Taking care of ‘one of life’s essentials’ – it’s our purpose and we want you to be part of it. Supplying wholesome drinking water, treating wastewater and recycling this back to the environment responsibly is no mean feat. We serve around 8 million people across the Midlands and Wales and unlike other businesses, our delivery is non-negotiable. It’s a matter of life.
Many of our employees are also our customers, so we truly take pride in what we do! Employing people from across our communities and beyond, Severn Trent is an exciting and inclusive place to work – a place where you can be curious, can be ‘Wonderfully You’ and where you can truly make an impact to our environment, now and for future generations.
Let’s tell you more
Our Process Engineering Design Graduate Programme offers the perfect blend of personal and professional development, exposing you to the frontline and the core of our business.
Severn Trent Capital and Commercial Services design and deliver water and wastewater infrastructure, including pipelines and treatment facilities. As a Graduate Engineer the work you undertake will be interesting and varied.
The programme will enable you to spend time in the treatment process engineering team, capital delivery and capital design teams.
How do we meet the challenge of population growth? How do we navigate the extreme weather events which are becoming more frequent because of climate change? How do we deal with water shortages and longer periods of drought? How do we reduce our carbon emissions and mitigate the impact our business processes have on our planet?
These are all critical business challenges our teams are currently working to tackle, and you could come work alongside engineers that are trialling some of the best technology and innovation in the industry, making ground-breaking changes for future generations to come.
You’ll get a real insight into the sheer scale of engineering that goes into our water and wastewater treatment and distribution of our water supply and waste removal services through three 9-month unique placements, across our engineering design teams. You’ll learn about different aspects of our business whilst working on a range of projects which will help address real life challenges and drive tangible change. You may be working in a waste workstream designing sewerage systems, or waste treatment designing tanks to facilitate sewage treatment; or in a clean water design team undertaking distribution pipe design or clean water treatment plant design.
The aim of the programme is to create a pathway and give you the necessary tools to become a chartered process engineer.
What will you learn and bring to the role
You will expand your knowledge of project and people management, including learning how to effectively manage and influence stakeholders. You’ll also gain a strong business and commercial acumen, developing your ability to plan strategically with time, cost, and quality in mind, and learn what it takes to successfully design and deliver infrastructure projects across multidisciplinary teams and our supply chain.
You’ll gain a deeper understanding of why and how we make sure we deliver with our customers at the heart of what we do, and how we communicate this message across our communities.
You will learn the following
- How to design and size treatment process assets.
- Where site constraints drive innovative solutions.
- How to manage process design to achieve optimal outcomes.
- How to incorporate operational feedback into water treatment asset design.
- How to communicate across disciplines to drive the best solutions.
- How new innovations in treatment process fit into existing assets.
Typical off-scheme role
After completing your 27 month graduate programme and depending on your personal career ambitions and the business needs, you can expect to land in an Assistant Design Engineer, or Assistant Project Manager position.
Our New Talent Team will guide you and support you every step of the way. Furthermore, your line manager, mentor and buddy will be there to help you in making sure you reach your full potential here at Severn Trent.
Entry criteria
- We require a degree in IChemE accredited degree in a process related field or a degree meeting IChemE CEng accreditation.
- BEng graduates will be encouraged to register for IEng with a requirement for further learning to be undertaken for CEng registration; Meng graduates do not.
Travel is required with this role as our design teams work from multiple offices and site visits are an important part of the job. Therefore its important you hold a full UK driving license and have access to a vehicle.
Typical contracts are 37 hours per week, however there may be flexibility around the structure of your working hours, team and line manager dependent.
What we’re looking for
We want our employees to care and to have a genuine passion for what we do as a business. We need people who want to make a difference in providing a vital service to our customers, now and for the long-term.
We’d love you to be someone with
- An academic or practical background in process or chemical engineering or a scientific discipline.
- An interest in water and the natural environment.
- A track record of thinking outside the box to solve problems.
- An eye for detail or skill at seeing the big picture (both are useful).
- Some industrial experience or time in a research environment.
- Happy to communicate and work across a multidisciplinary team.
Diversity and inclusion
At Severn Trent we are passionate about our people. We want to make sure that we continue to foster a more diverse, inclusive, and cohesive culture that represents the communities and customers we serve. We’re making sure we keep up the progress with our wonderful working groups – LGBTQ+, Women in Operations & STEM, Disability and Ethnicity, who help us with our commitments. Find out more about our commitments to Diversity and Inclusion at Severn Trent.
How we’ll reward and care for you in return
It’s not just a job you’ll get here, you’ll get a career too. We have a range of benefits that reward and recognise great work and award-winning training to ensure you reach your potential. And we’ll also help you play your part in looking after the environment and the community in which we live.
Here are some of our favourites
- 28 days holiday + bank holidays (and the ability to buy/ sell up to 5 days per year)
- Annual bonus scheme (of up to £2,225 which is subject to eligibility)
- Leading pension scheme – we will double your contribution (up to 15% when you contribute 7.5%)
- Sharesave – the chance to buy Severn Trent Plc shares at a discounted rate
- Dedicated training and development with our Academy
- Electric vehicle scheme and retail offers
- Family friendly policies
- Two paid volunteering days per year
As if that isn’t enough, you’ll receive an annual salary increase whilst you’re on programme and you’ll also get an increase when you move into your first job.