Location/s: Cambridge, Reading, Belfast or Leeds; UK
Recruiter contact: Laura Easdon

Mott MacDonald is a global engineering, management, and development consultancy with over 20,000 employees across more than 50 countries and 140+ offices.

We work across incredible global industries, delivering exciting work that is defining our future and making an important societal impact in the communities we serve. Our people power our performance – we succeed when they do. With countless opportunities to collaborate, learn, and grow, the possibilities for excellence are as varied as every individual.

Whether you want to grow as a subject matter expert or broaden your experience with roles across our international community, you’re surrounded by global specialists who want to combine their expertise and champion you to be your best. As a proudly employee-owned business, we benefit our clients, our communities, and each other, investing in creating the right space for everyone to feel empowered, included, and valued. Whatever your ambition, Mott MacDonald is where people come to be brilliant.

About the division
The Water Consultancy Division is Mott MacDonald’s centre of excellence for responding to water and wastewater challenges, offering fantastic opportunities to get involved in diverse and technically challenging work. The work we do is at the forefront of ensuring safe water supplies for future generations and protecting our environment. Our multi-disciplinary teams provide a variety of services throughout the full project life cycle, from advisory services and feasibility studies, through outline and detailed design, to construction support and site supervision.

Overview of the role
Due to significant growth and future market opportunities within our Water Consultancy Division, we are looking to establish and grow a Front-end Engineering Delivery team focussed on the leadership, management and engineering delivery of major water projects. This will include the UK water company Strategic Resource Options and major schemes working on flood and coastal risk management, navigation and water land and biodiversity assets and across the hydropower market.

Front-end Engineering is expected to include feasibility, concept and outline design stages.

Join our dynamic and award-winning OneWater Team at Mott MacDonald, where we are committed to our Clients, our People and the Environment.

We are agile across our resource teams, which offers candidates excellent career progression opportunities. You will work alongside industry recognised experts to deliver value to key clients, including water companies, Environment Agency and contractors.

We are looking for a Principal Civil Engineer to lead teams to deliver front-end engineering across a large range of complex multi-disciplinary engineering projects, including water major projects. As part of the role, we will also expect you to help with our people management function and mentoring of our water team capability across the region. In this role you will ensure that our technical delivery performance meets the expectations of both our clients and our internal focus on technical excellence, and contribute to winning proposals.

In this role, you will:

• Lead multi-disciplinary design teams in project delivery
• Support technical excellence activities through digital innovation, sharing best practice and implementing robust QA procedures
• Contribute to our commercial success through forecasting and risk management, and the production of bids and proposals
• Work to Mott MacDonald’s global standards and review Health, Safety and Welfare alongside environmental impact
• Review of design submissions to ensure compliance with contract requirements
• Conduct discipline checker role on standard outputs
• Interfacing and liaising with clients and other stakeholders
• Mentoring and contributing to the development of junior staff
• Working with resource leads to coordinate project resources and to grow and develop our capability through recruitment and training
• Business development including providing specialist support to our Account Leaders and Practices and leading on proposals and tenders in the water and wastewater fields

Candidate specification
We are seeking a driven individual with a passion for finding solutions that meet environmental and cost drivers whilst delivering excellent customer outputs.

Essential:

• Chartered engineer with relevant technical degree
• Experience of leading engineering design and/or multi-disciplinary design teams on water or wastewater projects in the UK and Ireland water market
• Front-end major projects experience
• Solid knowledge of water or wastewater specifications and standards
• A team leader capable of managing and motivating individuals to consistently delivery
• Commercial awareness, delivering cost effective solutions within time and cost constraints
• Strong communication skills to interact with other disciplines and clients, and to develop and promote the team
• Willingness to contribute to and develop technical knowledge networks
• A drive to be abreast of professional development and knowledge of current and emerging technical solutions
• Proactive approach, with an ability to adapt to changing scenarios

Desirable:

• Experience of complex, multi-disciplinary engineering projects
• Experience or canals or flood defence projects
• Good understanding of designers’ responsibilities under CDM
• Strong digital capability (e.g. Civils 3D, GIS, hydraulic modelling software)
• Contributed towards the identification and development of low carbon solutions
• Resource management and line management experience
• Experience of Development Consent Orders (DCO)
• Able to travel to other offices and sites, as required

We are actively recruiting a diverse workforce that is reflective of the communities we serve. We recognise that differences in ability, skills and experience are a strength and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.

UK Immigration

Mott MacDonald Ltd. are not currently offering sponsorship to candidates under the Skilled Worker visa route in the UK. This decision is as a consequence of the changes made to the Skilled Worker route by the UK Government in April 2024. We continue to welcome applications from candidates who are eligible for alternative immigration routes in the UK, that do not require sponsorship as a Skilled Worker now or in future.

Agile working

At Mott MacDonald, we believe it makes business sense for you and your manager to choose how you can work most effectively to meet your client, team, and personal commitments. We offer a hybrid working policy that embraces your well-being, flexibility, and trust.

Equality, diversity, and inclusion

We put equality, diversity, and inclusion at the heart of our business, seeking to promote fair employment procedures and practices to ensure equal opportunities for all. We encourage individual expression in our workplace and are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels they can contribute.

Accessibility

We want you to perform your best at every stage in the recruitment process. If you are disabled or need any support to enable you to apply or attend an interview, please contact us at reasonable.adjustments@mottmac.com and we will talk to you about how we can support you.

We offer some fantastic benefits including:

Health and wellbeing

• Private medical insurance for all UK colleagues.
• Health cash plan to support you with every day health costs and treatments.
• Access to Peppy, providing free support from menopause experts for all UK colleagues.
• A variety of wellbeing support is available through our comprehensive wellbeing program, including access for you and your family.
• Ability to flex your salary to opt into a wide range of health benefits, many of which can be extended to your family too.

Financial wellbeing

• We match employee pension contributions between 4.5% and 7%.
• Life assurance equal up to 4 x your basic salary, with an option to increase the level of cover to 6 x your salary.
• Our income protection scheme provides a financial benefit, as well as absence and return to work support due to long-term illness or injury.
• Flexible benefits, including increased life assurance cover, critical illness insurance, payroll saving and will writing.
• As an independently owned business we share the financial success of the business with all our colleagues in various ways including annual bonus schemes.

Lifestyle

• A minimum of 33-35 days holiday each year, inclusive of public holidays and dependent on level, with the ability to buy or sell leave through our flexible benefits programme.
• Holiday entitlement increased to a minimum of 35 days after 5 years’ service.
• Variety of employee saving schemes and discounts from high-street retailers.

Enhanced family and carers leave

• Enhanced family leave policies, including 26 weeks paid maternity and adoption leave, and two weeks paid paternity/partner leave.
• Our shared parental leave matches maternity leave meaning we pay up to 24 weeks at full pay.
• Up to five additional days leave are provided for those with significant caring responsibilities, two of which are paid.

Learning and development

• Primary annual professional institution subscription.
• A broad range of opportunities to enhance both technical and soft skills through mentoring, formal training, and self-development options.

Networks, communities, and social outcomes

• Join a wide range of groups including our Advanced Employee Networks which support our LGBTQ+, gender, race and ethnicity, disability, and parents/carers communities.
• Make a difference within our communities through our social outcomes.