Civil Engineering Lead - Major Petrochemical & Refinery Upgrade Project
Location: Reading, UK (On‑Site)
Hours: 37.5 per week (Mon-Fri)
Contract Length: 12 Months
Pay Rate Banding: PAYE - £43-17ph - £58.46ph / Umbrella - £56.91ph - £75.31ph
IR35: Inside
About the Opportunity
Our Client is delivering a world‑scale petrochemical and refinery upgrade programme, including a major mixed‑feed steam cracker, extensive refinery modernisation, and the development of new offsites and utilities infrastructure. As part of this significant investment, we are seeking an experienced Civil Engineering Lead to join the integrated Project Management Team in Reading.
This role is based within the pre‑FEED contractor's office and plays a critical part in shaping safe, cost‑effective, operable design solutions at an early stage of project development. You will report to the Senior Engineering Manager and work closely with a wide range of stakeholders across engineering disciplines.
Key Responsibilities
As Civil Engineering Lead, you will:
- Lead technical oversight of onshore and offshore structures, foundations, earthworks, drainage, pavements, and infrastructure.
- Guide the contractor on best practices for design, analysis, integrity management, and application of specialist tools and methodologies.
- Review complex civil works such as site-wide drainage networks, underground expansions, and non-standard engineering scenarios.
- Provide input to project weight management standards and contractor weight tools.
- Support building Blast Risk Assessments and influence layout, siting, and mitigation strategies.
- Review contractor calculations, drawings, models, reports, and specifications to ensure technical completeness and fitness for purpose.
- Own and optimise standards related to construction specifications and design philosophies.
Experience & Qualifications
The ideal candidate will bring:
- 15+ years' experience in civil/structural engineering roles within large onshore oil & gas, petrochemical, or refinery projects.
- Strong hands‑on technical expertise with relevant engineering tools, codes, and methodologies.
- Proven ability to lead and influence design development on major capital projects.
- Experience optimising engineering design basis, standards, and philosophy documents.
- Background across both owner/operator and contractor/consultant environments.
- Experience in areas such as:
- Heavy oil upgrading
- High‑pressure hydroprocessing
- Sour gas treatment
- Saturated gas recovery
- Ethylene cracking
- Offsites and utilities
- Experience with large‑scale modularisation strategies is highly desirable.
If you think this could be a new and exciting career opportunity for you and you would like to learn more or just for an initial, no-obligation conversation please contact me on 07732 694 243 or you can apply directly by following the Easy Apply link and I will contact you as soon as I receive your contact details.
This vacancy is being advertised by Belcan
