Structural Engineering Graduate Programme

AECOM is built to deliver a better world. We design, build, finance and operate infrastructure assets for governments, businesses and organizations in more than 150 countries. As a fully integrated firm, we connect knowledge and experience across our global network of experts to help clients solve their most complex challenges. From highperformance buildings and infrastructure, to resilient communities and environments, to stable and secure nations, our work is transformative, differentiated and vital.

Our UK & Ireland business can provide a comprehensive portfolio of multidisciplinary engineering skills, with our structural engineers playing a leading and influential role in the development of building projects. We’re currently engaged in a vast array of building projects from world class sporting venues through to commercial properties, healthcare, higher education and research facilities, hotels and resorts, industrial and manufacturing developments. These projects are located both in the UK and increasingly overseas.

Some examples of current projects in the Structural Engineering Practice include:

• Houses of Parliament, London - AECOM are the structural engineers for the refurbishment of Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben), as well as the lead engineers for the Northern Estate Programme, comprising refurbishment of 4 separate listed buildings to the north of the Palace of Westminster.
• Curragh Racecourse, Ireland (right) – AECOM provided multi-disciplinary services on the redevelopment of Ireland’s preeminent racecourse- where racing has taken place since 1729. The project included the construction of saddling stalls, museum arm, and its centrepiece, the breath taking grandstand. With its soaring linear roof, the grandstand can accommodate crowds of up to 10,000 spectators.
• Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam – AECOM have been engaged to design a new pier for the future, which will be the airports most sustainable ever. The new 400m long by 65m wide pier and 300m long link bridge will welcome an additional 14 million passengers annually through the provision of 8 new aircraft gates.
• Project North Park, Exeter – This new £70m, state of the art research facility for the University of Exeter will house the Global Systems Institute, the Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, the Humanities Research Institute, Astrophysics and Q-Step. It will bring together students and leading academics from various departments to facilitate collaboration in spaces designed to deliver the university’s planned growth in research and teaching.
• Foreign and Commonwealth Office Seismic Retrofit Programme, Various Locations – This global project involves the structural investigation and design of existing overseas British embassy buildings to ensure the facilities are safe and resilient in the event of earthquakes. Work on this programme has been undertaken in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America.
• Crossrail Paddington Arch, London – The design and delivery of a new steel framed structure, constructed within an existing Grade I listed building at Paddington station was a significant challenge. This required appropriate heritage consents, assessing cost and constructability implications of our proposals and coordinating with the various other project disciplines and stakeholders. As such this required a collaborative 2 project approach.
• Al Janoub Stadium, Qatar (right) – Inspired by the rich heritage of Qatar and the Al Wakrah region, this 45,000 capacity FIFA 2020 World Cup stadium was designed with the timeless characteristics of simplicity, solidity, space and light. One of the most technically demanding projects we have ever delivered, including unprecedented advances in the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM).
• Chateau La Coste, Provence (below) – AECOM have provided Civil and Structural engineering services on a number of expressive and innovative art galleries in the south of France. Each of the separate gallery buildings has been conceived by world renowned Architects, including Renzo Piano, giving the teams an opportunity to work on elaborate and award winning designs.

All of our buildings are conceived, designed, and constructed in a collaborative way to ensure they meet the often wide ranging requirements of the client brief, within the constraints of time and budget, all while still performing sustainably. Increasingly, we work with our other internal business lines such as architecture, building services engineering, environment, transportation, project management and cost management to deliver an all-encompassing service to our clients and their projects.

We wish to recruit graduates who are enthusiastic about improving the built environments, who can bring that passion and flair to their work, and who want to apply their recently acquired engineering skills to the real world on interesting and impactful projects.

Job Responsibilities

As a graduate launching your career with AECOM’s Structural Engineering Practice, you will be placed in a team and paired with an experienced engineer. With support from your wider team, this mentor will guide and support you through the initial stages of your career.

Your key responsibilities may include the following:

• Assisting in the development of our projects through the different design stages
• Developing analytical and design skills
• Producing designs, calculations, sketches, diagrams, design intents and final working drawings for various elements of a building structure under the supervision of an experienced engineer
• Collecting and analysing data under the supervision of an experienced engineer
• Using various tools at your disposal to solve engineering problems
• Attending meetings and workshops with other design professionals such as architects
• Liaising with other disciplines within the project team to coordinate designs
• Performing work in accordance with agreed upon budget and timescales under supervision
• Contributing to hazard elimination and reduction
• Conducting site visits during the construction phase of projects to inspect the works
• Contributing to a wide range of projects as the work load dictates

You will start working on live projects almost straight away, as we believe the best way to learn is through real world, on the job experience. This experiential learning will be supplemented with training from a variety of sources specific to the Structural Engineering Practice, as a part of our ICE accredited training scheme. This will include lunchtime training seminars and formal training courses.

This training is designed to provide you with a holistic development experience, bridging the gap between university and the world of work. You will be empowered to fulfil your potential, and make a valuable contribution as a structural engineer at AECOM.

Some of the topics your training and development will focus on include:

•  Design methods for various structural elements using a range of structural materials
• Practical application of current design software that allows us deliver design solutions efficiently and effectively
• The skills necessary to present our engineering solutions; including sketching and the use of 3D drawing in Revit
•  Commercial awareness and contracts
• Health & Safety

This training will ensure you have a full set of design skills and are equipped to engage confidently with the wider design and contractor teams. Through the course of your graduate scheme, you will develop confidence in designing in a variety of structural materials and building types. You will also begin to develop an awareness of commercial arrangements, contract and procurement types, and how they impact our work. As you develop, you will be given more autonomy and responsibility for your designs.

Eventually you will be expected to take on more responsibility in managing the projects you are working on, both from a design and financial perspective, providing you with challenging and rewarding development opportunities and career progression.

Requirements

• Masters degree accredited by a professional engineering institution such as the Institution of Civil Engineers or the Institution of Structural Engineers
• Ideally degree qualification at 2:1 or higher
• Enthusiasm and drive to become a Chartered Engineer
• Demonstration of the desire to create opportunity or make the most of opportunities to develop academic, engineering or life experiences

Training 

Our Graduate Development Programme (GDP) along with our huge scope of projects across the globe, will challenge and inspire you to make a real difference to the world we live in. Our programmes form a core part of our business strategy globally, designed to develop the best talent across numerous disciplines to lead our business into the future. We have over 1,000 graduates on our programmes across the UK and Europe, from over 30 different disciplines, each and every one of them making a tangible difference to the environment we all live and work in.

We will provide you with all the tools and support you need to achieve your professional development ambitions, including chartership with the relevant international professional institution, where we have graduates working towards over 30 professional institutions in the UK. We demand the highest standards and expect our graduates to pass their professional review first time.

You will be assigned a mentor to support and guide your development, and undertake regular training modules throughout the programme. There will be on-the-job and classroom training where required, and the opportunity to work on live client projects, with significant multi-disciplinary exposure.