Principal Highways Engineer

• Job Title: Principal Highways Engineer
• Location: Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NE
• Salary: £50,000 - £65,000
• Hours: 37.5 hours per week
• Contract/Work Style: Full-time / Flexible, minimum 3 days in office

The opportunity

Join our London office as a Principal Highways Engineer within our Engineering & Kerbside team. You’ll take a senior technical, project and client leadership role across our highways, active travel, public realm, parking and sustainable transport portfolio, helping shape both the quality of our work and the continued growth of our engineering offer.

About the role

You’ll lead complex commissions from early feasibility and option development through detailed design and delivery, providing technical assurance and professional judgement while managing clients, teams, programmes and commercial performance. The role extends beyond design: you’ll lead major reports and recommendations, contribute engineering expertise to policy and strategy work, develop scopes and fee proposals, support bids and frameworks, and help build long-term client relationships.

Your contribution

You’ll provide senior technical leadership and professional judgement while helping shape how the team delivers, wins and develops work. You’ll balance technical quality with client needs, commercial performance and the development of colleagues.

As a Principal Highways Engineer, you will:

• Lead the technical planning, design and delivery of complex highways, active travel, junction, street, parking, kerbside and public realm schemes from inception through construction support.
• Act as technical and design lead on multidisciplinary commissions, setting the engineering approach and coordinating transport planning, signals, modelling, drainage, landscape, utilities and other specialist inputs.
• Provide technical assurance and senior review of drawings, specifications, calculations, feasibility studies, option appraisals, design reports and recommendations.
• Lead or provide senior engineering input into transport strategies, policies, business cases, funding submissions and other strategic client documents.
• Manage project scope, programme, budget, resources, risk, change and commercial performance, ensuring strong governance and quality assurance throughout the project lifecycle.
• Act as a senior point of contact for key clients, understanding their priorities, providing practical professional advice and building trusted long-term relationships.
• Lead client meetings, design reviews, workshops and presentations, communicating complex technical issues clearly to officers, senior stakeholders and non-technical audiences.
• Oversee design risk management, CDM 2015 duties, Road Safety Audit processes, technical approvals, statutory interfaces and construction-stage technical support.
• Develop scopes, delivery approaches, programmes, resource plans and fee proposals, including negotiation of changes and variations.
• Lead and contribute to bids, framework submissions, interviews and presentations, working with Heads of Service and colleagues to secure new work.
• Identify opportunities for repeat work, account development and new services, supporting the commercial growth of the Engineering & Kerbside team.
• Line-manage and mentor engineers, consultants, graduates and technicians, providing technical guidance, feedback and support for professional development.
• Contribute to the development of Citisense standards, templates, technical processes and knowledge sharing, and represent the business through appropriate industry engagement.

We’re looking for someone with

• A relevant degree, or equivalent qualification and experience, in civil engineering, highways, transport engineering or a related discipline.
• Extensive experience leading the design and delivery of UK highway, transport or public realm schemes.
• Strong technical knowledge across highway and public realm design, relevant UK standards and guidance, technical approvals, CDM 2015 and design risk management.
• Proven experience leading multidisciplinary design teams and providing technical assurance on complex commissions.
• Strong project and commercial management capability, including scope, programme, budget, resource, risk, change control and financial performance.
• A strong track record of client management, including advising senior client officers, presenting recommendations and developing long-term relationships.
• Excellent report writing and review skills, including feasibility studies, option appraisals, technical reports and strategic documents.
• Experience developing fee proposals, bids, framework submissions and new work opportunities.
• Experience line-managing, mentoring and developing engineers and technical staff.
• Excellent written, verbal and presentation skills with strong professional judgement.
• Chartered or Incorporated status with an appropriate professional institution, or equivalent demonstrable professional experience.

Desirable Experience and Skills

• Experience working for, or closely with, UK local authorities, combined authorities or other public-sector clients.
• Experience of public consultation, stakeholder engagement or co-design for transport schemes.
• Knowledge of Road Safety Audit processes, accessibility and equality considerations within scheme development.
• Experience of traffic orders, technical approvals, utility coordination, S278/S38 processes or construction-stage support.
• Experience using AutoCAD and vehicle tracking software; Civil 3D, KeySIGN, GIS or similar software would be advantageous.
• Professional membership of an appropriate institution such as CIHT, ICE or IHE.
• Experience of NEC contracts, procurement and collaboration with contractors.
• Experience contributing to business development, client account growth or wider service development.
• Experience reviewing or contributing to transport policy, strategy, business case or funding documents from an engineering perspective.

Why join us

We believe in fostering an inclusive and supportive environment where your ideas are valued and your growth is encouraged. As part of the team, you'll enjoy a range of fantastic benefits, including a company pension, generous annual leave, continuous training and development opportunities and a professional membership of your choice.

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