Clerk Of Works Trainee

Number of Vacancies:

0

Time Type:

Full time

Worker Type:

Regular

Proposed Interview Date:

Monday, November 2, 2026

Hours of Work:

37

Hiring Manager:

Peter O'Malley

Contact Number:

01482 614880

Job Description Summary:

This is a Full Time, Permanent position.

Proposed interview dates: Week Commencing 2nd November 2026.

Pay award pending

ROLE AND PURPOSE

Clerk of Works Trainee

The Council is seeking to recruit a Clerk of Works Trainee within the Highway Asset Management Team. This developmental role is designed to provide structured training, mentoring and practical experience, enabling the successful candidate to progress to a fully competent Clerk of Works position. Working alongside experienced Engineers and Clerks of Works, the postholder will develop the knowledge, skills and experience required to inspect, monitor and oversee highway construction, maintenance and improvement projects across the city.

Projects and workstreams may include:

Carriageway planned maintenance programmes
Footway planned maintenance programmes
Highway preventative maintenance programmes
Traffic improvement schemes
Section 278 highway works
Section 38 highway adoption schemes
New Roads and Street Works Act (NRSWA) Special Engineering Difficulty (SED) reinstatements

The role will provide hands-on experience in site inspections, quality assurance, specification compliance, health and safety requirements, construction methods and contract administration. Over time, the postholder will assume increasing levels of responsibility with the objective of progressing to a Clerk of Works role.

The postholder will contribute to safeguarding the Council's highway assets by ensuring works are carried out safely, efficiently and in accordance with approved designs, specifications, contract documentation, current legislation and industry standards. The role requires effective communication with contractors, developers, stakeholders and road users, together with a commitment to maintaining the quality, safety and integrity of the highway network and associated infrastructure.

The postholder may be required to work outside normal working hours, including evenings, nights, weekends and public holidays, to support inspections, emergency works and project delivery requirements.

Clerk of Works

Upon successful completion of the training programme and demonstration of the required competencies, the postholder will progress to the role of Clerk of Works. In this capacity, they will independently oversee the delivery of Council-led and developer-funded highway projects, ensuring that materials, workmanship and construction activities meet the required quality, safety and compliance standards.

The Clerk of Works will undertake inspections, monitor progress on site, identify and resolve non-compliant works, maintain accurate project records and provide technical advice and support to project teams. They will act as a key representative of the Council on site, ensuring that highway works are delivered in accordance with approved requirements and that the long-term integrity of the Council's highway infrastructure is protected.

Hull City Council provides a range of benefits to motivate, reward and recognise the valuable work of our employees. This includes policies and support to help balance home life with work commitments, excellent learning and development opportunities, a defined benefit pension scheme and employee discounts from a range of suppliers via our Hull Plus website.

If you’re excited by the opportunity to play a central role in maintaining the highway network in Hull then we would like to hear from you.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Grade 6

• To promote and safeguard the welfare of children, young people and/or vulnerable adults (Service Area to include where appropriate)
• Statutory Obligations - Observes and interprets sections of the Highways Act, New Roads and Street Works Act and other inter-related legislation, regulations and guidance in overseeing highway construction works, such as associated with S38, S278 and other legal agreements.
• To provide technical support and advice for highway, civil and drainage engineering works to developers and contractors working on new highways and / or changes and improvements to carriageways.
• To take notes, update logs, produce and maintain accurate records of site visits, inspections, and directives communicating amendments to customers
• To hold current design and layout drawings, translate and interpret drawings to reconcile these with those used by developers and contractors to ensure consistency of approach.
• Inform services within the Authority of construction or design issues identified that may impact upon or compromise delivery or disrupt road users.
• Able to manage, forward plan, prioritise own workload and work flexibly to provide a responsive, helpful and professional service whilst maximising time spent on site.
• Identify the need for, convene and attend site and office based meetings between developers, contractors and Council officers and provide regular reports on works forwarded to engineering staff.
• Contribute to design guidance and practice.
• To keep abreast of key developments and techniques in the field of construction and highways.
• The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and associated legislation places responsibilities for health and safety on Hull City Council, as your employer and you as an employee of the council. In addition to the Councils overall duties, the post holder has personal responsibility for their own health & safety and that of other employees; additional and more specific responsibilities are identified in the Council’s Corporate H&S policy.

Grade 7, all of the above plus

• To gain an understanding of specialist materials, equipment and techniques, such as bitumen, steel and concrete, coatings and other protections of materials, as well as the sources of such items.
• To instigate and organise intrusive and non-intrusive testing of materials and workmanship during and after construction and, where necessary, begin to direct remedial action.
• To liaise with engineers, technicians and others to begin to challenge, negotiate and agree site driven design and build amendments and ensure that these are documented and recorded.
• To understand the highway agreement processes and phasing of developments
• To check design, final working and “as-completed” drawings against specifications prior to and post implementation to ensure compliance.
• To manage traffic signs and carriageway markings in relation to site works.
• To measure completed work for payments purposes where possible jointly with the contractors’ representative.

Grade 8, all of the above plus

• To agree joint quality control and oversee and / or direct the improvement and construction of existing and new roads, cycleways and footpaths from design to completion and handover ensuring compliance with current design specifications and standards, health and safety and, eventually, that the completion certificate has been provided by contractors.
• To provide a professional site supervision and inspection service incorporating project management principles and recommend adoption as highway maintainable at public expense newly constructed highway infrastructure, structures, drainage and street lighting.
• To be responsible for the identification of defects, instigate, negotiate, agree and monitor any remedial works.

Grade 9, all of the above plus

• Customer Focus – Advises and liaises with developer and highway contractors on site on matters of quality control and interpretation of design drawings; liaises with the public during works on the highway, including traffic management; assists with identifying all changes to the works and liaises with the contractors and site manager to ensure these are properly communicated, including the issue of instruction to contractors; promoting a partnering ethos to provide a working environment of co-operation, trust, respect, openness and honesty.
• Performance Management – Monitors progress to ensure that works are delivered to agreed and approved standards and specifications, such as DMRB and Manual of Contract Documents for Highway Works; checking compliance with relevant quality plans, method statements, risk assessments, inspection and test plans; sampling and testing to verify compliance; carrying out of quality checks and witnessing and reporting on non-compliance; promoting a 'right first time' culture, using quality management procedures, introducing innovation, and sharing best practice and lessons learnt as means of continuous improvement.
• Line management of Trainee Highway Clerk of Works.
• Statutory Obligations – Observes and interprets sections of the Highways Act, New Roads and Street Works Act and other inter-related legislation, regulations and guidance in overseeing highway construction works, such as associated with S38, S278 and other legal agreements.
• Attends and contributes to design team and site meetings with contractor, co-ordinating the schedule of sequences, work methods, quality and progress.
• Identifies work to be done after prior approval granted by the issuing engineer and provides directions to the contractor; checks setting out dimensions; measures and complies records of proposed and completed works.
• Undertakes continuous site monitoring of work in progress and its quality, identifies and investigates defects, prepares schedule of outstanding works and organisation and gives direction of any remedial works necessary.
• Takes decisive and effective actions to challenges associated with site activities and defects in construction works through observation and assessment of those undertaking works, their equipment and materials coming to and from and those being used on site as well as in relation to the existing and surrounding ground and road conditions.
• Carries out such other duties related to construction operations as may be required from time to time.

The above principal accountabilities are not exhaustive and may vary without changing the character of the job or level of responsibility.

NC3790.NC3791.NC3795.NC3737.Trainee Highway Clerk Of Works - Highway Clerk Of Works

Compensation Grades:

GRADES 6, 7, 8, 9

Pay Ranges:

£29,540.00 - £42,839.00

Job Classifications:

3- Not Politically Restricted - Designated As Not Politically Sensitive (Politically Restricted Posts), Casual - (Travel Allowance Policy), No - (Childcare Disqualification Requirement), No - (Statutory Post)

Benefits of Working of Hull City Council:
- A competitive salary
- An excellent pension through the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
- Initially 23 days annual leave depending on length of service. You will also get eight public holidays per year, and three additional days off, one in May/August and one during the Christmas/New year period
- Career development and learning experiences from a range of training courses and learning methods
- Supportive and forward-thinking culture
- Great career development opportunities

Please ensure that you complete and submit your application by midnight prior to the closing date. Please ensure that your application demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria against the person specification as listed in the job description.

We are committed to increasing the diversity, equality, and inclusion within our workforce to represent the people we serve and build an environment in which everyone can feel like they belong. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply.

We adopt a ‘name blind’ approach to shortlisting. Recruiting managers will not have access to personal information, including your name and contact details, until a shortlisting decision has been made. Equality monitoring information is not accessible by recruiting managers at any stage.

We reserve the right to amend the dates associated with this advert, which may include closing the advert early where required.

The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

Online searches, including social media, may be carried out as part of the recruitment process.