Location: London (Hybrid working: 2/3 days in the office)
Grade: Grade 3
Salary: £75K - £80K p/a basic
Hours: Full-Time 37.5 hours
Employment: Permanent

Who We Are
The Useful Simple Trust (UST) is a highly renowned group of professional design and consultancy practices, driving change through our four brands: Expedition Engineering, Useful Projects, Useful Studio and Thomas Matthews.
The company has 80+ talented and committed civil and structural engineers, architects, strategists and designers, sustainability & construction innovation consultants who work side-by-side creating positive outcomes for our changing environment following our key company values: Work for Good, More with Less, Restore and Adapt and Get, Set, Zero. As a Social Enterprise, B-Corp™ and Employee Benefit Organisation, we do things differently. Our people are highly motivated and committed, in part because our structure and values mean that our combined success is shared equitably. We share part of our profit and re-invest the rest in research, social and environmental projects. We deliver purposeful projects that we believe have a sustainable impact on our clients and the wider human environment. We are particularly focused on the sector’s biggest challenges around productivity, resource efficiency and the climate emergency / net zero.

Expedition Engineering is an award-winning engineering consultancy and has a rapidly growing pipeline of work offering innovation consulting in the infrastructure and construction sector – with a client list including HS2, Network Rail, National Highways, Environment Agency, UK water companies, several major contractors and Innovate UK - and we are looking to expand our team. We work as an innovation partner to our clients, advising on efficiency and process improvements, solving challenges with novel designs, partnering with supply chains to deliver innovations at scale, and guiding the efficient delivery of innovations in practice.

We use a range of idea generation and project delivery techniques, recognising the importance of neurodiversity in both creating and evaluating ideas. Our in-house team includes experts with backgrounds in sustainability, structural and civil engineering, environmental engineering, construction, process improvement, Lean, digital technology and practical innovation delivery. We also work collaboratively with a network of academics and practitioners to augment our skill set.

Key workstreams in our Construction Innovation Team include:
• Accelerating industrialised bridge construction, as exemplified through our innovative prototype AVA pedestrian bridge and our rapidly growing portfolio of work in this area.
• Roll out of common elements of design.
• Delivering a transformative low carbon programme with a major infrastructure client; rollout of decarbonised common elements of design.
• Delivering a game-changing productivity strategy for a major infrastructure programme.
• Developing new methods of delivering and scaling innovations after pilot stage.
• Leading transformational design-efficiency processes for three major infrastructure projects.
• Unlocking industrialised construction for a major construction programme in the energy sector.

What we are looking for
We are looking for an experienced engineer at an associate level to join our growing team– from a design, contracting, consulting or start-up background. You will have built up a portfolio of experience in or adjacent to the construction/infrastructure sector and are now looking to apply that expertise in new ways.

With Expedition you would be playing an important role in planning and delivering innovation projects. You will work with our engineering-led teams to help drive innovation, productivity, and efficiency improvements across the industry; providing advice; supporting major infrastructure/construction organisations and clients; helping to transform major programmes via practical change in line with the Construction Playbook, Project 13 and other leading thinking.
As a key member of the team, you will play an important role in the planning and delivery of consultancy and engineering focused projects. You will utilise your technical knowledge and experience to identify and develop opportunities for innovation and productivity improvement and help to deliver those opportunities through pilots or other means.

Essential Requirements:
• Membership and Chartered with an appropriate professional body such as ICE, CIBSE, IMechE, IStructE, CIWEM or similar.
• Be able to demonstrate an understanding of the innovation and productivity challenges facing the infrastructure sector
• Commercial and technical management of projects
• Delivery of high-quality technical advice, client reports, technical publications and presentations etc.
• Contributing to the technical delivery of innovation/consultancy projects
Personal attributes:
• Willingness to carry out their work in line with the Trust ethos.
• Passion for creating a better built environment in line with the Trust’s values.
• Collaborative and team player, flexible and adaptable, to work in an SME organisation with a fast-moving work pipeline.

Desirable Skills and Experience (a selection of these):
• Technical:
o Professional knowledge in one or more engineering /constructions areas: construction, low carbon materials, civil engineering, structures, water, rail, highways, energy infrastructure and/or the built environment.
o Technical analysis of project-based engineering challenges and opportunities.
o Research into industry-wide challenges within the construction and infrastructure sectors.
o Collaborating with clients, contractors and supply chains to deliver practical innovations and improvements in efficiency and productivity.
o Proven experience in the delivery of projects with innovative components
• Management:
o Commercial and technical management of our projects and project teams, using our systems and processes.
o Ability to effectively communicate with clients, stakeholders (technical and non-technical) and collaborators from our expert network.
o Communicating with clients and helping to maintain productive client relationships.
o Supporting business development activities, for example, building trusted relationships with clients and collaborators on existing projects, in order to help secure value-adding follow-on commissions.
o Supporting marketing and social media activities.

Diversity statement
The Trust strives to be a diverse and inclusive place where we can all be ourselves. We are working to change the lack of representation of minority groups and are particularly keen to hear from anyone with relevant skills and experience who feels they are underrepresented in the industry.

We encourage people from culturally diverse backgrounds, women, people with different abilities, LGBTIQ+ community, gender, all age groups, and those with intersectional or multiple diverse characteristics to apply. We know that diversity makes us stronger, and we are committed to creating a working environment that is inclusive and ensures everyone can be heard and valued for their contributions.

What we offer
We believe in investing and growing our people as much as we do our business. We foster talent, equal opportunity, diversity, inclusion, and wellbeing to develop a high performing and sustainable workforce.

The package comprises:
• Professional Memberships + support on becoming chartered paid for by the Trust
• Exposure to a variety of business sectors and range of responsibilities developing and delivering challenging projects
• Flexible and hybrid working including the possibility to work a compressed 9-day fortnight
• Service Recognition Awards
• Private medical insurance
• Annual Eyecare Plan
• Life Assurance
• Company pension scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Free access to our Employee Assistance Program for you and your immediate family

Ready to make a significant impact in the engineering industry and build an amazing career? Join Useful Simple Trust today and be part of our extraordinary team. Apply now!