Principal Engineer – Flood Risk & Water

Are you ready to take the next step in your career? Do you want to do meaningful work that improves quality of life? At Tetra Tech, you will work with high-performing teams who are passionate about using their expertise to find solutions to complex problems in water, environment, infrastructure, resource management, energy, and international development. Tetra Tech is one of the largest and fastest growing environmental consultancies in the world and in 2023, the Engineering News-Record (ENR) ranked Tetra Tech #1 in Water for the 20th year in a row.

We currently have a number of positions to fill within our flood risk team due to ongoing growth with our existing client base as well as new project wins with new clients. We are seeking a Principal Engineer to support our Water Engineering team throughout the UK based ideally out of Manchester, Leeds, Chorley, Cockermouth or London offices, but other locations will be considered for the right candidate.

Our team undertakes a wide variety of major and challenging infrastructure projects for the private and public sector, across a range of development sectors. We seek to provide integrated flood risk and drainage solutions incorporating state of the art design. Our current flood risk portfolio includes a broad spectrum of projects across the water sector from flood alleviation schemes (FAS) for local authorities, the MOD and private sector clients through to surface water separation schemes for water utility providers.

We are embedded with a number of high-profile housing developers and support them from site inception through to master planning, design and construction on their flood risk challenges, including design of natural flood risk management and Sustainable Urban Drainage solutions. Our varied client and project base provides our team exciting challenges to continually improve their skills and knowledge across the sector.

As a project leader, you will guide our teams and support our clients in the delivery of the portfolio as well as support bidding and proposition activity as we continue to grow the team.

We require an experienced individual of high calibre to lead projects for the Water Engineering team at Tetra Tech across a range of activities such as river, coastal and flood defence appraisal and design, hydraulic modelling and hydrology assessment, surface water management and the development of business cases. We work across a diverse range of clients delivering challenging infrastructure projects for the private and public sector. Our projects can range in size from £10k commissions up to £100m schemes covering flood risk projects for defence, transport, local government, utility, infrastructure, commercial, industrial and residential development.

You will work independently and proactively on technical aspects from a project’s inception, determining client briefs, to the delivery and close out of projects in accordance with best practice. You will lead low and medium risk projects both technically and as a project manager as well as support junior colleagues throughout the delivery of projects, including client facing and leadership roles. You will instruct, supervise and mentor junior staff in the design and management of schemes and work with clients to ensure delivery of projects to time and cost, and to help manage change. You will be supported by our senior technical leadership team throughout the delivery of your projects.

We provide internal project management training as well as a structured learning and development platform including mentoring and coaching, CPD and training to ensure our staff are the best they can be to deliver excellence to our clients. We operate a hybrid working policy between your home office and working from home as required to suit your daily lives. However, our projects are UK wide and some travel would be expected on occasion, including working outside normal office hours.

The ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate some or all the requirements below:

• Be an enthusiastic professional who likes a challenge.
• Want to work in a busy and growing team and have a desire to progress their career.
• Have experience in the delivery and leading flood risk and/or surface water separation projects from solution development, optioneering and design in line with the relevant guidance.
• Experience in writing reports (including business cases) and presenting to internal and external partners.
• Experienced in holding meetings with clients and leading design discussions.
• Experienced in working across and leading multidisciplinary teams to deliver projects efficiently and effectively, such as with hydraulic modellers, engineers and environmental consultants.
• Experience or an interest in developing Natural Flood Management solutions.
• Experience in the Multi-coloured Manual for flood risk economic appraisal.
• Have an understanding and experience in working with the NPPF.
• Experience in IT systems such as ArcGIS, AutoCAD, Civils 3D and the Microsoft Office suite.
• Be educated to degree level or equivalent in a relevant field and Chartered with the ICE or CIWEM, or close to achieving chartership.
• Have an interest in business development and bidding.
• Have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, ability to work independently, a collaborative approach and a proven ability to deliver work on time.
• Have a commitment to encouraging good health and safety practices within the workplace and within design.
• Be a team player displaying enthusiasm, flexibility and versatility.
• Have the ability to mentor, encourage and support junior team members.
• Have a desire to build upon your existing experience, continuing your professional development with Tetra Tech.
• Hold a full UK Driving Licence.
• Security Clearance to minimum SC level preferable (or be suitable and willing to apply for clearance).

Tetra Tech is a leading provider of high-end consulting and engineering services for projects worldwide. We combine the resources of a global, multibillion dollar company with local, client-focused delivery in more than 400 locations around the world. We are Leading with Science® to provide sustainable and resilient solutions for our clients. At Tetra Tech, we provide a collaborative environment that supports individual performance, innovation, and creativity. We are proud to offer competitive compensation and benefits.

We are very happy to discuss flexible working for this role, including the possibility of reduced hours, flexible start and finish times, or compressed hours. We can offer a range of solutions to help you to get the most out of your work / life balance.

Tetra Tech is an equal opportunities employer and encourages applications from all suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, transgender status, religion or belief, marital status, or pregnancy and maternity/shared parental leave, in line with the Equalities Act 2010.