Principal Civil Engineer

About the Role

We are seeking a highly experienced Principal Civil Engineer to provide senior technical leadership across civil engineering design, design review, and contract administration assignments. The successful candidate will join a technically rigorous and professionally disciplined engineering consultancy environment, contributing to the delivery of civil infrastructure projects spanning civil, structural, water, drainage, roads, utilities, and site development disciplines. The role is suited to a technically strong senior engineer who combines design leadership, professional judgement, contract understanding, and the ability to mentor and develop engineering staff. The candidate must have substantial verifiable experience working in the design office of a reputable engineering consultancy firm and must be capable of leading multidisciplinary engineering design work at the highest technical level. Key Responsibilities: - Lead and review civil engineering designs for various civil infrastructure projects, ensuring technical accuracy, code compliance, and professional standards. - Review and validate drawings, calculations, bills of quantities (BOQs), specifications, cost estimates, and technical reports prepared by engineers and design teams. - Provide senior technical guidance and professional oversight to engineers, surveyors, and other project staff across design and supervision assignments. - Validate design assumptions, design calculations, and software-generated outputs, and exercise independent professional judgement in challenging or interrogating such outputs where necessary. - Support design coordination across civil, structural, water, drainage, road, utilities, and site development disciplines, ensuring design integrity and interdisciplinary consistency. - Support construction supervision, contract administration, and technical decision-making on infrastructure assignments. - Review contractor submissions, method statements, work programmes, claims, variations, and technical queries, providing considered and well-documented responses. - Support site instructions, progress reporting, valuation and certification review, and contract correspondence in accordance with applicable conditions of contract. - Mentor junior and mid-level engineers, promote strong technical and professional standards, and contribute to a disciplined, learning-focused design and supervision environment. - Read, interpret, and work with technical textbooks, engineering manuals, national and international standards, specifications, drawings, reports, and training materials as part of ongoing professional practice. - Assist in preparing technical proposals, fee submissions, technical reports, and client-facing documentation to a high professional standard.

Requirements

The candidate must be a COREN-registered Civil Engineer with significant post-qualification experience gained within civil engineering consultancy, infrastructure design, design review, and construction supervision. The candidate must have worked in the design office of a reputable engineering consultancy firm and must be able to demonstrate direct experience in preparing, coordinating, or reviewing engineering designs, drawings, structural and hydraulic calculations, BOQs, specifications, cost estimates, and technical reports. The candidate must be familiar with and proficient in specialised engineering software used for civil, structural, water, drainage, roads, utilities, or infrastructure design. Relevant software may include AutoCAD, Civil 3D, WaterCAD, EPANET, STAAD.Pro, Tekla Structural Designer, or similar recognised engineering design tools. At Principal Engineer level, candidates are expected not merely to list software names but to demonstrate the ability to interpret, validate, and critically review software-generated outputs prepared by others. Evidence of practical, senior-level design software use and output review will be a key differentiator. Experience in construction contract administration is required. The candidate must understand standard conditions of contract such as FIDIC or similar internationally recognised forms, and must be able to support contract interpretation, review of contractor submissions, variation and claims assessment, site instructions, progress reporting, and certification-related documentation. The role demands strong written communication skills, including the ability to produce well-structured technical reports, specifications, and professional correspondence. The candidate must demonstrate leadership ability, professional maturity, sound engineering judgement, and a commitment to mentoring and developing junior engineering staff. The ability to uphold rigorous technical and professional standards, support internal technical training, and maintain a disciplined engineering environment is essential. A willingness to engage in independent learning, to read and work with engineering textbooks, standards, specifications, drawings, and technical manuals, and to maintain currency with evolving engineering practice is expected of all staff at this level.

Must-Have Skills

• Civil engineering design and design review
• Design office practice and design coordination
• Preparation and review of drawings, calculations, BOQs, specifications, and technical reports
• Validation and critical review of software-generated engineering outputs
• Construction contract administration
• Knowledge of FIDIC or equivalent standard conditions of contract
• Review of contractor submissions, variations, claims, and site instructions
• Technical report writing and professional correspondence
• Leadership and mentoring of engineering staff
• Professional engineering judgement and attention to detail

Nice-to-Have Skills

• Experience on government, donor-funded, or internationally supervised infrastructure projects
• Experience across multiple infrastructure disciplines including water supply, drainage, roads, buildings, earthworks, utilities, structural works, or environmental infrastructure
• Experience reviewing contractor programmes, claims, and interim payment certification documentation
• Preparation of technical proposals and consultancy fee submissions
• Project management or contract management certification
• Contribution to internal technical training and knowledge-sharing

Technical Skills

Education

Disciplines: Civil Engineering

Required Certifications

• COREN Registration (Civil Engineering)