Flood Engineer

The Royal Borough of Kingston and The London Borough of Sutton operate a shared Highways and Transport service and this role covers delivery across both boroughs.

Located in South West London Kingston's riverside location, fantastic retail offer, historic market place and church, parks and gardens all make Kingston town centre the vibrant space it is, and each of the district town centres have something unique to offer. In Sutton looking ahead, there are plans for the delivery of new homes and new schools and the London Cancer Hub is being developed. Both councils are seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment.

Both councils are ambitious for their future and it is an exciting time to join our newly re-organised Highways and Transport team as we lead the way in South-west London in delivering sustainable transport infrastructure, regeneration and rise to the zero carbon challenge.

As a Flood Engineer you would have a good variety of day-to-day responsibilities. Among these you would:

• Support development of the boroughs’ flood risk strategies
• Support the preparation of programmes and funding bids
• Provide comments on planning applications in respect to flood risk mitigation
• Liaise with stakeholders, in particular the Environment Agency and Thames Water and community engagement
• Outline design or detailed design and delivery of projects to the correct standards
• Support effective programme management, escalating risks in accordance with governance arrangements

To support you in this role, you will be provided with a Chromebook and mobile phone. We are a hybrid working organisation and we understand that life can sometimes get in the way, so with that in mind, we also offer flexible working to work around you (within reason of course!). Currently, the expectation for this role is that you come into the office 2 days a week and on site when required. Office days can be discussed and agreed at the offer stage.

This role reports directly to the Principal Engineer and will be part of our Sustainable Transport & Commissioning team. 

If this role is of interest to you and you would like more information about it, please reach out to the team manager for an informal discussion:

Ian Baker, Team Manager - Kingston: ian.baker@kingston.gov.uk

Both the Royal Borough of Kingston (RBK) and the London Borough of Sutton (LBS) teams each have about 10-12 staff.

The teams cover different functions, these are:

• Development Control
• New Highway schemes
• Parking schemes
• Sustainable Transport
• Road Safety
• Individual functions for Flood Management
• Public Rights of Way

The Sustainable Transport & Commissioning team are the project leads on those areas of work and are also the direct liaison with Ward Councillors and resident engagement.

This team has some really exciting projects in the pipeline for you to contribute to, with Kingston dealing with major growth around the Town Centre along with a large Estate Regeneration project at the Cambridge Road estate, which will need significant input from our team. The team has contributed extensively to the borough's climate action ambitions and has been nominated by the borough for an award in this category.

Over in LBS, we have similar town centre growth in Sutton and also the very exciting developments for the London Cancer Hub, which is a world renowned centre for research and excellence. We also have a key role in ensuring the needs of the highway network and any potential impacts are fully considered.

To be successful as a Flood Engineer, you will:

• Work collaboratively with others, communicate clearly and effectively with colleagues and understand corporate vision, plan and activities which may impact them
• Support a learning environment where innovation and creativity are celebrated and risks are managed with a ‘can do’ attitude
• Be competent with IT and Digital processes, seeking to drive digitisation - some roles will require experience of specific software eg AutoCAD, Mayrise, etc
• Have political awareness and the ability to work collaboratively with elected members
• Have the ability to analyse data and intelligence to drive improvements and collaborate with partners and communities, horizon scanning for best practice
• Be able to develop a commercial mindset to service and implement projects in accordance with project management principles and framework

Essential:

• A relevant technical qualification, e.g., HND/HNC/Degree or significant equivalent experience
• Experience of contract administration
• Broad knowledge of the external influences on the organisation and how they relate to the role
• Knowledge and understanding of latest technical developments in the relevant field of expertise

For more information about the role, please refer to the Job Description attached at the bottom of this page.

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

In addition we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff supported by our IT infrastructure, Google Chromebooks and Google Apps, which have acted as a key enabler for collaborative and streamlined working. The COVID-19 pandemic has required us to be even more flexible in how we work and manage staff workloads, ensuring they have the correct equipment and resources to be able to maximise their talents and looking after their wellbeing.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• Three volunteering days per year
• Flexible and agile working arrangements
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
• Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
• Subsidised gym membership

We pride ourselves on being a diverse, tolerant and welcoming Borough and we aim to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve. We are respectful of difference and realise the positive value of diversity in our workforce. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds and particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and disabled candidates as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce.

We are proud to be recognised as a Disability Confident employer, and are committed to thinking differently about disability and taking action to improve how we recruit, retain and develop disabled people. We guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.   

We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums, and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are an accredited London Living Wage Employer and this means that everyone working at the Royal Borough of Kingston, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors and suppliers receive the London Living Wage. The real Living Wage is higher than the government’s minimum, or National Living Wage, and is an independently calculated hourly rate of pay that is based on the actual cost of living.

The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.