Senior Civil Design Engineer

82307 – Senior Civil Design Engineer

The Senior Civil Design Engineer will report to the Design Lead and will be based in our Bury St Edmunds office. You will be a permanent employee in our UK Power Networks team.

You will attract a salary of £84,160 and a bonus of 3%.  This role can also offer blended working after probationary period (6 months) - 3 days in the office and 2 remotely.

Close Date: 09/11/2026

We also provide the following additional benefits:

• 25 Days Annual Leave plus bank holidays.
• Reservist Leave – Additional 18 days full pay and 22 unpaid
• Personal Pension Plan – Personal contribution rates of 4% or 5% (UK Power Networks will make a corresponding contribution of 8% or 10%)
• Tenancy Loan Deposit Scheme, Season Ticket Loan
• Tax efficient benefits: Cycle to Work, Home & Tech, and Green Car Leasing Schemes
• Occupational Health support
• Switched On – scheme providing discount on hundreds of retailers' products
• Discounted gym membership
• Employee Assistance Programme

Job Purpose:

Production of civil designs from a defined scope provided by Project Managers, Customers or Design Leads, including project costings, meeting the requirements for time, quality and budget. Projects could be contestable or non-contestable from internally driven work (APP) or customer connections.

The Senior Civil designer will liaise with the Project Manager, Electrical designer and Principle Design Co-ordinator, ensuring design compliance, adherence to the Construction Design & Management Regulations (CDM) 2015 and relevant standards providing regulated network solutions for all customers.

The successful applicant shall be capable of satisfying the following general requirements:

• Producing Civil and Structural Designs that can be constructed in compliance with standards and CDM 2015 requirements
• Produce effective designs, which conform to all relevant Codes of Practice and company and industry standards in conjunction with Electrical engineering works
• Oversee and contribute to the production of technical, commercial and contractual documents for procurement of engineering products
• Ensure compliance with all relevant legislation, regulations and company procedures.
• Compliance with design assurance and audit processes
• Supporting and mentoring Trainee and Graduate Engineers to enhance their technical knowledge and experience.
• Comply with the requirements of the designer as determined by the CDM 2015 Regulations,  including multi-disciplinary design coordination.  
• Fulfil the role of Principal Designer as determined by the CDM 2015 Regulations for allocated schemes.

Principal Accountabilities:

• You will provide an excellent service to the customer.
• You will be a team Player in a dedicated team of designers, estimators and planners.
• You will liaise with the operational teams to ensure a smooth process from initial enquiry through to final connection and business closure.
• You will comply with the requirements of the designer as determined by the CDM 2015 Regulations  
• You will ensure design eliminates or reduces any hazards which may give rise to risks; and reduce risks from any remaining hazards in conjunction with the CDM 2015 Regulations
• You will ensure that the design provides sufficient information about aspects of the design of the structure or its construction or maintenance requirements that will adequately assist clients, the CDM team, other designers and contractors.
• You will collaborate with UKPN designers or various disciplines.
• You will work with external engineering organisations and customers/partners representing UKPN to best effect.
• You will input into construction ideas and techniques.
• You will manage and communicate with the CAD team to produce design drawings suitable for construction. This would not include line management.

Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications and Experience:

Essential: 

• Civil Engineering degree with relevant Substation, Overhead Line and Cable experience.
• Civil / structural engineering background in civil engineering and building works within the Utilities sector.
• Competence in resolving civil engineering issues and ability to provide a sound understanding of company policies and their application to this role. Awareness of current and technological developments in civil / structural engineering.
• Knowledge of AutoCAD (also Bentley software would be beneficial).
• A good safety culture and sound understanding of Construction Design and Management 2015 (CDM) Regulations and their application in this role including IOSH training.
• Work unsupervised, set and comply with own targets, identify cost-saving solutions.
• Previous experience of approving designs.

Desirable: 

• Chartered Engineer or working towards achieving Chartership.
• A good level of business, environmental, safety, financial, and regulatory awareness;
• A general appreciation of financial reporting systems;
• Knowledge of the ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 procedures relevant to the team's activities;
• Knowledge of Microsoft desktop applications, in particular: Word, Excel, Project and PowerPoint;
• Experience of planning permissions.
• Experience of site surveying and setting out.
• Experience of building services.
• Broad knowledge of power engineering plant and equipment i.e. Transformers, Switchgear, cables, and protection schemes.
• Experience of: Roadworks, external works including drainage, building reinforced concrete foundations, superstructure including structural steel works, brick block cavity walls, different types of roofing, reinforced concrete structures.

Should you not currently have the full range of essential skills, qualifications and competencies listed above, there may be an opportunity for further training/development to equip you appropriately. If you do not have all relevant competencies for the core grade, it will be appropriate to appoint at a lower grade until you have developed the required competencies.

Nature and Scope:

Largely desk based, the post also requires to be able to visit operational sites, construction sites, site meetings, manufactures meetings (at their premisses) and internal review meetings.

UK Power Networks is committed to a policy of equality in its employment practices and values a workforce that is representative of the customers we serve and the communities in which we work. We consider our people to be crucial to achieving success. We believe that it is important for our employees to strike a sensible balance between work and life outside work and will consider requests for working arrangements under the Work-Life Solutions process.

UK Power Networks is committed to securing the highest standards of health and safety at work and of care for the environment. Applicants will be expected to have an appropriate level of understanding of the arrangements for health, safety and the environment that apply to this business and are required for this vacancy.

Health & Safety Responsibilities:

Managers and supervisors carry both legal and company responsibilities for ensuring the health and safety of their employees, those under their control and those who might be affected by the work undertaken, i.e. public, visitors and employees of other organisations. This includes briefing individuals working for them and ensuring there is the necessary understanding, competence and application of requirements to work safely and without harming the environment.

Employees will ensure they fully understand the health and safety risks involved in their work activities and their responsibility to apply the controls needed to manage those risks to acceptable levels. Similarly where work activities can have an adverse impact upon the environment, and particularly where there are legal requirements, employees will understand those impacts and the controls they must ensure are applied.

Employees need to be aware that for some craft and operational roles that work at height, or use fall arrest devices, there is an upper weight limit of 116Kg due to maximum safe working load of the safety equipment that is used.

If in doubt ask!

We’re committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone feels welcome, valued and able to be themselves. We encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. If you meet the essential criteria and believe your skills, experience or transferable strengths could make you a great fit for the role, we’d love to hear from you. If you need any adjustments or support during the recruitment process, please let us know and we’ll be happy to help.

We may use AI-enabled tools to support elements of our recruitment process. These tools help us manage applications more efficiently and consistently, but they do not make hiring decisions. All recruitment decisions are made by trained employees using human judgement and oversight. We are committed to using AI responsibly, fairly and transparently, in line with our legal, regulatory and ethical obligations.

Your data will be hosted within a secure environment and will only be used by UK Power Networks for the purpose of which it is intended. The data is used only as an input to provide insights for the screening process and is not retained by the model or by UK Power Networks’ contractor, shared with the contractor’s other customers or with OpenAI, or used to train or improve AI models.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. Where applicable, this role is subject to safer recruitment processes and robust pre‑employment checks

If you have any queries in connection to this vacancy or your application, please contact us at careers@ukpowernetworks.co.uk quoting the vacancy reference number and a member of the team will get in touch with you as soon as possible.