Highway Traffic Engineer
A highway traffic engineer works out how roads, junctions, crossings and signals should be designed and managed so that traffic, buses, cyclists and pedestrians can move safely and efficiently. The work usually sits with local authority highways teams or with engineering and transport consultancies that are hired by councils, National Highways, developers or public transport bodies. Day to day it mixes data analysis and computer modelling with drawing up designs, writing technical reports and explaining schemes to people who are not engineers.
- Starting salary
- £25k–£32k
- Live graduate jobs
- Search all jobs
- Main way in
- Graduate schemes at engineering and transport consultancies
- They usually ask for
- A degree in civil engineering is the most direct fit
Approximate graduate salary
Typically around £25,000–£32,000 to start, though this varies widely - larger consultancies and London-based roles tend to sit at the upper end, while local authorities and smaller regional consultancies often start lower. Pay usually rises noticeably on achieving chartered status.
1What you'd actually do
- Analysing traffic count and speed data - from automatic traffic counters, manual surveys, junction turning counts or increasingly from mobile phone and satnav-derived datasets - to understand how a road is actually used.
- Building or running junction and network models in specialist software (for example tools that model signalised junctions, roundabouts or whole road networks) to test whether a proposed layout will work at peak times.
- Producing or marking up drawings in CAD - road layouts, signal staging diagrams, road markings, signing schedules - usually working alongside or under a more senior designer.
- Writing sections of technical reports: transport assessments for new housing or commercial developments, scheme feasibility reports, options appraisals, or safety scheme business cases.
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Looking at collision data for a stretch of road or junction, identifying patterns, and suggesting engineering measures that might reduce the risk.
- Site visits to measure up, photograph existing conditions, check that what is on the drawing matches reality, or watch how a junction behaves at rush hour.
- Attending design team or client meetings, and sometimes public consultation events where residents want to know why a scheme is changing their street.
2How graduates get in
- Graduate schemes at engineering and transport consultancies - the most common structured route. These typically run for a couple of years with rotations, mentoring and support towards chartership.
- Direct entry as a graduate traffic/transport engineer or graduate transport planner at a smaller consultancy or a local authority highways team. Councils recruit less predictably than consultancies and often advertise one-off vacancies rather than a scheme.
- Degree apprenticeship or school-leaver route into a civil engineering or highways employer, with the employer funding a part-time degree. Increasingly common and a genuine alternative to the graduate route.
- Industrial placement year or summer internship during a civil engineering or geography/transport degree, converted into a graduate offer. This is a very common way in and worth planning for early.
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Moving across from a related graduate job - transport planning, road safety, civil engineering design, or a council's development control team - after a year or two. Sideways moves within the sector are normal and not held against you.
- Postgraduate conversion via an MSc in transport planning and engineering, used mainly by people whose first degree was geography, maths, environmental science or similar rather than engineering.
3What employers ask for
- A degree in civil engineering is the most direct fit, but this is a mixed field: geography, transport planning, maths, physics, environmental science and even economics graduates get in, particularly on the modelling and planning side. The subject matters more if you want to chase chartered engineer status through the engineering institutions.
- Most graduate schemes ask for a 2:1, though 2:2s are accepted by some employers, especially smaller consultancies and local authorities, and relevant placement experience can carry real weight.
- An accredited degree matters if chartership is your goal. Engineering institutions accredit specific courses; an accredited MEng usually satisfies the academic requirement for chartered engineer in full, while a BEng often needs topping up with further learning. Check accreditation before assuming.
- A full UK driving licence is frequently asked for, because site visits and surveys often mean getting to places public transport does not serve conveniently.
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Some familiarity with CAD and with Excel-level data handling is commonly expected; specific traffic modelling software is normally taught on the job, so not knowing it is not a barrier.
- For work on live highways, employers will usually put you through site safety training and may require specific certification before you go out - this is provided rather than expected up front.
4Skills that matter
Traffic and junction modelling
Most scheme decisions hinge on whether a model shows queues and delays within acceptable limits, so being able to build, run and sanity-check a model is the core technical craft.
Reading and interpreting technical standards
Highway design is heavily governed by national design standards and guidance documents, and a lot of the job is knowing which clause applies and when a departure from standard needs justifying.
Data handling and spotting bad data
Traffic survey data is often patchy or collected in odd conditions, and a model built on a wet half-term Tuesday's counts will give the wrong answer.
Technical writing for non-technical readers
Reports are read by planning officers, councillors and the public, so you need to explain a modelling result in a sentence someone with no engineering background can act on.
Spatial and drawing literacy
You have to be able to look at a plan and visualise how a lorry turns, where a pedestrian will actually cross, and whether sightlines work in the real world.
Dealing calmly with objections
Highway schemes attract strong local feeling, and you will at some point explain to an irritated resident or councillor why a crossing is going where it is going.
Putting these on a CV? We counted which skills 12,914 live graduate adverts ask for, and what to do with the answer — part of our application advice.
5Where it leads
Graduate or assistant engineer: working under supervision, doing data analysis, drawing production and report sections for other people's schemes. Usually around the first two to three years, though this varies.
Engineer, then senior engineer: running your own smaller schemes end to end, checking junior staff's work, and taking more client contact. Many people are working towards professional review at this stage.
Chartered or incorporated status through a professional engineering institution - a significant career marker that usually unlocks senior roles and better pay. Timelines vary a lot depending on how structured your employer's support is; it is commonly several years after graduating rather than a fixed point.
Principal engineer, team leader or project manager - responsible for programmes of work, budgets, bids and staff rather than doing the modelling yourself.
Later branches include associate or director level in consultancy, a senior technical specialist route (for example becoming the go-to person for signals, road safety audit or microsimulation modelling), a move into local authority transport policy or network management, or client-side roles at National Highways or a transport authority.
What people get wrong
“It is mainly about making cars move faster.”
A large share of modern UK highways work is about buses, walking, cycling, crossings, bus priority, 20mph schemes and reducing collisions. Increasing car capacity is often explicitly not the objective, and schemes are frequently judged against carbon and active travel targets.
“You spend most of your time outdoors on site in a hi-vis jacket.”
Most of the week is at a desk with modelling software, spreadsheets and CAD. Site visits happen but are usually occasional, and the actual construction is handled by contractors and site engineers, not the designer.
“You need a civil engineering degree.”
Plenty of traffic engineers and transport modellers come from geography, maths and environmental backgrounds, often via an MSc. The degree subject matters most if you want chartered engineer status, which has specific accredited-degree requirements.
“It is a purely technical job with little politics.”
Highway schemes are decided by councils and are often contentious. A lot of the senior work is building a case, handling consultation responses and explaining trade-offs to elected members and the public.
6Where this varies
The split between consultancy and local authority matters a lot. In consultancy you work on a range of clients' schemes, record your time against projects, and there is more pressure on fee budgets and deadlines, but usually more structured chartership support and faster exposure to varied work. In a local authority you work on one area's network over a longer period, deal more directly with councillors and residents, and often get broader involvement from early concept to delivery, but training support can be less structured. There is also a real split by specialism: some roles are heavily modelling-focused (microsimulation, strategic transport models), some are design-focused (drawings, signals, road markings), and some are road safety focused (collision analysis, safety audits) - job adverts with similar titles can mean quite different day jobs, so read the duties rather than the title. Geographically, London and the larger city regions have more major scheme and public transport work; elsewhere the mix leans more towards development-led schemes, maintenance and local safety improvements.
General guidance about the role across the UK market, not about any specific employer. Entry routes and requirements vary — always check the individual job advert.