Principal Flood Modeller

JFM Associates • Permanent • Birmingham, West Midlands, England, United Kingdom • £55,000 - £75,000 / year • 1m ago

Senior / Principal / Associate Director Flood Modeller/Hydrology

UK wide

£75,000 plus benefits

Exceptional opportunities exist with this leading consultancy who continue to grow their water group across the country.

We are keen to hear from Senior to Associate Director level individuals with strong Flood Modelling/Hydrology experience. At Senior/Principal level you will lead and manage commissions, sign off modelling reporting, manage budgets as well as change control and mentor modellers.

The Associate Director will act as Project Director on key commissions, lead client relationships and work-winning, set modelling governance standards across the team and oversee portfolio performance.

The main focus surrounds the leadership and management and the delivery of hydrology and hydraulic modelling commissions (1D/2D fluvial, tidal and surface water) to support planning, design and construction. Providing technical direction, managing programme/budget/risk/QA, coordinate multi-disciplinary inputs, and acted as the key client interface for modelling work streams.

In more detail the role will be to:-

Lead and manage modelling projects end-to-end: define scope and methodology, set programme, manage budget, control risk, and deliver to agreed QA/QMS standards.
Lead and manage hydrology inputs: catchment assessment, rainfall/flow estimation, hydrograph derivation, climate change allowances, and clear documentation of assumptions and uncertainty.
Lead and coordinate model build, verification and scenario testing (e.g., climate change, breach/blockage, sensitivities) ensuring outputs are fit for purpose.
Provide technical direction on data requirements, boundary conditions, model schematisation, mesh strategy, time step selection, roughness/structures representation, stability/performance and optimisation.
Interpret and communicate results into clear, decision-ready advice for clients and design teams (mitigation optioneering, levels/FFL strategy, safe access/egress, residual risk, exceedance routing, floodplain compensation concepts where applicable).
Produce and sign-off technical reports/appendices suitable for regulator review and planning/design submissions; respond to technical queries and challenge.
Lead and manage stakeholder engagement with EA/LLFAs/LPAs and other technical reviewers (method agreement, meetings, review responses).
Coordinate interfaces with drainage, civils, highways, geotechnical and planning teams to ensure consistent assumptions and integrated outcomes.
Resource-plan and delegate tasks; mentor junior modellers; maintain consistent standards, templates, and auditable file/version control.
Contribute to bids: scope, methodology, programme, assumptions, risks and fee inputs; identify follow-on opportunities.

For your part you will possess:-

Strong UK consultancy experience leading hydrology and hydraulic modelling projects, including delivery governance (scope/programme/budget/risk/QA).
Demonstrable hydrology competence: flow estimation and hydrograph development; confident selection of methods appropriate to catchment type, data availability and study purpose; able to communicate uncertainty and sensitivity clearly.
Strong hydraulic modelling understanding (stability, mesh/timestep, roughness, structures representation, boundary conditions, calibration/validation where possible).
Confident client-facing communicator with excellent technical writing and project management discipline.
Advanced capability in one or more of: TUFLOW, Flood Modeller, InfoWorks ICM.
Strong GIS skills (QGIS/ArcGIS) for data preparation and mapping outputs.
Desirable: hydrology tools familiarity (e.g., ReFH2, WINFAP, FEH methods or equivalent), plus Python/data processing and CAD familiarity.

A graduate in Civil Engineering, Water/Environmental Engineering, Hydrology, Geography or similar and preferably Chartered (ICE/CIWEM)

In return you can expect an above industry salary and benefits package together with unrivalled career progression.