Principal Engineer Operational Assets

Cibsejournal; Oxford; On-site; GBP 50,000 - GBP 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading engineering consultancy in Oxford seeks a Principal/Associate Engineer for their Operational Assets team. This role entails securing projects, providing technical leadership, and developing innovative solutions for existing buildings. The ideal candidate will have significant experience in refurbishment projects, strong communication skills, and a solid understanding of building data analytics. The company offers a range of benefits including a 9-day fortnight scheme and professional development opportunities.

Benefits

9-day fortnight scheme

Private medical cover

Up to 30 days of annual leave

Electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme

Qualifications

• Strong experience in refurbishment projects.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Solid knowledge of UK and EU regulations.

Responsibilities

• Secure new projects and assist clients.
• Lead work delivery and team growth.
• Prepare technical documentation and manage projects.

Skills

Building data analytics

Communication skills

Leadership

Organizational skills

Education

Chartered Engineer status or progress towards chartership

Tools

Technical documentation

Building services engineering knowledge

Job description

Client

The client is a human-centric and planet-conscious engineering consultancy, delivering intelligent and sustainable solutions to complex design challenges across the built environment, throughout the UK and internationally.

They provide a comprehensive range of engineering and consultancy services, including acoustics, air quality, building services (MEP), fire, lighting, security, and sustainability. Their highly skilled teams combine technical excellence with problem-solving expertise to bring buildings to life, ensuring exceptional design quality and operational performance that meets the needs of the communities they serve.

The client is committed to fostering an inclusive, supportive environment where individuals can realise their full potential. Employees benefit from a culture that promotes wellbeing, professional development, and individuality. Their benefits package includes a 9-day fortnight scheme, thriving community groups, varied social and networking events, structured professional and technical development programmes, private medical cover, an electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme, stock options, and up to 30 days of annual leave.

Their ambition is to empower everyone to develop their knowledge, perform at their best, and enjoy meaningful and rewarding careers.

Role

The client has an exciting opportunity for a Principal/Associate Engineer to join their Operational Assets team, based in their Oxford office.

This role is ideally suited to individuals who are passionate about existing buildings, enjoy developing innovative and pragmatic solutions to complex operational challenges, and are motivated by using real-time building data to help drive progress towards net-zero outcomes.

The newly established Operational Assets team brings together property consultants, design engineers, and data-led building performance specialists to deliver a holistic service offering across the full building lifecycle. The team works closely with clients to embed themselves within asset portfolios, developing sustainable roadmaps and supporting projects from concept through implementation and ongoing operation.

With a strong track record across the Residential, Commercial, and Healthcare sectors, the team continues to expand to meet growing market demand. This collaborative, highly skilled group delivers technically robust and commercially valuable outcomes for clients.

Responsibilities

In this key and varied role, the successful candidate will:

• Secure new projects and support both existing and new clients, assisting the regional lead with delivery planning and team strategy.
• Lead work delivery, organisational support, and team growth to support regional and local client requirements.
• Demonstrate strong leadership, providing guidance, mentorship, and technical supervision to colleagues.
• Collaborate closely with other teams and discipline leads to ensure efficient project delivery and workload planning.
• Recruit, train, and develop team members, supporting long-term succession planning and professional growth.
• Undertake detailed design, technical specification, and site monitoring activities.
• Monitor commissioning processes and deliver post-occupancy engineering services.
• Prepare technical documentation including feasibility studies, condition surveys, and investigative reports.
• Liaise directly with clients, demonstrating strong commercial awareness and project management skills.

The role involves leading small to medium-sized projects, typically valued up to several million pounds, and providing technical support to asset owners, landlords, managing agents, project managers, and end users. The project portfolio is primarily UK-based, with occasional international opportunities.

Operational Assets – Core Service Areas

The team operates across three primary service streams:

1. Decarbonisation, Performance Improvement & Energy Reduction — Delivering energy efficiency, building performance enhancement, and net-zero strategies through pragmatic engineering solutions and emerging technologies, from strategic planning to implementation.
2. Design — Specialising in complex existing buildings across all RIBA stages, delivering creative and sustainable design solutions that modernise and enhance building services systems to meet current standards and operational demands.
3. Property Consultancy — Providing technical advisory services to support property management, asset operation, and transactional processes, including:
   • Technical due diligence (vendor and pre-acquisition)
   • Dilapidations surveys
   • Planned preventative maintenance reporting
   • Licences to Alter
   • Maintenance inspections
   • Validation management
   • Asset registers
   • Troubleshooting
   • Energy optimisation surveys
   • EPC assessments

Projects span a diverse range of sectors including Commercial Offices, Retail, Residential, Education, Healthcare, Justice, Defence, Heritage, Industrial, and Technology.

Requirements

To succeed in this role, candidates will ideally demonstrate:

• Chartered status or progress towards chartership as a qualified design engineer.
• Strong experience working on refurbishment and fit-out projects within existing buildings.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong knowledge of building data analytics and metering systems.
• Proven experience in performance specification, detailed design, contract administration, and site supervision.
• Broad knowledge of building services engineering, with strong expertise in a primary discipline and sound understanding of secondary disciplines.
• Solid working knowledge of UK and relevant EU regulations, standards, and design guidance.
• Strong organisational, planning, and time-management skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to influence, collaborate, and build long-term client relationships.
• Demonstrable experience in work-winning and team leadership.