Experienced Professionals

Meet Zainab, a temporary works design engineer who has completed a degree apprenticeship with Costain.

What led you to your career at Costain?  

"Whilst at school I was invited to the opening of the Lee Tunnel, I was intrigued and inspired seeing everyone come together to celebrate the completion. Two and a half years later I joined the Tideway Tunnel Project as an apprentice engineer which connects to the Lee Tunnel, it was a full circle moment!"  

How does your role contribute to improving people’s lives? 

"The first project I worked on was the Thames Tideway Tunnel as a site engineer. Essentially, the project is environmentally and socially driven, as it will direct the sewage overflows into the new tunnel and eventually clean up the River Thames. This will ease the burden on the current Victorian sewer and will deal with the growing demand. It will also make way for marine life and new green areas for the public."  

What’s your biggest professional achievement and why? 

"My biggest professional achievement is completing my degree apprenticeship. Balancing work, studying and working towards a professional qualification simultaneously was challenging, and I achieved a First Class with honours."  

What do you enjoy most about working at Costain?  

"I enjoy that everyday is different, each day presents a new challenge to tackle."  

What has inspired you during your time at Costain? 

"What inspires me is the impact we have on people’s lives and having the ability to develop and improve infrastructure."  

What advice would you give to someone starting out in their career? 

"The best advice I can give to is to continuously challenge yourself, to keep learning and ask questions when you need to."  

Connect with Zainab on LinkedIn or search our careers page to learn about our current job opportunities.

Meet Richard Paddey, our customer and community lead in our roads sector. Richard joined Costain after 20 years in the public sector. 

What led you to your career at Costain?  

"Having enjoyed a career in the public sector for more than 20 years, where I held roles with both the NHS and the police, I wanted to pursue a new challenge that still meant I could work with the community.  

"I had always worked in customer and community-facing environments, and I wanted to use my skills and experience to help make a real difference in a new environment. Whether it’s building a new road or making the UK’s water systems more resilient, Costain helps improve people’s lives through its work, which is why it was the perfect choice. 

"12 years on, I can say that was the right decision. I have enjoyed every minute of my time here at Costain and look forward to the future within this great business. 

"Community is very important to me and it’s great that I’ve found a profession that aligns with my values. In my personal life, I’m a trustee at the National Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield, and I’m also a trustee for the Victoria Cross Trust, which works tirelessly to ensure the memory and graves of every recipient of the Victoria Cross are remembered and maintained for generations to come."  

How does your role contribute to improving people’s lives? 

"I’m extremely proud to head up the customer and community team within Costain’s roads sector. Having the ability to improve people’s lives and create positive legacy in the areas that we operate is a real privilege to me, personally, and professionally.   

"From one-off gestures of good will to structured long-term community initiatives, my team and I work hard to make a real difference for our customers and the communities we serve.  It’s rewarding to know that you are making a difference through your job and the recognition from the public and our customers makes it all worthwhile. 

"Our commitment to our customers and the community is well documented and aligns with our vision of creating connected, sustainable infrastructure enabling people and the planet to thrive." 

What’s your biggest professional achievement and why? 

"National Highways, supported by the Connected Places Catapult, launched a competition to identify innovative technologies designed to improve people’s experiences of roadworks.  Being part of the project board and mentoring a group of outstanding specialist and technical experts was a privilege that showed how complex, often intangible infrastructure problems can be solved with a clever blend of cutting-edge technology and deep industry knowledge. 

"At the top of the list, however, would be transforming the life of one very special person with autism. Not only has this intervention completely changed the future for this individual, but it’s also provided hope to thousands of other families in similar situations." 

What do you enjoy most about working at Costain?  

"I’m immensely proud to work for Costain, which really does care about its people, its customers, and the communities it serves.  

"Being surrounded by incredibly talented and like-minded professionals who really want to make a difference is fantastic, and the opportunities to develop and progress are outstanding.  

"Costain actively encourages people to push the boundaries to shape, create and deliver pioneering solutions, and that’s exactly what my team and I feel empowered to do every day! " 

What has inspired you during your time at Costain? 

"Since joining Costain, I don’t think a single day has passed by without me feeling inspired by those around me. 

"Our teams are truly remarkable, from those setting out in early careers roles right through to our senior leadership team and exec board.  

"Costain has a ‘one team’ approach, with a fantastic culture, and a desire to ‘do the right thing’, which fits perfectly with my personal and professional values." 

What advice would you give to someone starting out in their career? 

Connect with Richard on LinkedIn or search our careers page to learn about our current job opportunities.

Meet Sanna, a senior engineer working in our transportation division.

What led you to your career at Costain?

"Being an East Londoner, I witnessed the construction of the London 2012 Olympics site. It was a fantastic development project and I was struck by the engineering skills that were evident on a daily basis. 

"I felt inspired into a career in Engineering so completed an internship with a design-led engineering company. Once I had started my apprenticeship with them, I knew I wanted to understand how a design comes to life, so I decided to join Costain in 2019 as an Apprentice Site Engineer, to complete my apprenticeship. 

"Costain caught my attention based on the variety of significant engineering projects they were working on, ranging from nuclear to rail to water. I had experience on the Tideway Project and Costain had a role available for an apprentice site engineer on the East Section of the project, so it felt like the right move and opportunity to bring the design I was working on to life."

How does your role contribute to improving people’s lives?

"Engineers have a crucial role in improving people's lives. In addition to working on Tideway, I have been lucky enough to work on a refurbishment project on Southern’s Water Framework at Burham, a clean water site supplying Kent. I worked on delivering the first refurbishment of the Granular Activated Carbon tanks as part of the critical remedial works required to the critical water infrastructure. The work is integral to ensuring Southern Water’s millions of customers have use of a clean, reliable water supply."

What’s your biggest professional achievement and why?

"Completing my BEng and MSc in Construction Management with first-class honours, all during a part-time study and whilst working on some very challenging packages of work such as on Tideway – notably the construction of the Combined Sewer Outflow at Greenwich Pumping Station.

"I have also been heavily involved with STEM initiatives showcasing the apprenticeship route as well as a career in Engineering – over the years I have been awarded many apprenticeship awards as well as sharing the stage with the Mayor of London discussing the need for investment in apprenticeships."

What do you enjoy most about working at Costain?

"Costain has a vast number of development programmes that you can enrol in, helping you excel, grow and develop your career, and I have relished the opportunities I’ve been given to develop on a professional and personal level.

"I completed Costain’s Empowerment Programme in 2024 which focused on how to reflect and lean into strengths at work. We also learnt from industry senior leaders in and outside Costain on how to navigate challenges and as a result, I’ve built a strong network of like-minded individuals.

"Costain also encourages you to transfer between sectors, allowing you to apply the skills you have gained from one project to another. The water projects I have been involved in - including Tideway and Southern Water’s CMDP Framework – have posed intricate design challenges. which have stood me in good stead for my current role in the Integrated Transport sector, where I am working on the refurbishment of an existing fly-over bridge in Essex."

What have you learned during your time at Costain?

"There are so many opportunities Costain has to offer across sectors and teams. Whether it be in engineering, project controls, delivery, or consultancy - there will always be a role within Costain that can be best suited to someone's career goals and aspirations.

"Costain deliver several critical national infrastructure projects which mean there is a continuous need to help deliver innovative solutions. As someone who comes from an under-represented group within the industry, this allows me to showcase my role and career into engineering, as well as the apprenticeship route."

What advice would you give to someone starting out in their career?

"Look at the different career paths into engineering. The apprenticeship route was best suited to me as I have always been a practical person with visual learning, and it provided both practical learning during my site-based role and technical learning at university – it was the best of both worlds.

"I would also urge you to use your team to expand your knowledge and understanding, whether that be in the office or on-site. There is also no such thing as a silly question!"

Connect with Sanna on LinkedIn or search our careers page to learn about our current job opportunities.

Meet Fiona, a senior stakeholder engagement specialist with over 25 years’ experience working within the aviation industry. Joining Costain four years ago, her areas of specialism are airport operations and stakeholder engagement.

In her role as key account director for aviation, Fiona is committed to helping to shape the future of airport operations and infrastructure. She is passionate about what she does, providing strategic advice to help airport operators transform the customer experience and transition to net zero aviation.

“I really enjoy the collaborative aspect of my role and I believe passionately that together we are far stronger than the sum of our individual parts. I am delighted to have recently been elected as Deputy Chair of the British Aviation Group’s Airport Consultants Group, a fantastic forum for the aviation industry to address the biggest challenge of our time; the transition to net zero. In this role, alongside the Chair and my fellow Deputy Chair, I will be shaping opportunities to deepen collaboration across organisational boundaries, to share best practice and lessons learned, and to widen access to our fantastic industry.”

Fiona started her career as a retail buyer for major brands such as John Lewis and Jane Shilton. Once she started a family, she sought a more flexible career where she could balance being challenged with bringing up three sons! Fiona started working with British Airways at Heathrow, initially part time and then moving to full time as the boys got older.

“My first managerial role was overseeing the Terminal 5 readiness project. This role came with a lot of responsibility and was a fantastic chance to show just what I could do. I was accountable for overseeing the recruitment of the teams that would carry out the T5 proving trials, making sure that the new space would work for employees and that they had all been familiarised with the new terminal before its opening.”

Fiona then went on to lead significant change programmes for BA, honing advanced stakeholder engagement skills. Highlights include managing the Terminal 3 ramp and baggage programme and introducing new ways of working for the team, heading up the T3 and T5 dispatch teams as they efficiently readied aircraft turnarounds, leading the implementation of T5’s biggest ramp change management programme and ultimately heading up a team of over 1500 people in T5 baggage.

How Fiona's role contributes to improving people's lives:
“We’re committed to being a net zero business by 2035 at the latest. A big part of this is helping our customers to decarbonise their operations. As a business, we are playing an active role in defining the role of hydrogen within the wider energy mix, and how it can enable the transition to sustainable aviation. Flagship projects in this space include FlyZero, where we assessed the turnaround requirements at airports for hydrogen-fuelled aircraft and Connected Places Catapult’s Zero Emissions Flight Infrastructure project, where we explored the infrastructure requirements to support the at-scale adoption of hydrogen. We’re even walking – or driving! – the talk, with our own hydrogen-fuelled car.”

“My top tip for those looking to build a career in aviation would be to learn from those around you – how do they handle successes and how do they respond when things are challenging? I think a healthy dose of realism is important too – a career trajectory is rarely linear, and if you expect a direct route to your dream job, you may well be disappointed. Gaining a broad insight into your chosen field will always stand you in good stead, even if you specialise as your career progresses.”

Connect with Fiona on LinkedIn or search our careers page to learn about our current job opportunities.