Highways Maintenance Operative
| Posting date: | 27 May 2026 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 10 June 2026 |
| Location: | CA11 0DN |
| Company: | Kier Group |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 11134 |
Summary
We're looking for a Highways Maintenance Operative to join our Area 13 M&R team based in Cumbria.
Location: Locations within Cumbria (Penrith - CA11 0DN, Penrith - Tebay, CA10 3SS, Carlisle - CA4 0RH or Workington - CA14 4JH)
Hours: Shift work: 4 days on, 4 days off, 4 nights on, 4 days off
Salary: £13.92 (non-HGV) or £15.45 (HGV) per hour + 25% Shift Allowance
We are unable to offer certificates of sponsorship to any candidates in this role.
Area 13 network covers motorways and trunk roads in Cumbria and North Lancashire. As a Highways Maintenance Operative, you'll play a vital role in keeping our roads safe and well-maintained. You'll be part of a dedicated team responsible for delivering Traffic Management, routine and cyclic maintenance works, winter service, emergency response, and reactive repair works across the network. This is a hands-on role where every day brings variety and the opportunity to make a real difference to road users.
What will you be responsible for?
As a Highways Maintenance Operative, you'll be working within the Area 13 M&R team, supporting them in delivering essential maintenance and emergency response services. Your day to day will include:
-Installing, maintaining, and removing temporary traffic management to ensure road safety
-Responding promptly to incidents and working collaboratively with National Highways to clear scenes quickly
-Undertaking severe weather duties including gritting and flood clearance
-Carrying out repairs to highways assets such as safety barriers, fences, signs, and drainage systems
-Performing routine maintenance activities including drainage clearance, litter picking, sign cleaning, road sweeping, and grass strimming
What are we looking for?
This role of Highways Maintenance Operative is great for you if:
-You can perform effectively under pressure in safety-critical environments
-You're self-motivated with strong communication and interpersonal skills
-You work well both as part of a team and independently with minimal supervision
-You can accurately complete written and electronic documentation
-You hold a Full driving licence
Rewards and benefits
We're proud to be able to offer our brilliant people a wide variety of benefits that you can tailor to your needs. You can see more information of benefits here.
Diversity and inclusion
Making Kier a diverse and inclusive place to work is a huge priority for us. We're proud of the steps we've taken so far, but we know we must always do more. Our employees are key in shaping Kier's diversity and inclusion initiatives and our people have made a huge impact on how we work, by using their experiences to shape our policies. You can see our D&I action plan here.
As a Disability Confident employer, we will ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this role will be offered an interview.
Due to the nature of this role, you will also be required to complete a Basic Disclosure and Barring Service Check (applicants with convictions will be treated on a case-by-case basis. We do not discriminate based on an applicant's conviction history or the details of any convictions disclosed to us). Some roles may also be subject to further pre-employment checks.
We look forward to seeing your application to #joinkier.
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares 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 Disability Confident.