Principal Engineer
| Posting date: | 19 February 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £47,410 to £54,210 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 26 February 2026 |
| Location: | Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, NG15 0DS |
| Company: | National Highways |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 7120_1771503625 |
Summary
National Highways have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Principal Engineer to join our Improvements Team within the Operations Directorate in the Midlands region in our Stafford Park or other Midlands regional office. The role will be involved with the development of projects for the National Highways Designated Funds, and other highway improvements workstreams within Operations. Working alongside other project managers and professional engineers, you will lead in the development and delivery of a wide range of network improvement schemes, to ensure that the strategic road network (SRN) safely meets the requirements of our customers now and into the future.
Throughout the planning and development stage of a project, you will manage the activities and resources involved in the identification and development of early solutions to address improvement needs, across safety, congestion, sustainable travel & environmental topics. Working with key stakeholders including project teams and third parties you will help co-ordinate works across the region, providing technical support and ensuring adherence to our defined asset class strategies, policies and standards. You will take projects to formal reviews at stage gates to confirm progress with key work items, and liaise with other internal teams within Operations Midlands, to discuss and agree key delivery & programming details.
This role shall provide an excellent opportunity to apply and develop your engineering & project management knowledge, skills and experience within a progressive organisation investing billions across the strategic road network.
You will be required to drive as part of your role and you will need to have a full clean driving licence to be considered for this position and during employment.
Please note that the role may also require work during unsociable hours.
What you'll be leading on
- Ensure the health and safety needs and wellbeing of customers and employees are fully considered and accounted for throughout the planning and delivery of each service activity
- Project management of highway improvement schemes from initial options stage though to the end of technical design
- Conduct and lead the development of early solutions for improvements, including the compiling and checking of relevant documents, evidence and options for value management, considering new techniques, materials, buildability, and costs
- Produce and developNEC contract task briefs to enable procurement of external design resources and survey works
- Management of consultants & tasks, to ensure delivery to time, cost & quality
- Supporting technical reviews and approvals for preliminary and detailed design solutions.
To be successful you'll need
- A Chartered or Incorporated Engineer and a member of a relevant professional body or working towards these statuses with appropriate experience
- Experience of highway infrastructure design, construction and delivery method & strong knowledge of CDM 2015
- Experience in developing highway improvement schemes from identification through to the end of preliminary design
- Project management experience - related qualifications, e.g. APM, Prince2 (desirable)
- Awareness and understanding of contract & project management under the NEC3 and NEC4 forms of contract (desirable)
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