Location
Hybrid, Costain Office (target 60% in office/site) London or Manchester, with visits to projects across the UK, especially aviation sites such as Heathrow and Gatwick. A blended and dynamic approach to remote working is promoted to support well-being.

Hours
Full time, flexible working arrangements aligned with project and business needs.

Salary
Negotiable

About the Role
We are seeking a highly skilled Designated Individual (Fire) to join our Technical Excellence Leadership Team, reporting directly to the Group Chief Engineer. This high-profile role will lead all aspects of fire expertise across the business, including construction operations, compliance, risk management, design management, and upskilling. With significant growth expected in this technical discipline, agility, vision, leadership, and accountability are essential.

The Technical Excellence team supports the entire project lifecycle across all sectors, working within an engineering-led environment that champions a right first and safe by design ethos. The role focuses on engineering and requires a Chartered Fire Engineer or a candidate very close to achieving this status. A delivery mindset is critical to support projects and clients, ensuring excellence in all aspects of fire safety.

The successful candidate will develop and own corporate processes, play a key role in determining supplier and staff competence, and respond effectively to priority events. As the lead technical fire expert at Costain, you will drive understanding and competence in fire across design, construction operations, built works, and legacy projects. This leadership role reflects the increased focus on fire safety and ensures the organisation has the necessary competency to deliver.

The role is embedded within the Group Chief Engineer’s team, which includes technical leadership, compliance, and assurance across all Costain operations such as design, design management, technical construction delivery, and quality. You will provide proactive, hands-on support, leadership, and guidance across Costain and its supply chain.

Responsibilities
- Act as the primary point of contact for all fire engineering matters within the business, collaborating closely with SHE design, temporary works, and construction delivery teams.
- Own and drive all fire-related aspects of the Costain Way, including construction fire safety and fire risk assessments.
- Ensure compliance with published guidance, British Standards, PAS, regulations, and recognised best practices, including emerging requirements.
- Provide expert support to projects during tendering, design, pre-construction, implementation, and legacy remedial stages, referring to other technical fire experts as needed.
- Ensure competence of internal, external, and third-party supply chain personnel in design, inspection, products, and methods, working with projects and procurement teams.
- Establish and deliver an assurance framework for all fire-related works to enable performance reporting.
- Identify fire-related trends within Costain and externally, and develop appropriate action plans.
- Represent Costain at industry groups and events, supporting standards development.
- Develop and deliver fire-related training modules, signpost relevant courses, and ensure sufficient fire upskilling and competence across Costain and its supply chain.
- Serve as the technical expert on fire-related investigations, including fire events and design or construction failings.

Experience
- Recognised expertise in fire engineering covering the built environment, passive fire protection, active systems, temporary conditions, and construction sites.
- Knowledge of the UK construction and building sector.
- Agile and flexible approach, able to support a wide range of project types and topics.
- Ability to engage with industry groups and peers.
- Detailed knowledge of UK fire regulations, the Building Safety Act, and industry best practices.
- Experience delivering training with confident presentation skills.
- UK safety training records such as CSCS or equivalent.
- Skilled in auditing and risk assessment.

About You
- Strong leadership and communication skills.
- Ability to work collaboratively across multiple teams and sectors.
- Proactive and hands-on approach to problem solving.
- Comfortable managing competing priorities and responding to urgent issues.
- Experience in line management and budget awareness is desirable.
- Risk management training is advantageous.
- Knowledge of fire testing is a plus.

Qualifications
- Degree qualified in an appropriate technical subject.
- UK Chartered Fire Engineer status, ideally a Member of the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE).
- Eligibility for UK Security Clearance (SC level).