Graduate Water Engineer

A graduate water engineering role focused on designing sustainable water infrastructure, conducting flood risk and water resource assessments, supporting coastal engineering projects, and developing hydraulic modelling and engineering design solutions.

Join our Water team

We have an exciting opportunity for a talented graduate level engineer to join our Water Group based in either our Bath, Leeds or London office, with the opportunity for travel across the UK and overseas.

Water is one of our planet’s most precious assets, and our engineers ensure that this finite resource is managed in the most sustainable way possible, whether it is at a building, city or regional project scale. We specialise in identifying innovative solutions to ensure maximum, sustainable performance.

Practising expertise in cloud-to-coast engineering, we deliver sustainable civil engineering solutions across the globe, from the earliest stages of project feasibility, through to planning and delivery through detailed design and site supervision. 

• This Graduate role is suitable for engineers beginning their career. 

• We also have a Graduate Hydrologist role available.  

Our Projects

The Water Group works at a range of project scales; from individual buildings through to regional strategies; from feasibility studies at project inception to detailed design and site supervision, practising our expertise across the UK and also the Middle East, North and South America, Africa and Asia. 

We practise our expertise in the following core areas of the water sector: 

• Flood Risk Management 

• Water Resource Management 

• Coastal and Maritime 

• Waterfront development 

• River Engineering 

Our team has delivered an enviable range of projects of varying scale and complexity. In London, the team has helped to deliver some of the most high profile riverside developments on the Thames including Lots Road Power Station and Battersea Power Station redevelopment.

Since 2005 we have been “water” at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, taking responsibility for site wide flood risk management, drainage strategy, water strategy and the waterspace masterplan. Outside of London our engineers have delivered lasting, sustainable transformation of the area around Folkestone Harbour and rehabilitated the River Medlock as part of the regeneration at Mayfield. Sandford Hydro is a fine example of our engineers using their hydraulic expertise to create a renewable energy scheme on the River Thames. 

The Water Group works across the globe and is able to create lasting change through climate change adaptation and providing resilience to Cities. The Detroit Future Cities and Nairobi Rivers Restoration are two examples where our engineers have used their skills to identify strategies that can bring lasting change in these cities. 

Nowhere is our ability to create change more evident than in the Middle East.

The Wadi Hanifah project in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, an exciting and challenging environment for water engineers, is a project that has rehabilitated the wadi, provided resilience in terms of flood risk management and transformed the relationship between the cities inhabitants and the natural environment.

This project has spawned a host of projects in the region that build on the success of Wadi Hanifah and further establish our reputation as industry leaders in the region.

Key Duties

• Undertake water resource and flood risk management assessments. 

• Support coastal design including harbour design and beach management. 

• Work competently on an independent basis, as well as collaborating within the design team.

• Communicate directly with external stakeholders, such as the Environment Agency, Local Planning Authorities, and design team members. 

• Develop numerical modelling skills for hydrology, open channel flows, piped networks, and coastal flushing. 

• Working with spatial mapping software such as QGIS. 

• Prepare concept and design drawings and take responsibility for delivering engineering solutions. 

We would like to hear from you if you are studying (or have graduated) in any of the below degrees:

• You will be educated to at least Degree level, with Master’s level preferred. 

• Civil Engineering, Engineering with Civil Engineering specialisation, other Engineering degrees preferred. Whatever your degree subject you should be able to demonstrate a passion for a sustainable approach to water. 

• You may also have basic CAD and/or GIS skills. 

• You will be a self-motivated, have a keen interest in sustainable engineering, an understanding of climate change adaptation and a desire to learn within the context of a strong, highly skilled team. 

Graduates at Buro Happold  

When you join Buro Happold you are embedded into an exciting network of engineers and consultants, that supports your career development.  We have a Graduate Connect learning programme that targets specific learning and supports your journey to chartership as well as our Young Employee's Forum that links all our young talent in terms of knowledge sharing, learning and very importantly socialising.