Principal Highways Engineer

About the role

Mott MacDonald is seeking a Principal Highways Engineer to lead highway design projects in the United Arab Emirates. The successful candidate will combine strong technical expertise with project management skills to deliver high‑quality, compliant designs on time and within budget.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the delivery of highway design projects, ensuring compliance with local authority standards and approval procedures.
• Manage the full design lifecycle in Abu Dhabi, from concept through detailed design and authority submissions.
• Act as the primary interface with Abu Dhabi and Dubai authorities (DMT, ADM, RTA, etc.) to secure approvals.
• Provide technical leadership, guiding the team to meet local regulations, international standards, and project‑specific requirements.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary inputs across transport planning, drainage, utilities, and other disciplines.
• Review and assure the quality of design outputs, calculations, and drawings.
• Support or coordinate Road Safety Audits (RSA) at various project stages.

Required profile

• BEng or MEng in Civil Engineering.
• Significant experience in the UAE, especially Abu Dhabi design processes and authority requirements.
• Proven experience leading highway design for major master‑planning projects in the GCC.
• Familiarity with Dubai design processes is an advantage.
• Experience with traffic impact studies and Road Safety Audits is preferred.

Required skills

• Highway design
• Road Safety Audit (RSA)
• Traffic impact studies
• Design standards compliance
• Multidisciplinary coordination