Security Engineer at Arcadis in Bristol, England, GB

Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets.

We are more than 34,000 people, in over 30 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.

Role description:

We are recruiting a Security Engineer to join our Defence and Security sector. Reporting to Security Sub-Sector Leader, you will be responsible for technical delivery of medium size projects or elements of larger projects in own discipline with fee levels of typically in range of £100K - £500K. You will provide strong technical leadership and dependable delivery across complex security engineering commissions, managing project teams of single (own) discipline engineers and technicians of between 5 to10 people.

Job Purpose

• Apply sound security engineering judgement to translate threats, vulnerabilities, operational needs and risk appetite into proportionate, integrated and buildable requirements and solutions.
• Lead and assure security engineering on major multidisciplinary, security-sensitive and nationally important infrastructure projects within an engineering consultancy environment.
• Coordinate security requirements with architecture and other engineering disciplines throughout the design and delivery lifecycle.
• Support consistent technical governance, quality assurance and the development of less-experienced colleagues.
• Contribute to workload planning, capability development and service improvement, progressing towards broader service leadership as experience and competence develop.
• Help convert client needs into credible scopes, delivery approaches, teams and fee proposals.

Role accountabilities:

Technical contribution, team development and progression towards service leadership

• Contribute to the effective day-to-day delivery of the Security Engineering service, supporting workload planning, resource coordination, priority setting and identification of capability gaps.
• Provide visible technical leadership within commissions, promote evidence-led decision-making and help maintain consistent professional and quality standards.
• Coach and mentor security engineers and consultants, including support towards relevant professional registration such as RSES, Engineering Council registration and Chartered Security Professional status.
• Support delivery across UK and global teams, recognising when specialist input is required and helping ensure work is allocated to suitably competent people.
• Develop the commercial, people and operational skills required to take on broader service leadership responsibilities over time, supported by the Security Sub-Sector Leader and senior technical colleagues.

Technical leadership and assurance

• Act as technical lead, discipline lead, verifier or independent reviewer on major or complex commissions, in line with competence and project governance requirements.
• Lead the definition of the security problem through asset, business-impact, threat, vulnerability, criticality and risk assessment, including articulation of risk appetite, uncertainty and residual risk.
• Lead or assure the Operational Requirements process, defining Level 1 requirements and coordinating Level 2 functional and performance requirements with relevant specialists.
• Develop, compare and justify proportionate security strategies and design options that integrate people, process, physical, electronic and digital measures.
• Provide security input throughout the built-asset lifecycle, from strategy and concept through design, procurement, construction, testing, commissioning, handover and in-use review.
• Ensure that security requirements are coordinated with architecture, civil, structural, building services, fire, systems, digital, operational and human-factors considerations.
• Lead interdisciplinary reviews and quality assurance of strategies, TVRAs, Operational Requirements, design deliverables, specifications, drawings, assurance plans and technical reports.
• Apply relevant legislation, standards, guidance, ethical requirements, secure information handling and security-minded approaches proportionately.

Project, commercial and client leadership

• Plan and control technical scope, programme, budget, resources, quality and risk for significant security engineering tasks, projects or portfolios.
• Build trusted relationships with senior client and project stakeholders, communicate complex security issues clearly and support informed, auditable decisions.
• Manage change, interfaces, assumptions, decisions, hazards and residual risks, escalating matters that exceed personal or team competence.
• Support commercial management, including scope definition, estimating, fee preparation, forecasting, supplier management, change control, invoicing and debt management where appointed.
• Lead the resolution of technical differences and ensure that recommendations are evidence-based, proportionate, practicable and aligned to client outcomes.

Growth and market support

• Convert client needs into clear technical propositions, delivery approaches, resource plans and competitive fee submissions.
• Provide technical leadership for bids, frameworks, capability statements, interviews and client presentations.
• Work with account and sector leaders to identify opportunities, shape early client conversations and demonstrate the value of security engineering within major programmes.
• Develop a credible external professional profile through client engagement, industry networks, professional bodies, publications, events and technical communities.
• Support cross-selling by connecting security requirements with wider engineering, design, resilience, programme and asset-management services.

Qualifications & Experience:

• Strong technical acumen in security engineering, supported by substantial experience developing, coordinating and assuring security requirements and design solutions.
• Substantial experience delivering security engineering or protective security within an engineering consultancy on large, complex, multidisciplinary and security-sensitive infrastructure projects, including projects of a type commonly associated with nationally important or critical infrastructure.
• Broad General Security Advisor capability, with practical understanding of threat, vulnerability and risk; security surveys; asset criticality; security zoning; Operational Requirements; concept development; risk treatment; assurance; and residual-risk communication.
• Detailed understanding of the built-environment design and delivery lifecycle and the ability to integrate security into staged design, procurement, construction, testing, commissioning and operation.
• Ability to interpret and critically review security strategies, Operational Requirements, specifications, drawings, schedules, technical reports and assurance evidence, and to identify gaps, interfaces and buildability issues.
• Sound understanding of the interfaces between physical, electronic, personnel, procedural and cyber or digital security, with the judgement to engage specialists where needed.
• Ability to develop and critically appraise options, use evidence and cost-benefit considerations, manage uncertainty and explain the implications of competing solutions.
• Experience planning and controlling significant technical work, including people, resources, budgets, quality and delivery commitments, with the potential to develop broader service-management responsibilities.
• Experience coordinating multidisciplinary contributors, reviewing complex work, mentoring others and improving technical practice.
• Excellent written, verbal and visual communication, including the ability to present proposals, risk and technical conclusions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.
• Demonstrable professional judgement, integrity, discretion and commitment to health, safety, welfare, sustainability, equality, inclusion and continuing professional development.
• Degree or equivalent professional learning in an engineering, security, risk, built-environment or closely related discipline, supported by relevant experience.
• Relevant experience at a level consistent with leading significant technical work and taking responsibility for complex security engineering outcomes.
• Evidence of sustained continuing professional development and active maintenance of technical competence.

Desirable:

• Current registration on the Register of Security Engineers and Specialists (RSES), ideally as a General Security Advisor and preferably at, or demonstrably progressing towards, Principal Member grade.
• Chartered status in an engineering or related professional discipline, or equivalent professional recognition.
• Chartered Security Professional (CSyP) status, or a credible and active pathway towards CSyP.
• Additional RSES specialist-category competence relevant to the service portfolio, for example electronic security systems, hostile vehicle mitigation, forced entry, blast and weapons effects, search and detection, force protection, digital built environment, TSCM or counter-UAS.
• Appropriate security clearance, or eligibility and willingness to obtain clearance where required by client work.

Why Arcadis?

We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It’s why we are pioneering a skills-based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.

You’ll do meaningful work, and no matter what role, you’ll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark, on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.

Together, we can create a lasting legacy.

Join Arcadis. Create a Legacy.

Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We believe that by working together diverse people with different experiences develop the most innovative ideas. Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of how we improve quality of life and we work closely with our people across six ED&I Workstreams: Age, Disability, Faith, Gender, LGBT+ and Race. A diverse and skilled workforce is essential to our success.