Principal Engineer

Lead. Innovate. Make an Impact.

Thames Water is hiring a Principal Engineer to shape the future of water infrastructure. You’ll lead design delivery for significant projects, ensure technical excellence, drive safety and risk management, and guide strategy with commercial insight. If you’re ready to take on a career-defining role and make a real difference to millions of customers, apply now.

What you’ll be doing as a Principal Engineer

• Plan the design activities for a small portfolio of projects, from concept design through feasibility and de-risking activities to contract award. Manage and monitor these activities to meet or outperform the project milestones and allocated budgets.
• Responsible for the Technical Assurance of detailed designs by contractors, design change reviews and waiver applications during construction.
• Responsible for providing the Project Teams with the technical support they need during the commissioning and handover of assets.
• Act as the key contact for the Contract Design Management regulations, designer, or Principal Designer role, as required.
• Conducted health and safety inspections of construction sites and collaborated with the construction assurance team engineers to continually improve our health and safety performance.
• Competent in risk management, including risk identification, mitigation, and control. This position's ability to de-risk and add value is a key skill.
• Building strong internal and external stakeholder relationships.
• Applying your commercial and contractual acumen alongside commercial and project management to guide the project delivery strategy.

The successful candidate will be based at Hampton Coal Wharf on a Hybrid Basis.

As part of this role, you must be on-site or in the office for up to 3 days a week, as required by the business.

36 hours a week - Monday to Friday.

Successful candidates should hold a valid driving licence and have access to personal transportation – this role comes with a £5,800 per annum car allowance.

What you should bring to the role

• Hold an Engineering Discipline Degree.
• Hold chartered status or be working towards it.
• Have a background in managing successful, relevant activities, e.g., capital projects. You will be experienced in delivering high-quality work with an excellent customer focus.
• Be able to demonstrate your capability with risk-based and analytical decision-making and using your excellent verbal and written skills, along with exceptional interpersonal skills.
• Excellent internal and external stakeholder communication skills.
• You will have knowledge and experience in delivering major engineering infrastructure projects up to £100m in value in an infrastructure regulatory environment.
• Have a background in risk-based and analytical decision-making for complex investment decisions.
• Have a background in people management and leading a team.

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary from £60,000 to £76,000 per annum, depending on the skills and experience of the successful candidate.
• This role will come with a car allowance of £5,800 per annum.
• 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with the length of service. (plus bank holidays).
• Annual Bonus.
• Private Medical Health Care.
• Contributory pension – Defined Contribution - Maximum of 12% - 2x employee contribution.
• Personal Medical Assessments – Open to all once a year.
• Wider benefits scheme including our benefits hub, which is packed full of offers and information to save you money and support your wellbeing.

Find out more about our benefits and perks

Who are we?

We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job and we’ve got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people, committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.

Learn more about our purpose and values

Working at Thames Water

Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work, where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family, you’ll enjoy meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

If you’re looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations, we’ll be here to support you every step of the way. Together, we can build a better future for our customers, our region, and our planet.

Real purpose, real support, real opportunities. Come and join the Thames Water family. Why choose us? Learn more.

We’re committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, whether that’s extra time, accessible formats, or anything else just let us know, we’re here to help and support.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business and meet colleagues.

Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.