Site Engineer

A site engineer works on a construction site making sure what gets built matches the design drawings - setting out the exact positions of foundations, walls, drainage and roads, checking levels and dimensions, and recording what has actually been built. They usually work for the main contractor (the company physically building the job) and spend most of their time outdoors or in a site cabin, feeding information to the trades doing the work and to the site management team above them.

Starting salary: £27k–£35k
Live graduate jobs: 42 open now
Main way in: Civil engineering graduate scheme with a main contractor
They usually ask for: A degree in civil engineering is the standard ask

Approximate graduate salary

Typically around £27,000–£35,000 to start, though this varies widely by employer, region and sector - large infrastructure contractors and London-based roles sit at the higher end, and many packages add a car or car allowance, lodging allowance if you live away, and overtime, which can make the real figure noticeably higher than the headline salary.

What you'd actually do

Setting out: using a total station (an electronic surveying instrument) or GPS equipment to mark on the ground exactly where foundations, columns, kerbs, drainage runs or steelwork need to go, and checking those positions again once work is done
Reading and cross-checking drawings and models against what is physically on site, and flagging clashes or errors before concrete gets poured
Taking levels and measurements to confirm excavation depths, slab thicknesses and road formation are within tolerance
Quality records and inspection paperwork - photographing and signing off work before it is covered up, completing concrete pour checklists, logging test results on materials like concrete cubes or compaction tests

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Briefing gangs and subcontractors at the start of the day on what is being set out and where, then answering their questions as the work progresses
Working out quantities of materials and ordering or chasing deliveries so the next day's work is not held up
Attending short site meetings - daily coordination, weekly progress, safety briefings - and raising technical queries with the design team when a drawing does not work in reality

How graduates get in

Civil engineering graduate scheme with a main contractor - the most common route. These are structured programmes lasting roughly two years that rotate you through site engineering, planning, commercial and sometimes design, and are built around working towards chartership.
Direct entry as a graduate or assistant site engineer with a regional or specialist contractor (groundworks, piling, civils, housebuilding) - very common and often less formal in its recruitment than the large schemes.
Degree apprenticeship or HNC/HND route then topping up to a degree - a well-established non-traditional path; plenty of site engineers came up this way rather than through a three-year full-time degree.
Converting from a related degree such as construction engineering management, geology, surveying or building services, sometimes with an accredited MSc to meet chartership requirements later.

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Placement year or summer work on site during a degree - not a formal entry route but it matters a lot, because contractors strongly prefer graduates who have already stood in a muddy field in November and understand what the job actually is.
Moving across from a setting-out technician, site operative or engineering technician role after gaining qualifications - less common for new graduates but a real route into the job.

What employers ask for

A degree in civil engineering is the standard ask; construction engineering, structural engineering, geotechnics or building/surveying degrees are often accepted. The subject genuinely does matter here more than in many graduate jobs, because the work is technical.
Degrees accredited by a professional body (the Institution of Civil Engineers or the Institution of Structural Engineers) make later chartership simpler. An unaccredited degree is not a barrier to the job but may mean extra steps - often a technical report route or a further qualification - to get chartered.
Grade requirements vary a lot. Large contractor graduate schemes commonly ask for a 2:1; many regional and specialist contractors will take a 2:2 or an HND holder with site experience and are more interested in whether you will turn up and cope.
A full UK driving licence is frequently required or strongly preferred, because sites are rarely near public transport and you may move between sites.

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A CSCS card (Construction Skills Certification Scheme - the card proving you are allowed on a UK site) is needed before you set foot on site; employers usually arrange this and the associated health and safety test if you do not already have it.
Willingness to relocate or live away during the week is often part of the deal, particularly on large infrastructure projects. Some employers pay a lodging allowance for this.

Skills that matter

Setting out with survey instruments

This is the core technical task - total stations, levels and GPS rovers are the tools you use daily, and getting a coordinate wrong can mean a wall in the wrong place and an expensive rebuild.

Reading drawings and spotting inconsistencies

Design drawings, from different disciplines, frequently contradict each other or do not reflect ground conditions, and the site engineer is often the first person to notice before money gets spent.

Spatial and arithmetic confidence

You are constantly converting between coordinates, chainages, levels and gradients, and doing quick checks in your head to sense-check whether a figure looks wrong.

Holding your ground with experienced trades

You will be in your twenties telling a gang with decades of experience that their work is out of tolerance, and the job only works if you can do that calmly and with evidence rather than backing down or getting into a row.

Disciplined record-keeping

Quality records, as-built dimensions and pour sheets are the proof the client pays against and the defence if a dispute arises years later, so sloppy paperwork causes real problems.

Practical health and safety awareness

You work around excavations, lifting operations and moving plant, and part of the role is noticing unsafe conditions and stopping work rather than walking past them.

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.

Where it leads

Graduate or assistant site engineer - learning setting out, shadowing, taking responsibility for discrete areas of the works. Usually the first year or two.
Site engineer, then senior site engineer - running the setting out and quality for a section of the project, and starting to direct assistant engineers. Timeframes vary widely with the size and length of the projects you land on.
Chartered status with the ICE or IStructE, usually achieved somewhere in the middle of this period. Most large contractors support this with a structured training agreement and a mentor; it typically takes several years of logged experience plus a professional review, and the timing varies a lot by individual.
Sub-agent then agent or project manager - moving from doing the technical work to running the site, the programme and the people. This is the most common path and is where site engineering usually leads.
Alternatives at the same stage: moving into temporary works design, planning, quality or BIM (building information modelling - the digital models used to coordinate design), into client-side or consultancy roles, or eventually to contracts manager and operations director level. Some engineers move abroad on large infrastructure work.

What people get wrong

“A site engineer designs the structure.”

Design is normally done by consulting engineers before or alongside construction. The site engineer's job is to realise that design accurately on the ground, query it when it does not work, and sometimes design temporary works such as propping or trench support - but the permanent design usually belongs to someone else.

“It is mainly a desk and spreadsheet job because it is called engineering.”

It is largely outdoors, in all weathers, in boots and a hard hat, with early starts. Site hours are typically long and often start well before a normal office day; some projects run nights or weekends. People who want a desk-based technical role are usually happier in design consultancy.

“You need a first-class degree from a top university to get in.”

Contractors recruit heavily and care a great deal about attitude, practicality and willingness to be on site. Placement experience and a driving licence often count for more than the final grade, and plenty of good site engineers came through HNC and apprenticeship routes.

“You stay in one place and build one thing.”

Projects end, and you move. Many site engineers relocate between projects or live away during the week, especially in infrastructure. If geographic stability matters to you, housebuilding or regional contractors with a tight patch tend to suit better than major projects.

Where this varies

The job differs a lot by sector. On major infrastructure (rail, highways, water, energy) you are likely to be one of several engineers on a big team, with specialist surveyors handling some setting out, formal systems and heavy documentation, and a strong chance of living away from home. On housebuilding or small regional civils jobs you may be the only engineer on site, doing everything from setting out to materials ordering to supervising, with far less process and much more autonomy early on. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own project markets but the role itself and the chartership routes are essentially the same across the UK. Some employers use 'site engineer' loosely for a broader site management role with little setting out, so it is worth reading the advert carefully - if it mentions total stations and setting out, it is the technical version described here.

See all 42 live Site Engineer jobsFrom employers' own careers sites, updated daily Tailor your CV for this roleFree with an account, 3 a month

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.