Location: Oxford, United Kingdom
Contract: Permanent
Working Pattern: Full-Time
Renumeration Indicator: Competitive salary plus company vehicle, pension and private healthcare. Remuneration for this role is benchmarked competitively within the Infrastructure and energy sector, and sits within our D2 band, reflecting the seniority and scope of the position.
The Opportunity
Join us as a Lead Electrical Design Engineer and take a leading role in delivering safe, compliant, and high-quality HV and EHV substation designs across the UK, shaping critical DNO infrastructure projects from feasibility through to detailed design within a fast-growing and dynamic engineering environment.
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Deliver safe, compliant HV and EHV electrical designs from feasibility through to detailed design, ensuring alignment with DNO standards, industry regulations, and best practice.
- Improve project outcomes by taking technical ownership of design quality and ensuring all deliverables are robust, buildable, and fully coordinated.
- Drive programme certainty and approval success by managing sub-consultants and ensuring high-quality design outputs are delivered on time and to standard.
- Secure timely design approvals by working closely with DNO design authorities, responding to technical feedback, and resolving design queries effectively.
- Enable fully integrated engineering solutions by collaborating with cable, civil, and wider multidisciplinary teams to ensure seamless design coordination.
- Strengthen technical assurance by applying strong electrical engineering principles, including system studies, protection, and earthing considerations within all designs.
- Champion a culture of safety and continuous improvement by embedding safety-by-design principles and ensuring compliance with all statutory and internal requirements.
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Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or related field.
- Chartered Engineer status or actively working towards chartership.
- Proven experience in HV electrical design, ideally within a DNO or ICP environment.
- Deep understanding of high-voltage plant, protection systems, and applicable standards.
- Strong grasp of electrical safety regulations for HV environments.
At OCU Group, we don’t just deliver infrastructure - we help power modern life.
As one of the UK’s fastest-growing utility and infrastructure businesses, we deliver complex, nationally critical projects across power, energy transition, water, telecoms, and digital infrastructure. Over the last five years, OCU has grown five-fold to a £1.1bn organisation, expanding both organically and through strategic acquisitions across the UK, Australia, New Zealand and India.
Our growth is driven by ambitious people, operational excellence, and a commitment to doing things properly. We work on projects that genuinely matter by supporting the UK’s energy transition, strengthening essential infrastructure, and helping build more sustainable communities for the future.
Whether you’re an experienced professional looking to take ownership of major projects and influence delivery at scale, or someone starting your career through an apprenticeship, graduate programme, or placement route, OCU offers real opportunity to grow, develop, and make an impact.
We are building a business where high performance, collaboration, innovation, and accountability sit at the centre of our culture. Our people are trusted to lead, encouraged to challenge thinking, and supported to continuously develop their skills and careers.
At OCU, you won’t just join a growing business, you’ll help shape it.
Our Culture & Values
At OCU, our values are at the heart of everything we do. We care about safety, lead with integrity, strive to be better every day, make a positive impact, and deliver to grow, together, as One Company United.
Our Commitment to Inclusion
At OCU Group, we believe diversity, inclusion, and belonging are fundamental to building stronger teams, better ideas, and a more successful business. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to creating an environment where everyone feels valued and supported.
As part of our commitment to fairness and equality, candidates may be asked to complete an equal opportunities monitoring form during the recruitment process. This information is used for monitoring purposes only and plays no part in hiring decisions.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and are committed to offering interviews to candidates with disabilities or long-term health conditions who meet the essential criteria for the role.
To ensure that everyone has a fair opportunity to join our team, please inform us if you require any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment and interview process is, by emailing
[email protected].
