Graduate Engineer, Engineer Development Programme

Canal & River Trust • Full-time • Birmingham • 1m ago

Job Purpose

GRADUATE ENGINEER - ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

Advertised pay: £27,720 + benefits (see below).

LOCATIONS: x2 Positions. Flexible on location – to be linked to one of our Hubs: Birmingham, Burnley, Ellesmere Port, Gloucester, Leeds, London (Little Venice), Milton Keynes, Newark, Hatton

The Canal & River Trust is one of the UK’s largest charities, entrusted with the care of 2,000 miles of waterways in England and Wales. We’re the charity helping millions of people feel happier and healthier by spending more time on and along our canals and rivers. Our rich and tranquil spaces provide places to walk, run, bike, roll, boat and rest and we have incredible infrastructures that can be matched by no other organisation.

Join us to take the next step on your Engineering career. We are delighted be able to offer 2 new graduate opportunities on our next Graduate Engineering Programme starting in 2025. It takes an extraordinary team, from many walks of life, to bring our waterways to life and you’ll tackle the same challenges we do, be stretched and supported and have opportunity to work alongside exceptional colleagues. You will be applying your engineering skills and knowledge to maintain our heritage assets and structures and working in a really niche environment.

We place great importance not only on what we do, but how and why we do it. We are passionate, collaborative, and take pride in work that helps our customers and communities.

Working for the Canal & River Trust, you can take pride in knowing that you are really making a difference each and every day. By joining us, you’ll be caring for your environment as well as your community, helping make life better by water for everyone. Every day.

The Programme:

The programme will provide appropriate experience, support and mentorship to accelerate you through to reaching relevant professional status, which it targets after 3-4 years (depending on starting point), however, you must take a high degree of personal responsibility towards this.

The programme is designed to bring out the best in you and push you to your full potential and we'll help you make the very most of your talents. As a graduate engineer you will be part of a nationwide engineering team, working alongside and learning from highly experienced engineers from a variety of backgrounds on the legacy of solid British engineering, all dedicated to preserving this important part of our industrial heritage, and ensuring it can be enjoyed and loved by future generations.

We offer diverse on-the-job experience through a rotational programme, which will be complemented by an engaging series of learning experiences to help you to build the right blend of personal and professional skills. You will be mentored by experienced colleagues and have direct support from your manager.

We will work closely with you to develop clear career goals, expand your skills and assist you in working towards incorporated engineer or chartered engineer.

Knowledge, Skills/Qualifications & Experience

We're very proud to be the custodians of one of the largest collections of industrial heritage, covering 2,000 miles of the UK's canals and rivers and over thousands of different structures, many of them listed. The majority of our canals and navigable rivers are over 200 years old, and they still work as they were designed to. This is quite remarkable and reflects the innovation and skill of the original engineers and the continuing dedication and expertise of our team today.

Our Engineers maintain, repair and rebuild the Trust’s infrastructure to enable visitors to safely enjoy our canals and rivers and safeguard them for future generations. This is done by inspecting and assessing the condition of our built assets, prioritising repair and renewal works and designing and specifying works that are required.

This role will provide you with challenges from the seemingly simple, but often not straight forward, through to complex interdisciplinary projects where constraints require innovation. The role allows you to apply your modern engineering skills within the heritage setting developed 250 years ago by the pioneers of the industrial revolution. Learning from an outstanding team of specialists, across the Trust.

Entry requirements

To build our team, we ’re looking for graduates from a variety of backgrounds, and experiences who meeting the following criteria:

Eligible to work in the UK with a valid work permit if applicable.
Ability to travel as our infrastructure is as disperse as it is diverse.
Strong numeracy and literacy skills.
A degree course with a clear route to professional accreditation.
You’ll need at least a 2:1 MEng Civil Engineering Degree or 2:1 BEng Civil Engineering Degree.

To apply:

Click "Apply for this job online"
Complete the online application form (iFORM) and upload a copy of your CV and covering letter (Supporting Document)
Your application will be reviewed against the entry requirements above

Selection:

Selected applicants will be invited to a video interview.
If shortlisted, you will be invited to take part in a panel interview with the team.
All offers are subject to satisfactory references.

Closes: 17 March 2025 at 23:59

Selection/Interviews: March - May

Start date: September 2025

Develop specialist skills, with a unique organisation in truly unique surroundings. Contact the team at CRT.recruitment@canalrivertrust.org.uk with any questions - we'd love to hear from you.

Eligibility: The Canal & River Trust is not a sponsoring employer and therefore applicants must be able to demonstrate that they are eligible to live and work in the UK.

If you have any questions about the role please contact CRT.recruitment@canalrivertrust.org.uk

We are currently conducting some of our interview processes virtually as we continue to respect and follow necessary social distancing guidance to protect our team and our candidates. You may be invited to a face to face further stage interview which will always be conducted following strict social distancing guidelines.

What We Offer

Health & wellbeing

We want to inspire and help colleagues to look after their mental and physical wellbeing, so they can feel great at work and at home. You’ll have access to a range of resources developed with this in mind – from wellbeing action plan, a learning allowance to expand your skills outside of work, mental health first aid, training and support to manage your wellbeing and access to a toolkit packed full of hints and tips.

Fantastic Rewards

In addition to a competitive salary, there are generous benefits including 25 days holiday (increasing with years of service), pension scheme, company laptop and phone, employee assistance programme and other perks Visit our-benefits for more information.

Have a look at our website for more information about everything we do, you may be surprised. https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us

We aim to represent the diverse communities we are part of and welcome applicants from across all sectors of the community. We strongly believe that a diverse workforce brings with it a diversity of ideas, thinking and ways of working which enhances what we do.