A fictional person: the names, employers and numbers are invented.
Fatima Hussain
Senior Site Engineer · Highways and Rail
Birmingham, UKfatima.hussain@example.comProfessional body: ICE member, working towards CEngCSCS: Academically Qualified Person cardDriving licence: Full UK
Summary
Civil engineer with five years' experience across highways and rail, from detailed design to running work on site. Currently setting out and supervising a £38m junction upgrade on a live dual carriageway. Known for tidy temporary works, early warnings raised before they become claims, and a site team that goes home safe. Working towards chartership with the ICE.
Experience
Senior Site Engineer · Kestrel Infrastructure Ltd, Birmingham
2023 – Present
Lead setting out and quality checks on a £38m junction improvement, including two retaining walls and 1.8 km of new carriageway.
Coordinate three subcontractors and up to 45 operatives a day while keeping two lanes open to traffic.
Act as temporary works coordinator for 60+ designs, from excavation support to falsework, with no failed inspections.
Raised 34 early warnings under the NEC4 contract; resolving them before work started avoided an estimated £410,000 of rework.
Deliver weekly toolbox talks; the project passed 210,000 hours without a RIDDOR-reportable incident.
Designed surface water drainage for 2.4 km of A-road in Civil 3D, checked against DMRB standards.
Produced 120+ general arrangement and detail drawings for a station platform extension on a regional rail line.
Spent six months on site supporting the resident engineer with levels, concrete pours and as-built records.
Education
MEng Civil Engineering · University of Birmingham
2017 – 2021
First-class honours; group design project on a low-carbon footbridge.
Skills
Software
AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Navisworks, MS Project
Site
setting out (total station, GPS), levelling, quantity take-off, temporary works
Contracts and standards
NEC4 ECC, CDM 2015, DMRB, Eurocodes
Certificates
Site Management Safety Training Scheme (SMSTS) · CITB2024
Temporary Works Coordinator · CITB2023
Languages
English — Native
Urdu — Fluent
Additional information
STEM Ambassador, giving talks on engineering careers in local secondary schools (2022 – Present).
Three summary options
Start from the one closest to where you are now.
Graduate engineer
Civil engineering graduate with an MEng and a twelve-week summer placement with a highways contractor. Comfortable with AutoCAD, Civil 3D and basic setting out, and keen to start on a graduate scheme that offers a clear route to chartership and real time on site.
Chartered engineer
Chartered civil engineer (CEng MICE) with twelve years in rail infrastructure. Led design and delivery of three station upgrades worth £95m in total, managed a team of eight engineers and mentors graduates through their ICE development objectives.
Design to site
Structural design engineer with four years in a consultancy, now moving to a site-based contractor role. Brings strong temporary works and drawing-checking experience, a CSCS card and six months already spent supporting a resident engineer on a bridge replacement.
Keywords to include
Use the ones that are true for you, inside real sentences.
AutoCAD
Civil 3D
Setting out
Temporary works
CDM 2015
NEC4
Quantity take-off
Highways design
Drainage design
Site supervision
What recruiters look for
Tips for this role, with the kind of numbers that count.
Lead with project value and type
Hiring managers judge your experience by the jobs behind it. For each role, give the project type, the contract value and your part in it: "£38m junction upgrade, live dual carriageway, setting out and quality" says more than a list of duties.
Separate design work from site work
Contractors and consultancies look for different things. Make it clear which bullets are design (drawings, calculations, standards) and which are site (setting out, supervision, pours), so a reader can see you fit their side of the industry.
Turn safety into results
Everyone writes "safety conscious". Show it instead: hours worked without a reportable incident, toolbox talks delivered, permits or temporary works you signed off, and audits passed. Safety numbers are often the first thing a contractor checks.
Count the money you protected
Commercial awareness wins promotions. Mention early warnings raised, rework avoided, quantities checked against the bill, or programme weeks recovered, with an honest estimate of value where you have one.
State your chartership route
Write your membership grade, the body (ICE, IStructE or CIHT) and where you are on the path to IEng or CEng. If your employer runs an approved development scheme, name it; it tells a recruiter you will keep progressing.
List site cards and tickets clearly
Put your CSCS card type, SMSTS or SSSTS, first aid and a full driving licence where they can be seen at a glance. Agencies often filter candidates on these before anyone reads a single bullet.
Make this CV yours
Answer one question at a time; the assistant fills each section and never invents numbers.
No. Choose three to five projects that match the job you want and describe them properly: value, client type, your role and a result. Keep a separate project sheet with the full list, which you can send when an employer or framework bid asks for it.
How do I mention chartership if I'm not chartered yet?
Say exactly where you are, for example "ICE member, working towards CEng, development objectives 70% complete, review planned". Recruiters understand the route, and a clear status shows ambition without overclaiming. Never use post-nominal letters you have not been awarded.
Which software should a civil engineer CV include?
List the tools the advert names that you have used on real projects, such as AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Revit, Navisworks or analysis software. Add what you used each one for in your bullets, because "Civil 3D drainage design for 2.4 km of road" is far stronger than the name alone.
