Highways & Traffic Graduate Scheme

TfL keeps London working, moving and growing - but we can only do this through our talented people. We’re a high-profile organisation with countless opportunities to offer that will enhance your skills and develop your career. Our work is high profile, delivering the Mayors Transport Strategy and ensuring London is constantly evolving, so we look for the best people who are passionate about the continued success of London.

Our engineers focus on the assets that form the foundation of our transport system. As a graduate engineer within Highways & Traffic you will gain vast knowledge in a range of engineering areas associated to the highway and contribute actively into the delivery of improvements that make a real difference to London. Your involvement will be wide ranged - you could be designing and commissioning traffic signal layouts, identifying and analysing the results of highway investigations, proposing London’s next cycle routes, or designing schemes to improve the safety of the travelling public.

Sustainability

Sustainability is intrinsic to TfL’s work ethos, and we ensure that we operate in a sustainable way to protect and regenerate the natural world.

As a TfL Graduate Fire Engineer, you would support the inclusion of new systems and materials to meet TfL’s Sustainability targets and strategy.

What will you be doing?

As a graduate, your two-year development programme will be made up of up to four placement rotations. Our aim is to equip you with the range of skills and experience you need for your successful career.

Placement 1 – Traffic Engineering – 6 to 9 months

• Developing new junction layouts to improve road safety.
• Designing a new cycle route to increase attractiveness for cyclists of all ages and abilities.
• Reviewing traffic survey data to understand how new layouts might affect traffic flow.
• Developing intrusive investigation strategies to inform project designs.
• Pavement design of asphalt carriageway renewals on London’s busiest roads.
• Technical assessment of 3rd party proposals to assess suitability for TfL’s highway.

Placement 3 – Traffic Control Engineering – 6 to 9 months

• Design and upgrading traffic signals to improve connectivity and safety.
• Commissioning traffic signals and making sure they are safe and working on the street.
• Writing traffic signal specifications and testing to ensure they are fit for purpose.
• Undertaking collision analysis studies and making recommendations to improve road safety.
• Undertaking Road Safety engineering to design road safety improvements.
• Supporting Road Safety Auditing of the scheme’s ensuring proposals are as safe as practical.
• Learn about the benefits of green infrastructure and the importance of a flexible approach when working with or near urban trees.
• Support auditing the annual tree survey recommendations and the management of the tree planting programme.
• Assist operational and other technical colleagues by providing guidance and information to keep our green infrastructure safe and healthy.

Placement lengths are flexible and can be tailored to an applicant’s individual career aspirations. All placements are, however, compulsory because as an organisation we are keen for our graduates to gain as much varied experience as possible.

Where can this career take you?

A career with us can be varied and will depend on your own individual aspirations and whether a leadership type role and/or technical specialism interests you. Typically, within five to eight years you will have obtained Membership of a Professional Institution and will be working towards Incorporated Engineer/Chartered Engineer status.

This could open up opportunities to be a Senior Engineer overseeing projects and programmes and responsible for making key technical decisions. This could then lead on to a range of leadership positions, managing your own team and making strategic decisions on design, strategy, and processes.

What training and support will you get?

Whilst on the scheme, we’ll support your technical development through a wide range of on-the-job practical experiences and placements. We’ll also support your professional development; this could include a combination of classroom-led training courses, online training courses, mentoring opportunities and structured networking opportunities with scheme alumni as appropriate to your chosen path.

• Placement manager: Responsible for your day-to-day management and support with your development
• Scheme sponsor: A senior manager who acts as a technical and professional adviser and has line manager responsibility
• Mentor: A senior engineer independent of your line management, who provides objective and confidential support for your professional development towards being a Chartered Engineer with the IET
• Buddy: Usually, an apprentice or graduate who gives support to you and ensure that you feel welcomed in the organization.
• Development adviser: Supports your professional development through providing career coaching and career progression at TfL.

What we offer

You will enjoy excellent benefits and scope to grow. Rewards vary according to the business area but mostly include:

• Free travel on the TfL network for you and a nominee who lives in the same household
• Final salary pension scheme
• Discounted national rail and Eurostar travel
• Minimum 30 days annual leave plus public and bank holidays
• Tax-efficient cycle-to-work programme
• Retail, health, leisure and travel offers & many more

Location

The role will involve a mixture of office, site, and hybrid working. Hybrid working arrangements can evolve subject to business requirements.

What we are looking for

A minimum of 2:2 degree in any STEM subject (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics).

What is important to us is a passion for engineering and successful applicants will need to demonstrate a yearning to develop in the industry. Emphasis will be on the applicant to demonstrate how they would add value building on their educational base to date.

Our core values are extremely important to us, and we desire candidates who are:

• Caring about our colleagues, our customers and our work.
• Open to each other, to new ideas and to working together.
• Adaptable to diverse needs and willing to innovate.

Everything we do as an organisation is to ensure that our evolving city remains future-proofed for millions of Londoners. Our talented graduates form a vital part of that vision, so it’s important that we find the best people to help us do this.

We’re looking for people who:

• Are ambitious with an inquisitive mind.
• Relish a challenge and are driven to succeed.
• Thrive as part of a diverse team and are motivated to add value.

As a member of the team, we’ll give you responsibility and the opportunity to add value from day one. If you are excited by inspiring and influencing the future of London and are up for a challenge and thrive under pressure, then this is the career path for you.

Additional job details

Workplace Hybrid, or partially remote

Location London

Salary rising to £32,250 in year 2, rising to £36,000 in year 3

Contract, dates and working times

Start Date 8 September 2025

Full-time

How to apply

Thank you for your interest in applying for this TfL Graduate Scheme.

We’d like to remind you that you must ensure you are eligible for this scheme before applying. Please read through the eligibility criteria below carefully and ensure that you are eligible before applying.

This application will also contain a series of questions to establish whether or not you are eligible. It is important that you take great care in reading and answering these questions as we will not be able to revert your application if an error is made.

Please Note: We only allow one application for any of our Graduate schemes per year. Any subsequent applications will be withdrawn.

Application process

The application process consists of 5 steps, including online assessments which will need to be completed within an allocated time frame. We highly recommend that you read through this document thoroughly so that you can familiarise yourself with the process.

If you already hold your qualification certificates, please upload copies of these to your application. If you are due to sit final exams or need to replace any certificates, these can be provided at a later stage.

Inclusive Recruitment Process

We operate a transparent recruitment process that removes barriers for disabled candidates.

We're a Disability Confident employer, and we offer guaranteed interviews to candidates who apply via the scheme where the minimum criteria for skills, knowledge and experience have been met.

Our candidate experience continues to be underpinned by a fair and robust reasonable adjustments process, in collaboration with our Occupational Health colleagues, and other expert organisations.

Contact us

Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments.

Contact the recruitment team by:

• Phone: 0203 005 1680 (Monday to Friday between 09:00 and 17.30).

Click Apply to start your application now. This job will be available on Prospects until 26 December 2024.