Electrical Power Engineering Graduate Trainees

About Us

Western Power Distribution is a 6500 strong team of operational and support staff constructing, maintaining, repairing and upgrading the electricity distribution network that serves 7.9 million customers across the Midlands, South Wales and the South West.

We keep the lights on in cities such as Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff and we take power to the furthest reaches of our rural landscape across the Brecon Beacons, Dartmoor and the Peak District.

As owners and operators of one of the largest electricity distribution networks in the UK, we take great care in looking after every element, from underground cables to overhead lines and substations operating from 230V to 132kV.

If this is your opportunity to join us, you’ll find we offer a supportive, rewarding and friendly working environment where you’ll be empowered to build a career. Along the way, you’ll be invested in, be enabled by the latest technology and find that we’re always interested in evolving our systems and processes so that we get even better, every day.

In return, you’ll enjoy a package of benefits designed to reward your hard work and incentivise your ambition. Everyone here enjoys a competitive salary, generous annual leave allowance, company pension scheme, protective clothing where required, an Employee Assistance Programme and a managed back care programme.

Western Power Distribution is an equal opportunities employer, a Disability level 1 Employer and a corporate signatory of WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) programme. Our desire is to bring in more employees from diverse backgrounds to build further on our inclusive culture. We value and celebrate individual difference and we believe that an inclusive culture will help the business grow as a positive, strong and innovative company

Job Introduction

Every day, our capable teams face enormous challenges to bring power to life.  They are supported in doing so with great training, a culture where everyone is valued, real career potential, a competitive salary and generous benefits package.

Recruiting the best and brightest is essential to ensuring we maintain and build on our reputation for excellent customer service and network performance.  As a result we continue to value and invest in our trainees and graduates as the future of our business.

Our employees enjoy a supportive culture where they are valued and encouraged and their views are listened to.

The 18 month training programme offers a blend of hands on and office based learning, including spending valuable time within various teams, gaining real insight into how our business works.  Flexibility is required as these placements will vary in length and can be based at any of our locations.  You will also benefit from formal courses designed to support your development.

There has never been a better time to be a part of the energy industry.  Our industry continues to evolve and innovate like never before! We are innovating planning and developing exciting new ideas and projects that aim to accommodate increased network demands.  We are committed to attracting and investing in talented people who will ensure we continue to deliver on our customer promises.

As an Electrical Engineering Graduate you may be working in:

Projects - Working within a multi discipline team, Project Engineers and Engineering Specialists manage Construction Projects on the 132kV and 33kV system carrying out substation commissioning and substation maintenance tasks along with network operations as required.  The roles are a mixture of site and office based activities - managing and working with contractors and other team members.  Positions are available in our East Midlands, South Wales and West Midlands areas.

Network Services - Working at the front line, in all conditions, day and night, our operational teams are vital to keeping our customer promises. They don’t just get the lights back on as quickly as possible. They’re working behind the scenes and around the clock to continuously maintain and upgrade the electricity network across the Midlands, South Wales and the South West. There are many varied roles that require a diversity of skills. Each person plays their part in enabling safe and efficient management of the network.

Engineering Design - The Engineering Design Team prepare electrical, protection/control, mechanical and civil designs for schemes to construct, extend or modify electricity substations energised at up to 132kV. The team assists network design colleagues with the assessment of substation options and develops selected schemes from a broad engineering brief into a fully specified build package. The team also has responsibility for the preparation, issue and archival of protection relay configurations and settings at up to 132kV

Primary System Design - The PSD team is responsible for the design of the 132kV, 66kV and 33kV distribution network system throughout Western Power Distribution, and for the provision of technical support to Network Services.

System Development - The System Development team lead on changes and developments to help networks support Net Zero.  We create the systems and policies to add electric vehicles, heat pumps and batteries to the network.  We work with government departments to shape solutions and lead on industry wide groups. We lead on the use of smart meter data within the business and work closely with the Digitalisation team.  We help make the network greener by reducing network losses and work on high level system compliance.  We set the rules for flexibility solutions applied to our network and also provide the lead for connections activities within the company.  We also support Community Energy work, helping local groups connect low carbon equipment to our networks.

We have offices across our 4 licence areas including Bristol, Castle Donington, Cardiff, Tipton and many more.

If you are offered a position, you will be required to complete and provide a satisfactory basic DBS check that shows any unspent convictions or conditional cautions.

Scheme start date is September 2022.

Please note, whilst we anticipate that the permanent position following your training will be based in the relevant team, this is not guaranteed and you may be required to apply for a substantive role elsewhere within the business.

Please only submit ONE application.  Should you wish to be considered for other areas this can be discussed at a later stage of the recruitment process. 

The Ideal Candidate

We are looking for forward thinking Graduates who are curious, ambitious, committed and want to be challenged in order to develop their skills and knowledge.

You will need to have gained (within the last 2 years) or be predicted to attain, a minimum of a 2:1 degree or a masters at Merit or above, in one of the following subjects:

• Electrical/Electronic/Combined or Power Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Robotics

If you are looking to apply your degree to a career in an empowering, supportive culture you will discover that electricity distribution offers all the career-building challenges you are looking for!

As well as your degree you should also have excellent numerical, problem-solving and all round communication skills along with the capacity to develop your technical knowledge.

You will be asked to complete 3 ability assessments as part of your application.  Please note we do not recommend these are undertaken on a mobile device.

Should you need any reasonable adjustments to enable you to undertake the assessments please email recruitment@westernpower.co.uk.

If you are successful in progressing through the stages of the selection process we may ask you to take part in a video interview, assessment centre or face to face interview.