Costain Group PLC
Principal C&I Engineer
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JOB DESCRIPTION
Fantastic opportunity for a Principal C&I Engineer to join CEL - Costain’s multi-disciplinary engineering and design team which delivers comprehensive design solutions across a range of UK Infrastructure sectors - Energy, Defence & Nuclear, Water, Rail, Roads and Integrated Transport.
The team covers the full project lifecycle from feasibility and concept through to detailed design and construction support focusing on the delivery of sustainable, future ready and safe-by-design outputs with a strong constructability ethos.
As a Principal C&I Engineer, you will be responsible for delivering key elements of design work on projects, primarily through the management of technical resources to deliver on company and client promises.
This role requires significant technical interface management between delivery teams, driving progress, ensuring compliance and quality, and resolving complex challenges.
You may act as the single point of contact for the project discipline team, hold budget and resource responsibility, and maintain line management duties while executing hands-on design production, checking, and approval.
This full time, staff role typically involves working three days a week in the Manchester office with a flexible approach to home working to promote wellbeing.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Line Management: Provide direct line management for a group of C&I engineers/designers, including performance reviews, upskilling, mentoring, and reward coordination with the Discipline Manager.
- Project Delivery: Act as the single point of contact for project disciplines, taking responsibility for technical compliance, quality, resource planning, and budget performance.
- Technical Review & Approval: Execute the production, checking, and approval of C&I engineering deliverables (calculations, scopes of work, specifications) aligned with your discipline.
- Preparing equipment and materials requisitions for control systems, safety systems, analyser houses, field instrumentation and other instrument equipment.
- Interface Coordination: Coordinate project work activities between multi-disciplinary teams, clients, and construction teams, leading meetings and managing change control.
- Ensuring all applicable national and international codes of practice, legislation and company/client standards and procedures are complied with.
- Estimation: Lead the development of robust estimates (scoping, hours, risks, assumptions) for tendering/project change, ensuring outcomes align with project and client targets.
- Leadership Support: Actively learn and share best practices across the team, champion safety performance, and deputise for Chief C&I Engineer or C&I Discipline Manager in their absences.
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ESSENTIAL
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
- Extensive engineering design experience across the full engineering lifecycle (from tendering to close-out).
- Competence in the specification and design of Safety Instrumented systems in line with IEC 61511 and IEC 61508.
- Proven line management and mentoring experience with the ability to drive career development.
- Competence in the requirements for installation of instrumentation in process plants involving potentially explosive areas.
- Experience in the requirements for CE marking of plant and equipment, including ATEX, PED, Low Voltage Directive, Machinery Directive and EMC Compliance.
- Awareness of risk identification, quantification, management and of HSE requirements.
- Proficient in project reporting data (KPIs, carbon tracking, change management, and risk/opportunity reporting).
- Clear working knowledge of the UK Regulatory framework associated with your discipline (e.g., CDM regulations).
- Strong organisation, communication, and time-management skills with a collaborative approach.
- Applicants must hold or be eligible to undergo National Security Vetting (NSV) Security Check (enhanced) (SC(e)) level.
DESIRABLE
- Mobility to attend client offices, projects sites, Factory Acceptance Tests and various industry events.
- Experience in multiple sectors and an innovative approach to driving new engineering delivery methods.
- Experience with line management, mentoring, and site/construction environments.
QUALIFICATIONS
Essential
- Degree qualified in a relevant engineering discipline (ideally 2:1 or better) or equivalent educational experience.
- Professional qualifications such as Chartered Engineer (CEng) or Incorporated Engineer (IEng) status.
- Valid safety passport or industry equivalent.
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Desirable
- Advanced technical training or post-graduate qualifications.
ABOUT US
Costain helps to improve people’s lives with integrated, leading edge, smart infrastructure solutions across the UK’s energy, water, transportation and defence markets. We help our clients improve their business performance by increasing capacity, improving customer service, safeguarding security, enhancing resilience, decarbonising and delivering increased efficiency. Our vision is to be the UK’s leading smart infrastructure solutions company. We will achieve this by focusing on blue chip clients whose major spending plans are underpinned by strategic national needs, regulatory commitments, legislation or essential performance requirements. We offer our clients leading edge solutions that are digitally optimised through the following five services which cover the whole lifecycle of their assets: future-shaping strategic consultancy; consultancy and advisory; digital technology solutions; asset optimisation and complex programme delivery. Our culture and values underpin everything we do.
Costain appreciate the time and effort taken when applying for one of our positions but, due to the high volume of responses, we are unable to provide individual feedback on candidates at application phase.
We do share individual feedback following an interview.
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that disclose they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer.
It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people.
For more details please go to the Disability Confident website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/disability-confident-campaign
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