Project Engineer - Principal Designer Coordinator

Project Engineer – Principal Designer Coordination
Client-Side Technical Services on a Major UK Infrastructure Programme

We are supporting a client side engineering organisation in the appointment of a Project Engineer focused on the assurance and coordination of Principal Designer activity across one of the largest civil engineering programmes currently underway in the UK. The role sits within a Technical Services function operating at programme level, working across major civils packages, station developments, railway systems, and core business functions.

This is not a consultancy Principal Designer delivery role for a single project. The emphasis is on assuring the work of multiple Principal Designer Representatives and providing structured, evidence-led oversight of how Principal Designer duties are being discharged within the supply chain. The successful candidate will support a lead engineer responsible for Principal Designer coordination, helping to promote consistent approaches, clear reporting, and effective design-risk communication across the programme.

The scope of assurance activity includes Principal Designer Representatives supporting four major civils projects, representatives aligned to each of the programme’s key stations, and further representatives working across rail systems and corporate / enabling functions. The role requires someone comfortable operating across multiple disciplines, stakeholder groups, and contract environments.

Key areas of responsibility include

• Assuring and supporting the coordination of Principal Designer Representatives across civils, stations, systems, and core business work packages.
• Reviewing design-risk information, residual-risk registers, and evidence relating to CDM compliance during the pre-construction phase.
• Helping to develop and maintain common processes, templates, and digital reporting approaches to improve consistency and auditability of Principal Designer activities.
• Working collaboratively with engineering, technical assurance, and supply-chain teams to resolve issues and embed good practice.
• Escalating concerns where appropriate and contributing to informed, timely decision-making at programme level.

We are interested in speaking with individuals who have experience in large, complex infrastructure environments, ideally within rail or major civils. You may come from a background in CDM Principal Designer coordination, engineering assurance, design governance, or interface management, and will be comfortable operating in a client-side setting where influence, judgement, and structured analysis are important.

Experience that will be valued includes

• Experience supporting senior engineers or lead coordinators in the delivery or assurance of CDM Principal Designer / PD coordination activities.
• Familiarity with digital CDM and design-risk management tools, and confidence working with structured data and evidence reporting.
• Exposure to multi-disciplinary design coordination on major programmes.
• Ability to interpret technical information and challenge constructively where appropriate.
• Working with CDM 2015 and design-stage risk management processes.

You do not need to have held the statutory CDM Principal Designer appointment yourself, this is a project engineering co-ordination role and formal chartered status is not essential at this stage. We are more interested in individuals with the right technical grounding, coordination experience, and appetite to develop in a programme-level assurance environment.

This role will suit someone who has moved beyond hands-on design delivery and is interested in contributing to programme-level governance, coordination, and technical assurance on a nationally significant infrastructure programme.