Tunnel & Geotechnical Engineering Lead

Reporting to the Engineering Director, your key responsibilities will include:

• Provides functional leadership and accountability for Tunnel and Geotechnical engineering across Ferrovial Construction UK & Ireland.
• Leads best practice for tunneling and geotechnical engineering.
• UK&I Head Office focal point for all Tunnel and Geotechnical matters, supporting projects from early development and tender stages through design, construction and handover, providing expert input as required.
• Provides senior technical leadership on complex underground works, including bored and sprayed tunnels, shafts, portals, earthworks, foundations and ground treatment, ensuring designs are safe, buildable, economical and aligned with construction methodologies and risk profiles.
• Leads and manages the tender design and the engagement and coordination of external designers during major project tender processes with a significant tunneling and underground works component, providing technical leadership, direction and governance across all design disciplines, and ensuring the development of robust, competitive and deliverable tender solutions.
• Leads the identification, assessment and management of technical risks and opportunities related to tunneling and geotechnical engineering, working closely with Commercial, Planning and Construction teams.
• Ensures compliance with UK design standards, CDM Regulations, project-specific Works Information and Ferrovial engineering governance requirements.
• The role is expected to evolve over time and may transition into a project delivery engineering leadership position where a major project with a predominant tunnelling and underground scope is awarded, subject to business needs and organizational arrangements, entailing:
• Lead and coordinate all engineering and design activities across disciplines to ensure full technical compliance with project and statutory requirements.
• Manage the delivery of design outputs in line with construction programme needs, ensuring timely release of IFC packages.
• Oversee the integration of temporary works requirements into permanent works design as the Appointed Individual.
• Provide technical leadership to internal, external design teams.
• Promote value engineering, innovation, and off-site manufacturing where beneficial to cost, safety, or programme.
• Ensure designs are practical, economical, and aligned with construction methods and constraints by liaising with construction teams, subcontractors, environmental teams and consenting bodies to ensure technical alignment across all stages of the project.

Key Skills and qualifications

• Chartered Engineer (CEng) in Civil Engineering or equivalent.
• Extensive experience delivering major infrastructure projects with significant tunneling and/or geotechnical scope, ideally within the UK.
• Strong track record in tunnel and geotechnical design and construction, including leadership roles on complex, high-risk projects.
• Experience operating within Joint Venture environments and managing interfaces with designers, specialist contractors and clients.
• Experience managing interfaces with temporary works, MEP, civil and geotechnical design/other disciplines.
• Knowledge of UK design standards, CDM regulations and construction methods.
• Strong leadership, communication and stakeholder engagement skills.

Key relationships

• Internal: Engineering Director – UK & Ireland, Project and Programme Directors, Engineering Managers and Design Managers, Commercial, Planning and Project Controls teams.
• External: Clients and their engineering teams, Joint Venture partners, Designers and specialist tunneling / geotechnical subcontractors, Regulators and third-party stakeholders as required.