2026 UK Graduate Civil Engineering Career Path: Water – Scotland

Job Description

We do not have a closing date for this opportunity, we will close when the opportunity is fully subscribed so we recommend that you apply as soon as possible.

We have opportunities in our Edinburgh and Inverness offices – you’ll be asked to select your preferred location as part of the application process.

Turn your ambition into action – apply now and shape your future with us.

Job Description

Engineer a Better Tomorrow – For People, Planet, and Progress

At Mott MacDonald, we’re not just designing infrastructure-we’re shaping the future of water. As a wholly employee owned company, we have the freedom to focus on what truly matters: delivering social outcomes, empowering our people, and protecting the communities and environments we serve.

As a Graduate Civil Engineer, you’ll play a vital role in solving complex challenges and delivering sustainable solutions that improve lives and safeguard the environment.

Join our Water Division, a centre of excellence tackling climate change, ageing infrastructure, and population growth. You’ll contribute to safe, sustainable water systems for generations to come.

What You’ll Do:

• Design pipelines, water and wastewater treatment facilities through feasibility, outline, and detailed stages.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to deliver integrated, sustainable solutions.
• Support projects from planning and modelling to construction, commissioning, and handover.
• Use digital tools to enhance design quality and efficiency.
• Grow your technical and project management skills through mentoring and training.

Why This Opportunity Matters:

• Empowering Growth: We support your development with structured training, mentoring, and real world experience.
• Celebrating Achievements: Your contributions are recognised and celebrated-individually and as part of a team.
• Inclusive Culture: We value diversity and foster a workplace where everyone feels seen, heard, and respected.
• Wellbeing First: We prioritise your wellbeing with flexible working, mental health support, and a caring environment.
• Societal Impact: Your work helps deliver essential services, protect the environment, and build climate resilience.

Candidate Specification

We are looking for committed and motivated graduates with a genuine passion and a desire to make a difference in the world. If this describes you, apply today to launch your career at Mott MacDonald.

To be eligible for this opportunity, you will have less than 12 months’ relevant experience (excluding placements) and have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree (obtained no earlier than 2024) or be expected to achieve a degree in civil engineering.

In your application, you should aim to demonstrate your genuine interest in both the opportunity and in joining Mott MacDonald. You can do this by highlighting any relevant experience or interests – such as modules you’ve studied, previous work experience, or any research you’ve undertaken about our company, values, and projects.

We personally review every completed application form we receive as this part of our selection process is entirely human led; we do not use AI tools at this stage and kindly expect you not to either. We want you to answer each application question with authenticity so we can get to know the real you.

We are looking for graduates with the following strengths:

• Proactively takes initiative to complete tasks efficiently and independently.
• Communicates effectively and clearly with clients and colleagues.
• Delivers high quality written work with strong attention to detail and clarity.
• Demonstrates a structured and analytical approach to problem solving.

As we want the best people for the role, we support flexible working. Please ask us at interview stage about any flexibility you may need.

Mott MacDonald Ltd. are not currently offering sponsorship to candidates under the Skilled Worker visa route in the UK. This decision is a consequence of the changes made to the Skilled Worker route by the UK Government in April 2024.

Our ethos is to develop, train and retain our graduates and therefore we are looking for a long term relationship with our graduates. For this reason, we cannot accept applications from candidates who would be working under the Graduate visa route or other time limited visas (irrespective of visa duration) due to their temporary nature and the requirement for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route in future.

We continue to welcome applications from candidates who are eligible for alternative immigration routes in the UK, that do not require sponsorship as a Skilled Worker now or in future.

More about Mott MacDonald

We’re a global engineering, management and development consultancy. Our purpose is to improve society by considering social outcomes in everything we do, relentlessly focusing on excellence and digital innovation, transforming our clients’ businesses, our communities and employee opportunities. A fundamental part of this is respecting each person’s differences and striving to meet their needs. Our values: progress, respect, integrity, drive, excellence.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We put equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of our business, seeking to promote fair employment procedures and practices to ensure equal opportunities for all. We encourage individual expression in our workplace and are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels they have the opportunity to contribute.

At Mott MacDonald, we believe it makes business sense for you and your manager to choose how you can work most effectively to meet your client, team and personal commitments. We embrace agility, flexibility and trust.