Expression of Interest

Summary

We are the public body that looks after England’s historic environment. We champion historic places, helping people understand, value and care for them.

Following the promotion of the existing postholder, we are recruiting for the post of Principal Structural Engineer and Team Leader.  You will manage the Structural Engineering Team, which is part of Technical Conservation and lead the team’s provision of authoritative advice for Historic England on the application of structural engineering to listed buildings and scheduled monuments.  The delivery of the structural engineering workstream of the Conservation Shared Service to the English Heritage Trust will be a key responsibility.  You will develop the team’s role as a centre of specialist knowledge in structural engineering, ensuring a strength-in-depth capability for providing authoritative structural engineering advice and guidance both within Historic England and to other external parties as agreed.  You will be fully supported by the Head of Engineering to fulfil the role requirements.

You will be a Chartered Engineer with full membership of an appropriate professional body and will have a proven track record and wide-ranging post-qualification experience in a relevant discipline.  You will have a high level of knowledge of conservation engineering techniques and historic building methods and construction systems and the credibility to engage at a national level.  You will have experience of leading, motivating and developing a team. 

The location of this role is National where we offer hybrid working, you will be based in one of our following offices and from home - Newcastle, York, Manchester, Birmingham, Swindon, Bristol, Portsmouth and Cambridge. 

What you will be doing

Integrated work practice. As team leader, manage departmental, group, inter-group and corporate demands on the team in such a way as to balance resource and demand, take responsibility for dealing effectively with all staff related matters and support the development and well-being of team members.  You will also actively contribute to the overall management and direction of the Technical Conservation Team through membership of the Leadership team

Income generation. Manage the delivery of the structural engineering workstream of the Conservation Shared Service to the English Heritage charity.  This will require the provision of advice and guidance on issues associated with property managed by the English Heritage Trust.  This will include, where appropriate, assessing problems, identifying needs and recommending actions and where required acting as part of a specific project team.  Contribute to the development of additional income generation work streams, including the delivery of cost-recovery training courses and paid-for advice as established with the Head of Engineering.

Technical expertise and advice. Ensure a strength-in-depth capability for providing authoritative structural engineering advice and guidance both within Historic England and to other external parties as established. Contribute as intelligent client to quality control of all relevant grant-aided projects, casework advice and external commissions.

Capability. Develop the team’s role as a centre of specialist knowledge in structural engineering.  This will include identifying statutory and legislative requirements and appropriate standards of good working practice in respect of structural engineering, taking an active role in promoting awareness of the specific sympathetic approach required when working in the historic environment.

Capacity-building. Work in partnership with professional bodies impacting on Historic England’s work to improve standards and best practice in respect of structural engineering in respect of the historic environment and to support research, publication and CPD training needs of Historic England, partner organisations and the sector generally.

Research. Contribute as appropriate to the Technical Conservation Team’s research programme to ensure that the advice we give on the conservation of the historic built environment is underpinned by sound evidence. This may include liaison with key stakeholders in the development of research priorities.

Programme Management. Manage and maintain detailed cross-team oversight across all the activities of the team to ensure effective co-ordination and articulation of the work of the team to ensure effective, integrated and consistent management of all the team’s functions.

Financial Management. Take responsibility for oversight and management of team budgets and procurement of equipment and services.

Compliance Management. As a manager, ensure our legal obligations and the expectations set out in our policies are met, including health & safety, equality & diversity, finance, procurement, information security and managing people.

Profile. Represent Historic England on external committees, steering groups and working parties concerned with the conservation of the historic built environment to increase Historic England’s strategic influence, develop relationships with sector partners and promote best practice for the benefit of the historic built environment.

Please note:

• the role requires regular travel to sites not serviced by public transport.

• the role may require visiting/inspecting sites which is likely to require climbing scaffolding and negotiating confined space (e.g. Church roofs etc)

Who we are looking for

• Chartered Engineer (C.Eng) & full member of appropriate professional body

• Proven track record and wide-ranging post-qualification experience in a relevant discipline

• High level of knowledge of conservation engineering techniques and historic building methods/ construction systems

• Ability to lead, motivate and develop a multi-disciplinary team

• Ability to communicate persuasively both verbally and in writing

• Collegiate behaviour including working with conflicting priorities and agendas and building successful collaborations

 HOW TO APPLY 

We are seeking expressions of interest from Chartered Engineers within the Structural Engineering Team.  To apply for this opportunity, please email leon.walsh@historicengland.org.uk by 18 March 2024, explaining on no more than two sides of A4 why you want to be considered for this opportunity and how you believe you meet the person specification.  Interviews will be carried out virtually using MS Teams on Thursday 28th March 2024 

If you would like to discuss the role informally, please contact Leon Walsh, Head of Engineering leon.walsh@historicengland.org.uk

We are an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusion. If you have a disability or neurodiversity, we would be happy to discuss reasonable adjustments to the job with you. Having just won the Gold Award from MIND, we also recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance.

We are an inclusive employer and believe that flexible working options are for everyone. We want to make sure our working arrangements don’t prevent anyone from joining us because of their personal circumstances. We also want to provide you with the best balance in your home and work life that we can.

We are open to considering options including job sharing, part-time working, compressed hours working and different working locations, including hybrid working. Please visit our jobs pages or contact us to find out more.

Why work for Historic England

We offer a wide benefits package including a competitive pension scheme starting at 26% contributions, a generous 28 days holiday, corporate discounts, free entry into English Heritage sites across the country and development opportunities to ensure you achieve your goals.

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for everyone. Diversity helps us to perform better and attract more people to support our work. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds.

We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and candidates with disabilities as they are underrepresented within Historic England at this level.

Historic England want all of our candidates to shine in the recruitment process. Please tell us what we can do to make sure you can show us your very best self. You can contact us by email at recruitmentTeam@Historicengland.org.uk if you have any recruitment queries. 

To ensure a fair and inclusive recruitment process for everyone the use of AI or automated tools is not permitted.

Please follow the link for a full copy of the Job Description –

https://historicengland.org.uk/media/ms2f43op/principal-structural-engineer-and-team-leader-structural-engineering.odt

Please note you are not required to complete the Applied Recruitment process.