Job title: Senior Engineering Team Leader – Bridges and Structures
Grade: Payband 3 Salary: up to £71k (depending on skills, knowledge and experience)
Contract type: TfL Reference: 5230
Team: Railway Structures Directorate: Engineering
Contract details: Permanent Location: 5ES / Hybrid
Application closing date: Sunday 4th October 2026
All offers of employment are subject to satisfactory right‑to‑work checks. Candidates must be able to demonstrate their right to work in the UK. At the present time TfL is unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role.
Hybrid working within this role enables a balance of 50 per cent of time split between the office and home over a 4-week period. Hybrid working arrangements can evolve subject to business requirements.
Key Accountabilities and Responsibilities
We are seeking an experienced structural engineer who combines strong technical expertise with effective leadership and people management skills. This role offers the opportunity to influence the safety, performance and long-term sustainability of critical infrastructure assets while leading and developing a team of talented engineering professionals.
As a technical leader, you will provide expert guidance and assurance on structural engineering matters, particularly within the rail sector. You will play a key role in ensuring engineering decisions are robust, proportionate and aligned with industry standards, asset management objectives and project requirements.
The role also involves line management responsibilities, including supporting team members in the successful delivery of their work, fostering a collaborative and high-performing culture, and providing coaching, mentoring and development opportunities to help individuals achieve their professional and career aspirations.
Your key accountabilities and responsibilities, based on the specific needs and direction of the role at the time will include:
- Working within the Technical Assurance function to ensure the timely delivery of engineering assurance activities, verifying that bridges and structural assets are designed, constructed, modified and maintained to be safe, reliable and fit for purpose.
- Leading a team of Bridges and Structures Engineers, providing technical leadership, mentoring and oversight of engineering review, assurance and approval activities.
- Identifying, developing and maintaining critical engineering expertise required to manage asset risk and support the safe operation of railway infrastructure through a proportionate, risk-based approach.
- Ensuring the safety, integrity, reliability and performance of structural assets throughout the asset lifecycle.
- Providing specialist structural engineering advice to support operational teams, capital projects, asset management strategies and long-term infrastructure planning.
- Collaborating with industry partners, contractors, consultants and internal stakeholders to drive innovation, share best practice and deliver continual improvement in engineering performance.
- Supporting the development, maintenance and implementation of engineering policies, standards, specifications and procedures to ensure consistent and effective management of bridges and structural assets.
Role Requirements
You will be a Chartered Engineer with the UK Engineering Council or possess demonstrable recognised equivalent competencies.
We are seeking an experienced structural engineer who combines strong technical expertise with effective leadership and people management skills.
The successful candidate will be expected to demonstrate the following knowledge, skills and experience:
- Experience acting as an Engineering Authority, Technical Approver, Independent Reviewer or similar role, providing technical assurance for multidisciplinary infrastructure projects and structural modifications.
- Strong structural engineering background with significant experience in the design, assessment, maintenance and management of bridges and structural assets within the rail sector, supported by a sound understanding of structural behaviour, design principles, assessment methodologies, modern structural analysis, digital engineering and risk-based asset management approaches.
- Proven track record of working within multidisciplinary teams of technical specialists, delivering projects in regulated and highly governed industries.
- Demonstrated ability to provide technical leadership and engineering oversight throughout project development and delivery, ensuring safety, performance, resilience and whole-life value are achieved.
- Strong knowledge of relevant legislation, engineering standards, governance requirements, health and safety obligations, sustainability principles, and industry best practice relating to the design, construction, assessment, operation and maintenance of structural assets.
- Good understanding of design management, project management and engineering governance processes, enabling the efficient delivery of high-quality engineering solutions.
- Experience in identifying, assessing and managing engineering risks, ensuring asset safety, reliability, operational performance and regulatory compliance are maintained throughout the asset lifecycle.
- Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to build effective relationships across clients, contractors, consultants, regulators and operational teams.
- Commitment to developing engineering capability through mentoring, coaching and supervising graduate engineers, apprentices and early-career professionals.
- Passion for innovation, continuous improvement and sharing engineering best practice.
This position requires you to be able to work in a matrix framework. You need to demonstrate and build on your credibility, competence and technical excellence in the development, approval and implementation of robust solutions through collaborative working, trust and proactive management and customers’ expectations.
It is important you bring a passion for the TfL Vision and strategy too. That’s because, wherever you join us, you’ll explore work of unparalleled scale, scope and variety across a unique range of projects, as you build your career and expertise. So come and bring on tomorrow, as an Engineer at TfL.
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We want to represent the city we serve, which will help us become a more innovative and efficient organisation. Our goal is to make our recruitment as inclusive as possible. We are a disability confident employer who guarantee an interview to any disabled candidate who meets all of the essential criteria. We also use anonymising software that removes identifying information from CVs and cover letters to make the process fair.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and aim to reflect the diverse communities we serve. We believe that a diverse workforce enables us to deliver better services and outcomes. Our goal is to make our recruitment as inclusive as possible. As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively encourage applications from disabled people. As part of the Disability Confident scheme, we aim to offer an assessment or interview to candidates who apply via the scheme where the minimum essential criteria for skills, knowledge and experience has been met. In some circumstances, it may not be practical to offer an interview or assessment to every candidate who applies through the scheme and meet the minimum essential criteria; in these situations, we select candidates who best meet the minimum criteria for the job rather than interviewing all who meet them.
Across all recruitment activity, we recognise that selection methods may vary depending on the nature and scale of the campaign and will be applied fairly, consistently and proportionately in line with our Disability Confident commitments.
We also use anonymising software that removes identifying information from CVs and cover letters to make the process fair.
In return for your commitment and expertise, you will enjoy excellent benefits and scope to grow. Rewards vary according to the level of role but mostly include the below:
Final salary pension scheme
Free travel for you on the TfL network
Reimbursement of 75% of the cost of a standard class Ticket for National Rail travel from home
30 days annual leave plus public and bank holidays
TfL is committed to work-life balance, operating a hybrid working approach where business and role requirements allow
Private healthcare discounted scheme (optional)
Tax-efficient cycle-to-work programme
Retail, health, leisure and travel offers
Discounted Eurostar travel
We will make every effort to give you as much notice as possible, however some interviews/assessments could be organised at short notice.
At Transport for London, safety, trust and fairness sit at the heart of how we recruit. Our Vetting Charter (https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/careers/our-vetting-process) explains the checks we carry out before you join us, helping ensure we create a safe, inclusive and reliable network for everyone who depends on our services. We simply ask that the information you provide is honest and accurate so we can progress your application smoothly. If something doesn’t match or can’t be verified, we may not be able to move forward with your application, but we’ll always treat you with transparency, respect, and clear communication throughout.
