Principal Civil Engineer - Water Major Projects

Location/s: Cambridge, Brighton, Reading, London, Leeds, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, Bristol; UK

Mott Mac Donald 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 Mac Donald is where people come to be brilliant.

The Water Consultancy Division is Mott Mac Donald'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.

Due to continued growth and strong market demand, we are expanding our Major Projects capability within our Water Consultancy Division and are looking to strengthen our team with a Principal Civil Engineer.

Working within our collaborative One Water team, you will provide technical leadership and strategic direction in the development and delivery of nationally significant infrastructure that supports water security, environmental resilience and thriving communities. Our work goes beyond engineering – we help shape places, protect the environment and deliver lasting social value for the communities we serve

As an employee-owned business, our people are at the heart of everything we do. At Principal level, you will play a key role in shaping our culture, developing our people, and influencing how we deliver excellence across our projects and teams.

You will lead the delivery of major water infrastructure programmes, particularly during the earlier engineering stages of feasibility, concept and outline design, guiding projects from early idea through to robust, consentable schemes, to safely navigate projects through the relevant planning and consenting processes, in particular the Development Consent Order process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) in the UK.

You will act as a technical leader across multiple projects, ensuring consistency, quality and innovation in delivery.

Our immediate portfolio, which continues to grow, includes a diverse range of major infrastructure, such as:

• Large diameter water transfer pipelines
• Water tunnels and conveyance systems
• Water recycling and reuse schemes
• Reservoirs and strategic storage solutions
• Flood and coastal risk management programmes

These projects play a critical role in addressing climate challenges, enhancing resilience, and delivering long-term benefits to communities and the environment.

Key responsibilities and duties include:

• Lead and oversee front-end engineering delivery across multiple projects
• Provide technical leadership and assurance, setting standards for quality and best practice
• Lead and coordinate multi-disciplinary teams, ensuring effective integration across disciplines
• Drive the development of consentable schemes, including NSIP/DCO processes
• Act as a senior technical reviewer/approver for key deliverables
• Build and maintain strong relationships with clients, regulators and strategic stakeholders
• Line manage, mentor and develop engineers and junior staff, supporting career progression and capability growth
• Champion technical excellence, innovation and continuous improvement across the team
• Play a key role in resource planning, team development and capability building
• Lead or significantly contribute to bids, proposals and strategic work-winning activities
• Ensure alignment with health, safety, environmental and quality standards

We are looking for a highly capable and collaborative engineer who combines technical leadership, people development and strategic thinking, with a passion for delivering innovative, sustainable and cost-effective solutions.

Essential:

• Chartered Engineer with a relevant degree
• Experience on major, complex infrastructure projects, ideally within the UK water sector
• Extensive experience in civil…