Senior Project Engineer - Civil Engineering High Speed

Senior Project Engineer, High Speed Civils,

Our client is recruiting a Senior Project Engineer to work across the EKFB route on one of the most significant civil engineering programmes underway in the UK. This is a client-side role, you will be making sure that what the contractor builds is what the client actually wants, that it meets every applicable standard, and that the evidence exists to prove it. Your day-to-day purpose is to be the client's engineering eyes across a wide civils scope, taking a whole-system view and lending your experience wherever it is needed.

The route-wide remit means the work is genuinely varied. You will move across disciplines and workstreams rather than sitting inside a single package, which makes the breadth of your civils background as important as any specialism you bring.

What the role involves

You will lead the technical assurance of design and construction activity across your scope, reviewing contractor deliverables, supporting Technical Assurance Reviews and carrying out targeted checks to make sure that what is being built complies with the client's requirements. Where it does not, you will identify the gap, report it clearly and work with the relevant parties to resolve it. The goal is always to recover and protect the client's position, not simply to record non-compliance.

You will discharge NEC3 Supervisor duties and act as Principal Designer Representative under CDM Regulations 2015 within your delegated authority. You will engage directly with contractors and joint venture partners, communicating technical requirements with clarity and following up to make sure they are understood and applied. Where engineering issues arise, you will bring your own judgement to bear and draw on subject matter experts across the programme when the situation calls for it.
You will also work alongside commercial and project colleagues to understand the cost and schedule implications of technical change, contributing to solutions that are properly balanced rather than resolved on engineering terms alone. Coordination across neighbouring contracts and interfaces with railway systems is a live part of the role, and you will take an active part in keeping those connections well managed.

What you need to bring

Your background is in civil engineering on major infrastructure programmes. The discipline is less important than the scale: road, rail, water or comparable programmes will all be relevant, provided you have worked at a level where multi-disciplinary complexity and competing demands on cost and programme were part of your daily reality.

You will have operated in a client-side or assurance-focused capacity, or have enough experience in a delivery environment to understand what the client-side role requires. You will know how to read a contractor's output critically and how to assess whether what is being produced genuinely meets the requirement or is being presented as though it does.

A working knowledge of UK construction regulations, including CDM, is expected. Familiarity with NEC3 contract environments and the duties that come with them is also required. Chartered Engineer status or active membership of a relevant professional institution is expected, though equivalent experience will be considered.

Useful to have

Experience working directly on HS2 or a comparable high-speed rail programme. A background that spans more than one phase of a major infrastructure lifecycle, from design through to construction and handover. Experience of coordinating design and assurance activity across multiple supply chain organisations. Familiarity with stage gate processes and the preparation of assurance evidence.

The role can be based in London or Birmingham, for some parts, but working with the IPT teams across the EKFB route is required for some of your hybrid working, including but not limited to locations near Wendover, Aylesbury, Brackley and Southam.

If this looks right for you, please send your CV across and we will be in touch.