EICA Principal Engineer

Location: On site / Warrington, UK

Job type: Permanent / Full-time

Sector and subsector: Engineering | Design

Salary: Negotiable salary

The Role

As the EICA Principal Engineer for Glanua UK, you will hold ultimate accountability for all electrical, instrumentation, control and automation design delivered by Glanua across the UK. You will provide technical leadership, design governance, and delivery assurance across EICA disciplines within water and wastewater infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects, ensuring design excellence from concept through to commissioning. You will play a key role in supporting project delivery teams, ensuring compliance with technical standards, promoting innovation, and maintaining safety, sustainability and quality across all EICA engineering activities. As the UK’s most senior EICA engineer, you are the named accountable person for all EICA design outputs produced in-house and by specialist subconsultants or subcontractors. This position sits at the forefront of project design development and delivery, working collaboratively with internal design teams, clients, contractors, and key stakeholders to deliver efficient, cost-effective and sustainable engineering solutions. You will report to the Group Head of Engineering on a functional basis and be accountable to the UK Operations Director from a delivery standpoint. You will also be a key member of the UK Management team.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Technical & Design Leadership
• Hold full accountability for all EICA design delivered by Glanua UK, whether produced in-house or by external design partners, ensuring outputs meet the required technical, safety and regulatory standards.
• Provide technical assurance and governance for all EICA works, ensuring compliance with specifications, standards (WIMES, BS EN, IEC), and company procedures.
• Oversee and review designs, calculations, specifications, datasheets, cause and effect diagrams, and drawings for EICA systems, acting as approver and design authority as required.
• Ensure design solutions are practical, safe, buildable, and aligned with operational and maintenance requirements.
• Promote design standardisation, modularisation, and off-site manufacture to enhance efficiency and safety.
• Develop and implement standard procedures and systems within your discipline to ensure teams are working efficiently.
• Strive for continuous improvement by challenges and improving existing procedures, as necessary.
• Develop a clear strategy for your remit by developing a UK EICA strategy plan.
• Within this, team members’ responsibilities need to be clearly defined and definitions put on interfaces with other design disciplines, both internally and externally.
• Develop and build relationships with key supply chain stakeholders to ensure all workload capacities are satisfied.
• Ensure all designs are developed in line with CDM, DSEAR, and functional safety requirements.
• Act as the competent person and design authority for DSEAR assessments and functional safety lifecycle management, including SIL determination and Safety Instrumented System (SIS) design in accordance with IEC 61508/61511.
• Maintain accountability for all in-house and external EICA design outputs, including electrical design packages, ICA specifications, control system architectures, and functional safety documentation.
• Manage and motivate a team of engineers, designers, and technicians to deliver high-quality work to defined deadlines and budgets.
• Allocate resources effectively across projects, balancing workload, priorities, and team capacity.
• Conduct regular progress reviews, ensuring technical delivery is aligned with project schedules and milestone requirements.
• Provide mentorship, technical guidance, and performance feedback to the engineering team.
• Foster a proactive culture of accountability, collaboration, and professional development within the EICA discipline team.
• Manage workload by maintaining a 4 week lookahead programme that can be circulated weekly to all team members.
• Provide a monthly performance report on key performance indicators of the function.
• Ensure all line managers in your team are undertaking 1-2-1 meetings on a monthly basis with team members.
• Ensure Learning & Development Plans are in place for all team members to ensure training needs and career development pathways are clear.
• Maintain a 12 month resource lookahead to ensure projects needs are catered for.
• Identify new hires as required.
• Liaise with Talent Acquisition to ensure high-calibre talent is recruited.

• Commercial & Contractual Accountability
• Maintain a clear understanding of project budgets, programmes, and commercial performance, contributing to overall project profitability.
• Support project and framework managers in identifying and managing technical risks, opportunities, and variations.
• Provide input to commercial reports, forecasting, and cost-to-complete reviews for EICA activities.
• Ensure that technical and design changes are managed through correct contractual mechanisms, in line with NEC 4 or other contract conditions.
• Liaise closely with procurement and commercial teams to ensure that subcontractor and supplier scopes are clearly defined, controlled, and technically compliant.
• Contribute to tender reviews, value engineering, and constructability assessments to optimise cost and performance.

• Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement
• Interface with civil, process, and construction disciplines to deliver fully integrated D&B solutions.
• Maintain strong working relationships with clients, regulators, and supply chain partners to ensure alignment and technical excellence.
• Participate in and lead HAZOP, DSEAR assessments, SIL assessments, functional safety reviews (including LOPA), design risk reviews, and constructability workshops from an EICA perspective.
• Champion digital engineering, BIM, and data-driven design across the EICA discipline.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Degree (BEng/MEng) in Electrical, Electronic, Instrumentation, Control or related engineering discipline.
• Chartered Engineer (CEng) with a recognised institution (IET, ICE or equivalent) or working towards chartership.
• Significant experience in EICA design and delivery within the UK water/wastewater industry, preferably under a Tier 1 D&B framework, with a demonstrable track record of leading and owning EICA design accountability on complex projects.
• Proven experience leading and managing engineering teams in a fast-paced, multi-project environment.
• Strong understanding of water and wastewater treatment processes, HV/LV power distribution, motor control, MCCs, ICA systems, control system architectures, and SCADA/telemetry networks.
• Working knowledge of UK Water Industry standards (WIMES, BS EN, etc.).
• Sound commercial awareness with proven experience of budget management, cost reporting, and supporting contract administration (preferably NEC 4).
• Strong organisational and time management skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities effectively.
• Demonstrable competency in DSEAR regulations and hazardous area classification, including the ability to act as the competent person for DSEAR assessments on water and wastewater infrastructure.
• Proven experience applying functional safety principles and the IEC 61508/IEC 61511 lifecycle, including SIL determination, LOPA, and Safety Instrumented System (SIS) design and verification.
• Working knowledge of CDM and ATEX regulations and their application to EICA design.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and interpersonal skills.
• Proficient in relevant EICA design software (EPLAN, Amtech, AutoCAD Electrical, ETAP or similar) and familiar with control system design tools and functional safety software.
• Experience within AMP frameworks delivering design & build projects for UK water companies.
• Familiarity with PLC/SCADA systems, telemetry, and process control integration.
• Knowledge of BIM processes, 3D modelling, and digital design tools.
• Experience in sustainability, energy optimisation, and carbon reduction initiatives.
• Full UK driving licence and flexibility to travel to project sites as required.

About Us

Glanua is an industry leader in providing innovative and sustainable engineering solutions to design, build, operate and maintain critical water and wastewater infrastructure across Ireland and the UK. We are a trusted provider to the municipal and industrial sector where our clients include Ireland and the UK’s largest water utilities, Uisce Éireann (formally Irish Water), Thames Water, Yorkshire Water Affinity Water, Northumbrian Water and United Utilities. Glanua is passionate about solving today’s environmental challenges and delivering a decarbonised and sustainable world. We know that to build successful creative teams we need a diverse workforce that can deliver new innovative ways of thinking. We provide an environment where you will have the freedom to develop and grow to your full potential. We champion our core values and uphold the highest standards of Safety and Well‑being, Innovation, Integrity, Collaboration, Courage, Agility, Accountability, Diversity and Inclusion in everything we do. We have a talented team of over 600 people across Ireland and the UK and are rapidly expanding our workforce across several disciplines to meet our ambitious growth plans.