Associate Director Structural Engineer - Water

Job Description

Start here. Grow here.

Are you ready to work on some of the UK’s most technically demanding reinforced concrete structures and accelerate your career in technically complex infrastructure engineering?

Join our growing Water Structures team as an Associate Structural Engineer based in our Edinburgh office.

You will play a key leadership role delivering complex structural design solutions across major water and wastewater infrastructure programmes throughout Scotland and the wider UK&I region.

This role offers an opportunity to become one of the technical leaders in our business, driving future delivery.

At AECOM, we are delivering an exceptional portfolio of technically complex projects through long-term partnerships with key clients including Scottish Water, contractors and major public sector organisations. As one of the UK’s leading Water Design Firm, we combine global expertise with strong local delivery capability.

You will lead structural teams responsible for the structural analysis and design of a wide variety of structures which form the complex infrastructure that manages, treats and distributes water. You will provide technical leadership, mentoring and help grow our water business in Scotland.

AECOM has recently been appointed by Scottish Water as one of two Primary Designers for the SR27 Enterprise programme. This is a transformational multi-billion-pound investment which will reshape Scotland’s water infrastructure and position AECOM at the centre of one of the UK’s most significant infrastructure programmes. 

Here’s what you’ll do:

Technical Leadership

• Lead the structural design delivery of complex reinforced concrete water infrastructure projects.
• Act as technical authority for structural engineering decisions across multidisciplinary teams.
• Oversee design outputs ensuring quality, compliance and technical excellence.

Project Delivery

• Manage structural design packages from concept through detailed design and construction support.
• Ensure projects are delivered safely, efficiently and within programme and commercial constraints.
• Lead coordination with civil, mechanical, process and geotechnical disciplines.
• Support project directors and programme managers in client delivery activities.

Client & Commercial Influence

• Build trusted relationships with key clients and delivery partners.
• Lead technical discussions, workshops and design reviews with stakeholders.
• Support bids, proposals and technical work winning activities.
• Identify opportunities to improve project outcomes through innovation and engineering efficiency.

Team Development

• Mentor and develop Senior and Principal Engineers within the structural team.
• Support technical capability growth and knowledge sharing across the business.
• Help shape a high-performance engineering culture focused on technical excellence and accountability.

Health, Safety & Quality

• Champion a safety-first design culture aligned with AECOM’s Safety, Ethics and Quality principles.
• Ensure all designs comply with relevant standards, codes and quality procedures.
• Drive engineering assurance and design risk management throughout project delivery.

Current and Upcoming Projects Include:

Scottish Water SR27 Enterprise Programme

Major wastewater treatment upgrades

Reinforced concrete service reservoirs and pumping stations

Flood resilience and coastal protection schemes

Dam and reservoir infrastructure upgrades

Other large multidisciplinary water infrastructure programmes for water authorities across the UK&I

Qualifications

Ready to push the limits of what’s possible?

Here’s what we’re looking for:

• BEng or MEng in Civil or Structural Engineering.
• Chartered Engineer (MICE and/or MIStructE).
• Significant experience delivering reinforced concrete and structural steelwork structural design (within the water sector or other highly regulated infrastructure sectors)
• Significant and broad ranging structural design experience  
• Experience leading multidisciplinary project teams and managing technical delivery.
• Ability to communicate complex engineering decisions clearly to clients and stakeholders.

Leadership Profile

We are looking for structural thinkers. Not software operators.

You will be someone who:

• Leads with technical credibility
• Makes sound engineering decisions under pressure
• Develops high-performing teams
• Challenges poor assumptions and drives quality outcomes
• Understands the commercial impact of engineering decisions

Additional Information

We celebrate diversity, including neurodiversity, and believe it enriches our team. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and abilities. If you are an applicant with a disability that requires reasonable accommodation to complete the application process, please contact us at [email protected]. At AECOM, we value everyone's unique contributions and perspectives.

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At AECOM, we are committed to maintaining a secure and trustworthy recruitment process and take any fraudulent hiring activity seriously. To support this commitment, all newly hired employees are required to attend an in-person Day 1 onboarding at an AECOM office location as a condition of employment.

About AECOM

AECOM is the world’s trusted infrastructure consulting firm, delivering professional services throughout the project lifecycle – from advisory, planning, design and engineering to program and construction management. On projects spanning transportation, buildings, water, new energy and the environment, our public- and private-sector clients trust us to solve their most complex challenges. Our teams are driven by a common purpose to deliver a better world through our unrivaled technical and digital expertise, a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion, and a commitment to environmental, social and governance priorities. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm and its Professional Services business had revenue of $16.1 billion in fiscal year 2025. See how we are delivering sustainable legacies for generations to come at aecom.com and @AECOM.

Freedom to Grow in a World of Opportunity 

You will have the flexibility you need to do your best work with hybrid work options. Whether you’re working from an AECOM office, remote location or at a client site, you will be working in a dynamic environment where your integrity, entrepreneurial spirit and pioneering mindset are championed.

You will help us foster a safe and respectful workplace, where we invite everyone to bring their whole selves to work using their unique talents, backgrounds and expertise to create transformational outcomes for our clients.

AECOM provides a wide array of compensation, benefits and well-being programs to meet the diverse needs of our employees and their families. We’re the world’s trusted global infrastructure firm, and we’re in this together – your growth and success are ours too.

Join us, and you’ll get all the benefits of being a part of a global, publicly traded firm – access to industry-leading technology and thinking and transformational work with big impact and work flexibility. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we believe in each person’s potential, and we’ll help you reach yours.

We are a Disability Confident Employer and will offer an interview to applicants who have a disability or long-term condition, who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role. Please let us know using this email address [email protected]  if you would like to apply through the Disability Confident Interview Scheme.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.