Highways & Traffic Level 3 Apprenticeship - London

Highways & Traffic Level 3 Apprenticeship - London

Please note: This role may close soon depending on the level of interest so don’t miss out!

Duration:

42 months (36 months +6 months for EPA)

Location:

London

Salary:

£27,029

Benefits

You will enjoy excellent benefits and scope to grow:

• Free travel on the TfL network for you and a nominee who lives in the same household
• Discounted national rail and Eurostar travel
• Defined pension contribution scheme
• Minimum 29 days annual leave (pro rata dependent on role) plus public and bank holidays
• Tax-efficient cycle-to-work programme
• Retail, health, leisure and travel offers & many more

Entry requirements

• A minimum of 2 GCSE’s Grade A* - C or Grade 5 and above including Maths and English language.
• You are not eligible for this scheme if you currently hold or are working towards a qualification at the same or higher level in a related subject or have already studied content from the qualification for this scheme.
• You must be 18 years of age by September 2026 to be eligible for this scheme.

Proposed start date: 7th September 2026

Job overview

Transport for London (TfL) Engineers are always looking forward and delivering solutions for our transport infrastructure to meet the demands and requirements of our customers and to ensure that we’re ready for the 21st century and beyond. Our vision is to be the strong green heartbeat for London.

The Highways and Traffic apprenticeship is an exciting three-year developmental programme for people who want to be involved in the design and assurance of highway infrastructure, as well as providing professional technical advice for the day-to-day operation of our road network. Transport for London’s Road network carries high volumes of traffic of all modes including pedestrians, pedal cyclists, motor cyclists, micro mobility, buses, and coaches as well as heavy and light goods vehicles. We carry not just people but also goods, materials and provide essential transport links for emergency services.

Our engineers in Highways and Traffic focus on the development and implementation of engineering solutions to ensure that our diverse road users and different modes of travel are catered for and can continue to move about, forming the foundation of the above ground transport network infrastructure in a world class city.

As a Highways and Traffic Engineering apprentice, you’ll work with one of our teams or delivery partners in designing transport infrastructure which could include cycle lanes, improvements to active travel, transformational highways schemes, bus priority schemes, improvements to junctions to make them safe and accessible for our customers or assist in the ongoing renewal of existing assets to keep them fit for purpose. The challenges and requirements on each project are different which makes this an exciting and fulfilling job day to day.

You will develop valuable skills and gain a broad range of industry experience by taking the first step on a career path in engineering and the future of London’s roads.

What will I be doing?

You would be working in a team of experienced engineers and would assist in the preparation and production of plans, designs, and documentation on our projects to relevant codes of practice and industry standards, such as the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM), the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB), British and European Standards, statutory and regulatory requirements, as well as TfL’s streetscape and local guidance all in compliance with health, safety and wellbeing requirements.

You will also learn how to apply engineering principles and techniques, carry out calculations and data analysis, prepare and produce sketches, diagrams, and models, to support technical problem solving in the delivery of civil engineering designs and technical solutions.

You will use a range of tools and techniques, including digital techniques (such as AutoCAD, AutoTrack, Key Signs) to aid the visualisation, communication, and appraisal of our Highways & Traffic projects.

You will have a variety of placements to ensure that you are ready to embed into the team after the apprenticeship as well as meeting the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for your End Point Assessment. The placements could include:

Placement 1: Traffic Engineering

Traffic Engineering is one of the biggest disciplines in Highways and Traffic. In this placement you would work with your placement manager (normally a senior engineer) to collect and analyse data, produce safe and cost-effective solutions to address specific problems on our road network. You will be designing the road network for cyclists, pedestrians, cars, taxi’s, motorcycles, HGV’s etc where your creativity will be required.

Placement 2: Traffic Control Engineering

This placement will be in the signals team in Highways and Traffic. You will be learning about how traffic signals work, how to calculate signal timings and design outcomes to make our signal junctions safe and operate reliably for London’s travelling public. You will also be exposed to site visits to identify problems and resolving them with solutions that will keep London moving for all our road users.

Placement 3: Highway Engineering & Arbs and Landscaping

Our Highways, Arboriculture and Landscaping team work to ensure that our road alignments and structure are fit for purpose and safe for the travelling public. The road pavements, footways and cycle routes, bus stops and shelters, trees and landscaping all must fit together to make travelling inclusive and safe for all road users. On this placement you would learn to apply design standards and provide solutions that meet the legal requirements in the UK and for TfL’s red route network.

Placement 4: Road Safety Engineering

All our solutions on the road network need to be assured for safety. Our road safety engineering team provide the necessary checks to ensure we are solving the problems and not creating any additional ones on our network. We have a duty of care as highways and traffic professionals to provide safe passage to all who use our network. You cannot talk about Engineering solutions without safety and this placement will enable you bring this into your day to day thinking and work in the team.

Placement 5: Digital Engineering/Computer Aided Design

Our Digital Engineering team work to bring our designs and solutions to life to enable our communications to stakeholders. Whether your solution is a new bus stop or cycle lane, a new pedestrian crossing or footway improvement you can do this by using tools in AutoCAD or BIM. Our solutions can be tested using software that you would apply on this placement. How you communicate is essential to getting solutions implemented and this placement will give you the skills needed to start on this journey.

Placement 6: External Placement

We will give you an external placement with one of our delivery partners to understand the interfaces with Highways and Traffic. You are likely to have a placement with either our project management team, network performance or modelling, Asset Operations or Highways Structures team. On this placement you will likely learn about the commercial aspect of engineering and how we all must work together to achieve effective outcomes for the organisation.

The length of each placement will vary between three and twelve months.

As a member of the team, we’ll give you responsibility and the opportunity to add value. You will have plenty of opportunity to develop - both on the job with the full support of our excellent engineers and through classroom-based learning. The challenges we will set will push you to achieve things that you are genuinely proud off.

What do we look for?

Everything we do as an organisation is to ensure that our evolving city remains future proofed for millions of Londoners. Our talented apprentices 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 creative and have a can-do attitude.
• Relish a challenge.
• Are highly motivated.
• Promote a safety conscious culture.
• Demonstrate a positive approach to problem solving.
• Display the TfL Values of being Open, Adaptable, and Caring

If you are excited to inspire and influence the future of London, then this is the career path for you.

Where can this career take me?

Upon successful completion of this scheme, you could roll-off into a Technician Engineer position in one of our Highways and Traffic disciplines. From here, you could have the opportunity to continue developing into one of our resident technical discipline experts and progress into senior engineer or leadership roles.

The qualification you will earn is recognised by the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE), the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation (CIHT), the Institute of Highway Engineers (IHE), and the Institute of Structural Engineers (IStructE)

What training and support will you get?

You will be working towards a Level 3 BTech qualification in Civil Engineering.

Typically, you will be required to attend college for 1 day per week during term time. For the duration of the scheme, you’ll have a business sponsor that is responsible for the design and delivery of the apprenticeship scheme. They will help secure the right placements for you and support you in your professional development. You’ll also have a mentor that’ll support and guide you sharing their knowledge and expertise. Finally, you can expect to have a buddy, a previous apprentice from this scheme. Your buddy can answer any day-to-day questions you have and share their experiences with you.

All placement managers on this scheme have the training and skills to make you comfortable in the team; to teach you from first principles and ensure they have spent the time to give you enough work to be able to produce good quality work that you would be proud of from day one. You only need to bring your best self and attitude to work to enable this happen.

Application process

Our application system requires all applicants to upload a CV. Although CVs are not reviewed during the shortlisting process, we do use them to confirm that applicants meet the required grade eligibility criteria. You are welcome to upload a basic CV however, please ensure that the section detailing your qualifications is accurate and up to date. Please note we do not read cover letters.

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. You will receive information and guidance around each assessment stage as you progress through your application.

Please pay close attention to emails and deadlines provided noting you have 1 week to complete online assessments and we cannot re-issue these tests once the deadline passes. Assessment centres for apprentice roles will take place from March - May 2026, please note that many roles only have 1 assessment day and we are unable to guarantee alternative dates. We are conducting assessment centres in-person and virtually (role dependent).

Our city. Made better by you.

TfL is a place that’s open to your ideas. Where you can make a tangible impact and see the positive results of your work on the people and places around you. It’s a place where you can thrive and achieve. Where you’re encouraged and enabled and empowered to feel pride in the work you do. The clue is in the name, really. We work together for a better London. A better place for everyone. Constantly improving and enhancing how we operate to shape a city of the future.

Inclusive recruitment process

We are committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion. We want to represent the city we serve, which will help us become a more innovative and efficient organisation. Our goal is to make our recruitment as inclusive as possible. We are a disability confident employer who guarantee an interview to any disabled candidate who meets all of the essential criteria. In High Volume campaigns including Graduate, Apprentice and Intern recruitment the minimum criteria we set is achieving a pass mark in our first stage assessments, adopting a proportionate approach as part of the Disability Confident scheme. Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments for any stages of the application process.

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)
• Email: earlycareerscampaigns@tfl.gov.uk

How to apply

To apply for this role and to find out more, please click on the apply button. Please note that applications may close before the application deadline, so apply early to avoid disappointment.