Senior Civil Design Engineer

Senior Civil Design Engineer – Capital Delivery

Join Thames Water as a Senior Civil Design Engineer and play a leading role in shaping and assuring the delivery of some of our most complex and critical capital investment projects.

Within our Water Non‑Infrastructure (WNI) portfolio, you’ll provide senior technical leadership across major potable water treatment works and storage reservoir schemes throughout the Thames Valley. This role is ideal for an experienced civil engineer who thrives on technical challenge, governance, and influencing high‑value engineering outcomes.

This is a role with real impact. You’ll act as a senior technical authority—setting direction, providing assurance, and ensuring that designs and constructed assets meet Thames Water’s exacting standards for safety, resilience, and sustainability.

What you’ll be doing as a Senior Civil Design Engineer

• Provide senior technical leadership across civil design activities for Water Non‑Infrastructure assets, including treatment processes and reservoirs.
• Lead, support, and constructively challenge Designers, Contractors, and Consultants — ensuring solutions meet Thames Water standards, legislation, and best practice.
• Act as a trusted technical advisor to Project Managers, supporting governance, risk management, and Thames Water’s Client responsibilities under CDM 2015.
• Review and assure designs, methodologies, and technical submissions — promoting safe, buildable, and sustainable solutions.
• Identify and manage technical risk early, embedding value engineering and whole‑life thinking throughout delivery.
• Provide technical assurance through design, construction, commissioning, and handover — ensuring assets are safe, compliant, and future‑ready.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of Technical Asset Standards and support capability development across teams.

Working Location & Hours

• Location: Hybrid – Clearwater Court, with 2–3 days a week on site and in the office.
• Hours: 36 hours per week, Monday to Friday.

What you should bring to the role

• Significant experience providing technical leadership on civil engineering projects within the water sector or a comparable regulated or process‑led industry.
• A Civil Engineering qualification (Degree, HNC, or HND), with experience in structures, reservoirs, or similar heavy civil assets.
• Strong understanding of construction health & safety, CDM Regulations, and Designer/Client responsibilities.
• Experience developing, reviewing, and assuring engineering designs and technical solutions.
• Confidence to influence, mentor, and make robust engineering decisions in complex environments.

Chartered or working towards Chartered status is welcomed — but if you feel you meet most of the criteria, we’d still love to hear from you.

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary from £55,000 to £65,000 per annum.
• Annual Leave -26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with the length of service. (plus bank holidays)
• Access to many benefits to help you take care of your health and your family's health and well-being, and your finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.
• Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets.

Find out more about our benefits and perks (Please note different T&Cs apply if on secondment)

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.