Digital Engineering Lead

Hybrid | Warrington | Competitive Salary + Exceptional Benefits

Ready to redefine how a FTSE‑listed utility designs, models and delivers complex infrastructure? At United Utilities, we’re accelerating our digital transformation — and we need a visionary digital engineering leader who can turn cutting‑edge technology into real‑world performance, efficiency and design excellence.

This is your opportunity to shape the digital toolchain that underpins our entire engineering capability, from BIM and automation to drones, digital twins and immersive modelling environments.

As our Digital Engineering Lead, you’ll own and drive the organisation’s digital engineering strategy — expanding today’s Digital Design (CAD) capability into a fully integrated, future‑ready digital ecosystem. You’ll lead a team of specialists, govern the full suite of digital tools, and embed data‑rich, automated and standardised workflows across the internal design function.

You’ll champion innovation, ensure digital tools are robust and well‑governed, and position United Utilities at the forefront of digital engineering within the water sector and beyond.

• Leading the Digital Engineering Strategy, unifying CAD, BIM, 3D/4D modelling, drones and emerging technologies into a single coherent vision.
• Defining and delivering the roadmap for digital transformation, including AI‑supported modelling, automation, immersive environments and digital twins.
• Embedding digital workflows that improve design quality, coordination, efficiency and predictability.
• Overseeing the governance, performance and evolution of all digital engineering applications — CAD, BIM platforms, 3D/4D tools, intelligent P&IDs, drone systems and model‑based engineering.
• Leading upgrade strategies to ensure tools remain secure, resilient and aligned to industry best practice.
• Ensuring seamless integration between design tools, CDEs, information management workflows and emerging digital platforms.
• Developing processes for automated data capture (drone surveys, LiDAR, photogrammetry) and embedding this data into design workflows.
• Owning governance for drone‑enabled surveys, ensuring safe, compliant and value‑adding use across the business.
• Integrating drone‑derived imagery, scans and models into digital engineering outputs to enhance design intelligence.
• Leading the development of digital engineering standards — CAD, BIM, naming conventions, modelling rules and information requirements.
• Driving a consistent, standardised approach to digital engineering across the design community.
• Managing and developing the digital engineering team, ensuring capability, capacity and continuous professional growth.
• Designing and delivering training programmes to uplift digital fluency across the engineering function.
• Building a culture of innovation, continuous improvement and digital confidence.
• Working closely with Technology Services, Information Management, Discipline Leads and Project Delivery Teams to ensure digital outputs support reliable, efficient design delivery.
• Influencing software vendors and industry partners to keep UU at the forefront of digital capability.
• Managing performance, budgets and cost‑to‑serve for digital engineering activities.
• Producing productivity norms, forecasts and performance insights to drive efficiency and automation.
• Representing UU at industry forums and contributing to digital engineering thought leadership.
• Providing expert advice to senior leaders and stakeholders on digital engineering matters.
• Leading the development and improvement of UU’s engineering Digital Design standards and procedures.
• Ensuring robust training and development frameworks are in place for all digital engineering users.

• Relevant degree‑level qualification or equivalent experience.
• Strong leadership and coaching capability with experience managing technical teams.
• Extensive experience across digital engineering — CAD, BIM, 3D/4D modelling and emerging technologies such as drones and AI.
• Knowledge of drone platforms, digital surveying technologies and integration of drone data into engineering workflows.
• Demonstrable ability to drive…