Job Details
Principal Bridge Engineer
37 hours (flexible working considered)
Salary £46,464 - £52,429
County Hall, Dorchester
What’s in it for you:
You will be joining the Bridge Team at Dorset Council providing the in-house design role for all Dorset Highways bridge and retaining wall structures. The team delivers new structures and maintenance projects from inception to completion of construction.
As a Principal Engineer within the team you would be managing a small number of engineers ranging from undergraduates placements to those nearing chartered status. Dorset Council is keen to support those who wish to obtain professional qualifications at all levels.
The projects range from the repair of small culverts, working on listed structures and slope stabilisation projects to grander projects in the public eye. The team is well respected within Dorset Council for its skill, knowledge, and ability to deliver projects and solve problems. The recognition extends to winning regional awards and commendations from the Institution of Civil Engineers, for a replacement footbridge at Charmouth Beach, the replacement of a bridge deck at Haywards Main, Shillingstone and the sensitive rebuilding of a collapsed wall at Grade II listed Wool Bridge (a bridge featured in Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy).
This is your opportunity to have an influence on how our local authority bridge service is delivered.
We positively encourage hybrid and flexible working that supports a healthy work-life balance.
What you can expect to be doing:
Our priority is to deliver maintenance and replacement projects to ensure that Dorset's bridges remain safe to use, supporting the local economy, active travel and recreation whilst being sensitive to the environment.
The Principal Engineer role will require you to take a lead on delivering your own projects and mentor other members of the team delivering their own projects and working towards professional qualifications. There will be an element of line management required.
Maintaining and developing good working relationships with statutory bodies, local communities and their representatives will require excellent communication skills. You will need to collaborate closely with the operations team to ensure a steady stream of work is delivered for construction.
On occasions, you will need to work with a term consultant to deliver projects that are of a specialist nature or require additional resources.
The majority of the work will be funded through the Local Transport Plan with additional funding coming from bids to corporate and national funds. You will need to manage expenditure against allocated budgets.
About you:
As a principal engineer in the bridge team will be required to demonstrate:
• Chartered Engineer (CEng) and professional membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) or the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE)
• Competence and confidence in the undertaking and checking of structural calculations in accordance with Eurocodes and National Annexes.
• In depth knowledge and experience of bridge engineering design, construction standards, procurement models, contract management, health and safety legislation and CDM.
• Confident and professional communication, both written and verbal.
Additional Information:
This role will involve the requirement to travel on an irregular basis. A full driving licence is required.
The ability to converse at ease with customers and provide advice in accurate written and spoken English is essential for the post.
We are challenging ourselves to become a more diverse and inclusive organisation. We recognise that recruitment and inclusion of individuals with diverse skills, perspectives and backgrounds will bring real strength to the council and our communities. and welcome applications from everyone.
We are We offer an interview to everyone who declares a disability and meets the essential criteria for the role.
We are keen to make our interviews accessible. Let us know on your job application if you have a disability and need any reasonable adjustments.
We also look for applicants who share . We will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process.
If appointed, the personal information we collect from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected, you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found at .
This role is UK based and we will need to establish your Right to Work as part of the appointment process.
We use generic job descriptions and person specifications. This means the job title on any attachments may differ from the job title in the advert. We may provide specific information in a context statement if relevant.
We cannot accept CVs in the place of an application form as we need the same range of information from all our candidates.
Find out more about .
