contacts. Good standard of written and verbal communication and proven ability to present technical data to non-technical audiences. Proficient in the use of a personal computer and business applications software e.g. MS Office. Experience of GIS or mapping systems. Where appropriate actively participate in the Trust‘s “Stand-by” and” Call-out rotas.

If you have any questions about the role please contact CRT.recruitment@canalrivertrust.org.uk. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient suitable applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

What We Offer

In addition to your annual base salary of £50,000 - £55,750, we also offer Car Cash Allowance (£450 per month), a competitive contributory DC Pension scheme arrangement, and numerous other employee benefits, including several salary sacrifice benefits we are also open to flexible working arrangements.