Be at the heart of actionFly remote-controlled drones into enemy territory to gather vital information.

Apply Now

Principal Process Engineer

Bristol
6 days ago
Create job alert

Locations: North-West, North Midlands, Bristol, or Scotland

About Us
One of the UK’s leading construction businesses, known for delivering projects that create lasting, positive impact in the communities they serve. As a FTSE 250 company with a £1.9 billion turnover and a workforce of more than 3,500 across its Building, Infrastructure and Specialist Services divisions, it offers both stability and the chance to work on some of the country’s most exciting schemes. Joining the business means becoming part of diverse, highly professional teams who bring strong commitment and expertise, giving you the platform to grow, stretch your capabilities and achieve long-term career ambitions.

Purpose Of The Role
As a Principal Engineer, you’ll play a key role within the Engineering Design Team, working with Discipline Managers, Design Managers and Design Leads to deliver high-quality discipline design in line with processes, the BMS and H&S regulations. You’ll bring strong technical expertise across water and wastewater projects, providing direction on complex design work and, where required, managing senior engineers and others. Alongside driving innovation, you’ll lead engineering governance for your discipline, ensure integration with other design activities, support supply chain procurement and assist site teams. You’ll also help the Discipline Manager with knowledge sharing, training and development of the team, including mentoring early-career engineers.

Key Accountabilities

  • Ensure technical compliance and excellence on projects. Default approver for design outputs to ensure technical assurance and quality control.

  • Seek optimal solutions and drive our teams to produce efficient designs that balance capital and operational cost benefits.

  • Assist, or operate as, the Principal Designer Lead in ensuring CDM regulations compliance.

  • Ensure design for buildability, safe construction, and operation, working alongside project delivery peers.

  • Ensure procedural governance is adhered to.

  • Working as part of the Design team to ensure scheme designs adhere to client specifications and standards.

  • Working as part of the Design team to ensure full compliance with relevant Health, Safety and Environmental Legislation.

  • Technical problem solving throughout the project life cycle (e.g. from concept design through to final construction support), moreover, to ensure that potential issues are identified, mitigated and or safely managed through technical governance and risk and opportunity management.

  • Champion of lessons learnt on projects, covering good and bad to feedback to be promoted or avoided on future schemes.

  • Line Management of multi-disciplinary Senior Design Engineers.

  • Developing and supporting staff to encourage them towards accreditation with professional bodies (e.g. IChemE).

    Person Specifics

  • Expert at liaising with client and supply chain to establish and develop best process solutions.

  • Expert in carrying out Process Calculations, Mass Balances, Heat Balances and Hydraulic Calculations.

  • Expert at preparing Process Block Diagrams, PFDs and P&IDs.

  • Expert at developing Process Control Philosophies and Process Commissioning Plans.

  • HAZOP leadership experience preferable.

  • DSEAR experience preferable.

  • Educated to Degree level in Engineering or other equivalent qualification.

  • Strong preference for Chartered Member of a recognised professional Engineering body.

  • Expert in a contracting / consulting environment, with commercial awareness.

  • Excellent knowledge of multi-disciplinary engineering design in water engineering.

  • Expert with strong experience in checking & approving discipline design packages.

  • Knowledge of current H&S legislation and British Standards and experience in applying them across designs.

    Our benefits:

    We put our people first and our benefits package reflects that by offering a comprehensive range of attractive options to help support your career on top of a competitive salary.

  • Generous holiday entitlement, increasing with years of service, plus the opportunity to purchase further holidays
  • Enrolled into our car benefit scheme – which depending on the role includes company car or car allowance
  • Agile working policy (flexible home working arrangements)
  • Annual pay review and discretionary bonus
  • A wide range of corporate discounts
  • Cycle to Work schemes
  • Comprehensive pension plan
  • Regular Save as You Earn share purchase scheme
  • Private medical scheme options are available for all salaried employees and our employee assistance programme also provides free 24/7 support to those who need it
  • Paid for yearly membership to one recognised professional association relevant to your role

Related Jobs

View all jobs

Principal Process Engineer

Principal Process Engineer

Principal Process Engineer

Principal Process Engineer

Senior/Principal Process Engineer

Principal Mechanical Process Engineer

Subscribe to Future Tech Insights for the latest jobs & insights, direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of service.

Industry Insights

Discover insightful articles, industry insights, expert tips, and curated resources.

Neurodiversity in Semiconductor Careers: Turning Different Thinking into a Superpower

Semiconductors sit quietly at the heart of everything: phones, cars, medical devices, satellites, data centres & everyday appliances. Behind every chip are people designing circuits, running fabs, testing wafers, modelling devices & solving problems most users never see. Those people are not all “textbook” engineers – & that’s a good thing. If you’re neurodivergent (for example living with ADHD, autism or dyslexia), you may have been told your brain is “too distracted”, “too literal” or “too disorganised” for a high-precision, high-reliability industry. In reality, many of the traits that made school or traditional offices hard can be huge strengths in semiconductor work: intense focus on detail, pattern-spotting in test data, creative thinking around yield & process issues. This guide is written for semiconductor job seekers in the UK. We’ll cover: What neurodiversity means in a semiconductor context How ADHD, autism & dyslexia strengths map to chip & fab roles Workplace adjustments you can ask for under UK law How to talk about your neurodivergence in applications & interviews By the end, you should have a clearer sense of where you might thrive in the semiconductor industry – & how to turn “different thinking” into a genuine career advantage.

Semiconductor Hiring Trends 2026: What to Watch Out For (For Job Seekers & Recruiters)

As we move into 2026, the semiconductor jobs market is in that awkward phase of being both overheated and cautious. Global chip demand is booming again, driven by AI, data centres, automotive, defence, 5G and consumer electronics. Fab capacity is set to hit record highs as new plants come online worldwide. At the same time, we are seeing: Waves of investment and hiring in some regions and companies. Restructuring and layoffs in others, as firms rebalance portfolios and chase AI margins. A deepening global skills shortage, with forecasts of major shortfalls in engineers and technicians by 2030. For the UK, the sector is small but strategically vital. The National Semiconductor Strategy, public funding and participation in European chip programmes are all aimed at building domestic capability in design, compound semiconductors and advanced manufacturing. So what does all this mean for semiconductor jobs in 2026 – and for employers trying to recruit in a brutally competitive market?

Semiconductor Recruitment Trends 2025 (UK): What Job Seekers Need To Know About Today’s Hiring Process

Summary: UK semiconductor hiring has shifted from credentials & tool lists to capability‑driven evaluation that emphasises shipped silicon, yield/reliability gains, verification coverage, DFM/DFT maturity, robust bring‑up, safe/efficient fab operations and measurable business impact (PPM, YMS wins, time‑to‑yield, test cost, opex). This guide explains what’s changed, what to expect in interviews and how to prepare—especially for RTL/ASIC/SoC, analog/mixed‑signal/RF, verification, physical design, DFT/ATPG, product/test, failure analysis & reliability, process/device, equipment/maintenance, EHS, supply chain & operations roles. Who this is for: Digital design & verification engineers, PD & timing closure, analog/mixed‑signal/RF designers, DFT/ATPG/BIST, STA/PDN/SI/PI specialists, product/test engineers (ATE/DFT), yield/reliability & FA, device/process (FEOL/BEOL), equipment & facilities, EHS/compliance, supply‑chain/outsourcing (OSAT/Foundry), and programme/product managers across the UK semicon ecosystem.