Engineering Design Graduate Programme
Let's cut straight to it
Taking care of ‘one of life’s essentials’ – it’s our purpose and we want you to be part of it. Supplying wholesome drinking water, treating wastewater and recycling this back to the environment responsibly is no mean feat. We serve around 8 million people across the Midlands and Wales and unlike other businesses, our delivery is non-negotiable. It’s a matter of life.
Many of our employees are also our customers, so we truly take pride in what we do! Employing people from across our communities and beyond, Severn Trent is an exciting and inclusive place to work – a place where you can be curious, can be ‘Wonderfully You’ and where you can truly make an impact to our environment, now and for future generations.
Let's tell you more
Our Engineering Design Graduate Programme offers the perfect blend of personal and professional development, exposing you to the frontline and the core of our business.
Severn Trent Capital and Commercial Services design and deliver water and wastewater infrastructure, including pipelines and treatment facilities. As a Graduate Engineer the work you undertake will be interesting and varied.
The programme will enable you to spend time in both our engineering design and capital programme delivery teams covering the end-to-end process of the project and programme life cycles across the water/waste network, and the water/waste treatment facilities.
How do we meet the challenge of population growth? How do we navigate the extreme weather events which are becoming more frequent because of climate change? How do we deal with water shortages and longer periods of drought? How do we reduce our carbon emissions and mitigate the impact our business processes have on our planet?
These are all critical business challenges our teams are currently working to tackle, and you could come work alongside engineers that are trialling some of the best technology and innovation in the industry,making ground-breaking changes for future generations to come.
We have exciting opportunities available in the following disciplines:
- Mechanical (Derby & Shropshire)
- Electrical (Derby & Coventry)
- Civils (Derby & Shropshire)
- Catchment Management – Modelling (Derby & Coventry)
- Hydrogeology (Derby & Coventry)
- Sustainability (Derby & Shropshire)
You’ll get a real insight into the sheer scale of engineering that goes into our water and wastewater treatment and distribution of our water supply and waste removal services through three 9-month unique placements, across our engineering design teams. You’ll learn about different aspects of our business whilst working on a range of projects which will help address real life challenges and drive tangible change. You may be working in a waste workstream designing sewerage systems, or waste treatment designing tanks to facilitate sewage treatment; or in a clean water design team undertaking distribution pipe design or clean water treatment plant design.
The aim of the programme is to create a pathway and give you the necessary tools to become a specialist engineer or a future leader within our engineering design teams. Furthermore, the programme is designed to enhance your critical thinking, leadership, and strategic thinking, as well as giving you the opportunity to showcase your creativity and really add value in shaping our future direction.
What you will learn
You will expand your knowledge of project and people management, including learning how to effectively manage and influence stakeholders. You’ll also gain a strong business and commercial acumen, developing your ability to plan strategically with time, cost, and quality in mind, and learn what it takes to successfully design and deliver infrastructure projects across multidisciplinary teams and our supply chain.
You’ll gain a deeper understanding of why and how we make sure we deliver with our customers at the heart of what we do, and how we communicate this message across our communities.
You will learn the following either directly from placements, through supplementary training or project work:
- The end-to-end process of a project/programme life cycle
- Gathering data and using that data to aid your projects
- You will enhance your buildability and operability skills
- You will learn various engineering principles and how you can put them into practise on the projects you work on
- Engineering Standards and Specification
- Digital Design and CDE
- Identify and collecting information about the site and/or location of the project.
- Identify gaps in the information required to progress the project and proposals for obtaining the information.
- Identify key information regarding the proposed works covered by the project
- Attend site to understand and capture site constraints
- Attend various Health and Safety Maintenance and Design Reviews.
Typical off-scheme role
This can vary depending on your personal career ambitions and the business needs. However, roles such as Graduate Engineer, Assistant Design Engineer, Design Engineer and Assistant Project Manager are examples of some of the roles our past graduates have landed after the scheme.
Our New Talent Team will guide you and support you every step of the way. Furthermore, your line manager, mentor and buddy will be there to help you in making sure you reach your full potential here at Severn Trent.
Entry Criteria: When applying you will be asked for your preferred location and discipline, a degree in the discipline you’re applying for is preferred however we would potentially consider other STEM degrees dependant on your interests in the discipline.
Travel is required, therefore if you don’t currently have a driving licence and access to your own vehicle we ask that you are willing to within 12 months of starting the role. In the mean time most of our main offices are accessible via public transport.
Typical contracts are 37 hours per week, however there may be flexibility around the structure of your working hours, team and line manager dependent.
What we're looking for
We want our employees to care and to have a genuine passion for what we do as a business. We need people who want to make a difference in providing a vital service to our customers, now and for the long-term.
We’d love you to be someone with…
- A ‘can do’ attitude – willing to get stuck in, take accountability for decisions and actions and who takes pride in their work
- A love of variety in a role and ability to adapt to a dynamic, fast-paced working environment
- Ability to quickly prioritise tasks and the initiative to dive head-first into problem solving. No two days are the same and not every day goes to plan, so you’ll need to be quick on your feet to respond!
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills and enjoy working with multiple teams
- Ability to analyse and interpret information and effectively communicate this to different team members and audiences
- Ability to travel freely across our patch to visit different sites and travel to meetings and training days
- Curiosity to learn quickly in a reactive and dynamic working environment
Diversity and inclusion
At Severn Trent we are passionate about our people. We want to make sure that we continue to foster a more diverse, inclusive, and cohesive culture that represents the communities and customers we serve. We’re making sure we keep up the progress with our wonderful working groups – LGBTQ+, Women in Operations & STEM, Disability and Ethnicity, who help us with our commitments. Find out more about our commitments to Diversity and Inclusion at Severn Trent.
How we'll reward and care for you in return
It’s not just a job you’ll get here, you’ll get a career too. We have a range of benefits that reward and recognise great work and award-winning training to ensure you reach your potential. And we’ll also help you play your part in looking after the environment and the community in which we live.
Here are some of our favourites:
- 28 days holiday + bank holidays (and the ability to buy/ sell up to 5 days per year)
- Annual bonus scheme (of up to £2,225 which is subject to eligibility)
- Leading pension scheme – we will double your contribution (up to 15% when you contribute 7.5%)
- Sharesave – the chance to buy Severn Trent Plc shares at a discounted rate
- 10% monthly discount with Busy Bees Nurseries, and one-week free childcare
- Dedicated training and development with our Academy
- Electric vehicle scheme and retail offers
- Family friendly policies
- Two paid volunteering days per year
As if that isn’t enough, you’ll receive an annual salary increase whilst you’re on programme and you’ll also get an increase when you move into your first job.
Let's go
Apply now to build an amazing career and be part of a brilliant team. We can’t wait to hear from you.
Roles close on 29th February 2024.
Check your diary – face to face assessments will run from 8th - 26th April 2024.