Principal Mechanical Engineer - @One Alliance

Mott MacDonald Bentley are recruiting for a Principal Mechanical Engineer to join the Anglian Water @One Alliance.

As part of Anglian Water’s @one Alliance, we are on a mission to create a sustainable and resilient future for water. With an ambitious £2.3 billion capital investment in AMP8, we are revolutionising infrastructure, sustainability, and digital transformation to protect the environment and support growing communities

Your Purpose

As a Principal Mechanical Engineer within one of our four business units, you’ll be at the forefront of designing and delivering innovative water solutions. You’ll lead technical delivery, drive sustainable and cost-effective design decisions, and guide junior engineers to deliver work that’s safe, future-proof, and built to last.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Lead and review mechanical designs to ensure compliance, safety, and performance excellence.

• Collaborate with stakeholders to deliver projects on time, within budget, and to high quality standards.

• Promote the use of digital tools and modular construction techniques.

• Drive Health & Safety by design, identifying improvements and reducing whole-life costs.

• Champion sustainability, carbon reduction, and innovation across the design lifecycle.

• Mentor junior engineers and create a culture of technical excellence and continuous learning.

• Work closely with project and engineering leaders, contributing to strategic decisions.

About You

You will ideally have:

• A degree in Mechanical Engineering (or related discipline).

• Preferably chartered, or working towards chartered status.

• Proven experience in mechanical design—ideally in the water sector or similar complex infrastructure environment.

• Strong understanding of industry standards, health and safety legislation, and construction principles.

Leadership experience with a passion for coaching, mentoring and developing others.

Proficiency in CAD and engineering software.

Confident decision-maker, with a collaborative mindset and strong communication skills

Depending on your skills, experience, and interests, you could be aligned to one of our four business units:

Place Based Thinking

The Place Based Thinking team delivers some of the largest and most complex projects across the @one Alliance. Made up of six Senior Project Manager teams, we oversee 19 catchments, covering key sites such as Whitlingham, Flag Fen, Great Billing, Cotton Valley, Bedford, Colchester, and Ipswich Cliff Quays. These projects involve managing all parts of the network from rising and gravity mains, pumping stations, high spilling overflows, and water recycling centres.

Water

The Water Business Unit provides strategic support across the clean water network, covering both system performance and infrastructure planning. We assess the future hydraulic state of the network in response to population growth and increased demand, support the design and delivery of capital and infrastructure schemes to ensure hydraulic resilience, and work with optimisation teams to enhance overall network efficiency.

Water Recycling (East and West)

Our Water Recycling Business Unit, split into East and West regions, is responsible for the collection, conveyance, and treatment of wastewater across an extensive network. We operate over 76,000 km of sewerage infrastructure and 1,163 treatment centres, ensuring safe and sustainable discharge to the environment while driving innovation and environmental performance.

At @one Alliance, you’ll be part of a dynamic, forward-thinking team that is shaping the future of the UK’s water infrastructure. We offer a collaborative and innovative working environment, where your expertise will be valued and your ideas will drive meaningful change.

What we can offer: 

At Mott MacDonald Bentley you will be offered a competitive salary which is commensurate based on your experience.

Our core benefits include: 

• Pension matched by employer up to 7% 
• Option to purchase, sell and carry over annual leave 
• Life assurance / Private Medical Insurance / Critical Illness Insurance and Health Screening options 
• 26 weeks maternity leave, enhanced paternity and adoption leave/ Shared parental leave  
• Payment of annual professional institution subscription costs 
• Gym Membership discounts UK wide  
• Cycle to work scheme, interest free season ticket loans and discounted dining cards also available  

About Mott MacDonald

Mott MacDonald is a global engineering, management and development consultancy.

Our purpose is to improve society by considering social outcomes in everything we do, relentlessly focusing on excellence and digital innovation, transforming our clients’ businesses, our communities and employee opportunities.

A fundamental part of this is respecting each person’s differences and striving to meet their needs.

Our values: progress, respect, integrity, drive, excellence.

We believe that because we care about what we do, we do things better.

We know that our people are our most valuable asset, so we are dedicated to investing in them, through our comprehensive training and development schemes, exposure to the wider design and build business and endless opportunities.

We are committed to creating a workplace where our people are safe, have a voice, can reach their full potential, and everyone shares in the rewards.

You’ll have the opportunity to contribute to projects that benefit our communities – from helping to secure water supplies for future generations to protecting homes and businesses from flood risk – our projects make a real difference.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

A Mott MacDonald Bentley we welcome applications from all sectors of the community. We are dedicated to building a diverse workplace where everyone feels included, has the opportunity to thrive, and is treated with respect.

Even if you don’t meet every requirement for this role but are excited about the opportunity, we encourage you to apply. Find out more about our approach to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion here: https://www.mottmacbentley.co.uk/people.

We are committed to ensuring that our recruitment practices are barrier-free and as inclusive as possible. This includes making adjustments during the job application process and throughout your future career with us. Please call 01756 691572 or email recruitment@jnbentley.co.uk to discuss any such adjustments that we can make. You can read more about our Equal Opportunities Policy here: Equality, diversity and inclusion - Mott MacDonald

Agile working

We are committed to providing a flexible and agile working environment that supports both our employees and the needs of the business.

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