Senior/Principal Hydraulics Engineer

Location/s: Madrid/Seville
Recruiter contact: Kirsten O'Neill

Mott MacDonald

Mott MacDonald is a global engineering, management, and development consultancy with over 20,000 employees across more than 50 countries and 140+ offices. 

We work across incredible global industries, delivering exciting work that is defining our future and making an important societal impact in the communities we serve. Our people power our performance – we succeed when they do. With countless opportunities to collaborate, learn, and grow, the possibilities for excellence are as varied as every individual. 

Whether you want to grow as a subject matter expert or broaden your experience with roles across our international community, you’re surrounded by global specialists who want to combine their expertise and champion you to be your best. As a proudly employee-owned business, we benefit our clients, our communities, and each other, investing in creating the right space for everyone to feel empowered, included, and valued. Whatever your ambition, Mott MacDonald is where people come to be brilliant.

About the business unit  

The Water Consultancy Division is Mott MacDonald’s centre of excellence for responding to water and wastewater challenges, offering fantastic opportunities to get involved in diverse and technically challenging work.  The work we do is at the forefront of ensuring safe water supplies for future generations and protecting our environment.  Our multi-disciplinary teams provide a variety of services throughout the full project life cycle, from advisory services and feasibility studies, through outline and detailed design, to construction support and site supervision. 

Overview of role

Do you want to work for a company whose purpose is to improve society by considering social outcomes, and to transform businesses, communities, and opportunities for its employees?

Mott MacDonald is a market leader in the UK water sector, being a key supplier to major water companies and delivering a wide variety of engineering and advisory projects in support to the challenges faced by the sector.

Working for a company like ours, with technical excellence at our core, offers you access to industry recognised experts in a variety of disciplines and the support and opportunities you are after for your career progression. Our business is wholly employee- owned. Being independent means that we can choose our own direction and focus on what we believe is important for our clients, our people and those communities which we work and live in. We are a family of people excited to solve complex challenges that have a positive impact on the world, and we are always looking for like-minded people to join our team.

Our Water Utility Division has ambitious growth plans in line with AMP8 (2025-2030) investment needs and we are proud of our strong reputation in the industry which is allowing us to expand our business.

We cover all phases of the project lifecycle from feasibility studies through detailed design, construction support, and commissioning to handover.  We also provide specialist technical support to colleagues across our global business, offering fantastic opportunities to get involved in diverse and technically complex work.

The scale of investment required in AMP8 is a significant challenge but also a major opportunity to provide a long-lasting legacy to our clients and their regions. It also requires new more efficient ways of delivering our services and for the successful candidate to demonstrate their ability to identify and implement innovations that maintain delivery to programme and commercial targets.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Senior or Principal Hydraulic Engineer with a strong technical background and expertise in hydraulic analysis and design to join our growing team in Spain.

You will be fluent in English and will help lead the design and analysis for a range of projects and topics, such as: transmission pipelines, surge analysis, hydraulic design of water and wastewater treatment works, stormwater storage tunnels.

You’ll be able to understand water projects holistically and work in collaboration with other teams (mechanical, process, structural, environmental) for the successful delivery of multi-disciplinary projects. You will be able to represent Mott MacDonald inside Client organisations as required.  

In this role you will be responsible for

• Supporting and/or leading the delivery of a programme of projects   
• Delivering Hydraulic Engineering services on a range of projects 
• Producing and reviewing engineering calculations, specifications, drawings and reports 
• Proactive management of design risk to deliver constructable design solutions 
• Identifying and supporting continuous improvement of procedures and processes to drive efficiency and innovation, contributing to the application of our digital engineering initiatives 
• Mentoring more junior colleagues. Providing technical guidance and advice on best practice in hydraulic design to others 
• Engaging regularly with the Client and stakeholders to ensure the efficient delivery of projects, providing regular updates on progress and status of work within your own area of responsibility, as well as identifying and communicating issues that could impact programme, quality or cost 
• Working collaboratively across disciplines to ensure the efficient delivery of projects within your portfolio 
• Engaging with best practice and taking responsibility for your own professional development

Candidate Specification

We are seeking an experienced and motivated Senior or Principal Hydraulic Engineer with the following attributes: 
 

• Significant technical experience of pressurised and open-channel hydraulics applied to the field of civil engineering, including surge analysis and design for water and wastewater treatment, transmission pipelines, and large-scale drainage systems through one or more stages of a project life cycle 
• Experienced in development of hydraulic calculations and hydraulic profiles for water and wastewater treatment works 
• Proven ability to lead delivery of technical projects, including controlling and reporting on project budgets within area of responsibility, and experienced in the preparation of time and budget estimates for proposals 
• Experience of working in multi-disciplinary water pipeline and networks projects with other technical disciplines including environmental specialists, geotechnical, structural, electrical and mechanical engineers 
• Strong collaboration and communication skills to be able to enter into technical discussions in a logical and coherent fashion in both oral presentations and written reports, to colleagues, non-technical staff and clients  
• Chartered membership of a relevant professional chartered institution, such as ICE or CIWEM 

 
Desirable

• Experience in transmission pipeline design, e.g. route and material selection, hydraulic design, steel pipe wall thickness calculations, thrust restraint solutions, etc 
• Experience in CFD applied to the water industry 
• Experience in supervision of physical scale modelling studies 

We are actively recruiting a diverse workforce that is reflective of the communities we serve. We recognise that differences in ability, skills and experience are a strength and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. 

Equality, diversity, and inclusion 

We put equality, diversity, and inclusion at the heart of our business, seeking to promote fair employment procedures and practices to ensure equal opportunities for all. We encourage individual expression in our workplace and are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels they can contribute.

Accessibility

We want you to perform your best at every stage in the recruitment process. If you are disabled or need any support to enable you to apply or attend an interview, please contact us at reasonable.adjustments@mottmac.com and we will talk to you about how we can support you.

Agile working 

Happy to talk Flexible Working and how we can support your responsibilities beyond the workplace.

We offer some fantastic benefits including:

• Holiday entitlement: 23 days + public holidays.

• Life assurance: 2 x salary will be paid to your chosen benefactor in the event of your death whilst employed by Mott MacDonald

• Professional membership subscription: 1 professional subscription which is relevant to your job/field of expertise can be claimed per year.

• Private medical insurance

• Pension scheme (*accessible after first month in MM)

Apply now, or for more information about our application process, click here.