Senior Asset Health and Defect Engineer

We are seeking a Senior Civil Engineer with expertise in asset health inspections and defect remediation to join our Non-Infrastructure Civil Engineering Asset Health team.
This role focuses on water and wastewater treatment sites, where you’ll be responsible for undertaking inspections, identifying root causes of asset deterioration, and preparing detailed scopes of work to address identified defects.

What you’ll be doing as a Senior Asset Health and Defect Engineer

This is a highly collaborative role involving coordination with capital delivery, operations, and asset management teams. Your work will help ensure that our civil infrastructure assets remain safe, reliable, and compliant with OFWAT and internal standards.

Key responsibilities of the role include:  

• Lead and deliver a planned programme of inspections to assess the condition of civil assets at water and wastewater treatment facilities.
• Prepare detailed inspection reports that meet OFWAT requirements.
• Identify underlying causes of structural defects and recommend further investigations or surveys as necessary.
• Develop and prepare comprehensive scopes of work and cost estimates to address asset defects.
• Act as the Technical Lead on allocated schemes, overseeing engineering integrity and quality.
• Liaise with internal stakeholders, including operations, capital delivery, and asset management.
• Support the Line Manager and Head of Civil Engineering for the Critical Assets Risk Management process.
• Ensure civil assets are maintained in a safe, legal, and operable state, contributing to long-term asset management planning.
• Develop internal Asset Standards and procedures for inspection and remediation works.
• Develop tools for estimating the residual design life of assets.
• Collaborate with CAD technicians to produce detailed repair sketches and review technical drawings.
• Mentor and guide junior engineers to support their development.

Base location: Hybrid - Clearwater Court - RG1 8DB with frequent travel to different sites to carry out asset inspections.

Working pattern or hours: 36 hours, Monday- Friday

Necessary requirements for the role: A valid UK driving license

What you should bring to the role

To thrive in this role, the essential criteria you’ll need is:

• Degree level in civil engineering and working towards chartership or equivalent.
• Experience in construction of new and extension/rehabilitation of water and wastewater treatment plants.
• Ability to recognise root causes of defects especially for cracking of concrete structures.
• Extensive knowledge and application of suitable repair products especially crack repair of concrete structures.
• Knowledge of UK water industry standards, specifications and best practice.
• Ability to assess buildability of proposed engineering solutions.
• Experience in producing Design Management/execution plans and delivering to plan.
• Capability to meet confined space entry requirements.
• Good communication skills both internally and externally with ability to collaborate and influence colleagues.

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary from £48,000 to £60,000 per annum, depending on experience.
• 26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service. (plus bank holidays) 
• Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets.
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
• Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing, and your finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling, to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.

Find out more about our benefits and perks

Who are we?

We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job and we’ve got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people, committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.

Learn more about our purpose and values

Working at Thames Water

Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work, where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family, you’ll enjoy meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

If you’re looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations, we’ll be here to support you every step of the way. Together, we can build a better future for our customers, our region, and our planet.

Real purpose, real support, real opportunities. Come and join the Thames Water family. Why choose us? Learn more.

We’re committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, whether that’s extra time, accessible formats, or anything else just let us know, we’re here to help and support.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business and meet colleagues.

Disclaimer: Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.