Graduate Mechanical Engineer South West Water · Early Careers · Exeter

Location: Exeter

Salary: £30,000

Start Date: September 2026

Application Deadline: 20th March 2026

At Pennon, we literally bring water to life. We keep taps running, protect the environment, and support communities across the Southwest. Our engineering teams make all of that happen, every single day.

We care about doing things safely and doing them well. We experiment, we learn, we share ideas freely, and we'll welcome yours from the moment you arrive. If you're someone who likes making real world systems better, and you enjoy the feeling of solving a problem that actually helps people, you'll find something for you here.

If you’re the sort of person who learns best by getting involved, this role lets you dive into the action and build confidence through real engineering challenges.

• 
  
• Work with pumps, motors, valves and mechanical treatment equipment that keep water flowing to communities
  
• Take on technical challenges around rotating equipment performance, energy efficiency, and maintenance optimisation
  
• Dig into performance data to understand how mechanical assets behave and how to make them more reliable
  
• Bring fresh ideas to equipment specifications, condition monitoring, and asset replacement decisions
  
• Find ways to reduce energy consumption and improve the efficiency of mechanical systems
  
• Play your part in our safety‑first culture through site visits, risk assessments, and quality checks
  
• Build the technical and professional skills you'll need for chartership (if that's where you're headed)
  

If you enjoy getting stuck in straight away, experimenting, learning fast, and getting involved in real engineering work, this could be a great fit for you.

We’re keen to meet engineering graduates who get curious about systems, love tackling unfamiliar challenges, and learn as they go.

You might be a great match if you:

• 
  
• Are working toward (or have) a degree in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related engineering discipline
  
• Enjoy understanding how systems work and aren't afraid to ask the questions that get you there
  
• Can explain things clearly, whether your audience is technical or not
  
• Bring integrity, care and good judgement to the work you do
  
• Put safety and people at the heart of your choices
  
• Care about the environment and designing for a sustainable future
  
• Have an instinct for problem‑solving, seeing possibility in unexpected places
  
• Have the right to work in the UK
  

If you’re drawn to this role and feel this might be you, we’d love to hear from you.

Don’t have everything on this list? That’s ok, you won’t be expected to arrive with all the answers. In fact, a curious mind and proactive attitude will carry you a long way as you explore everything this role has to offer. You'll learn about our assets, our systems, and how engineering theory translates into keeping vital services running around the clock.

• 
  
• A structured grad programme: Learning that strengthens your technical instincts, people skills and your sense of how engineering fits into the bigger picture
  
• A mentor or buddy: An experienced engineer who can guide you along the way
  
• Real experience: Work on assets and projects with real impact across familiar spaces and communities in the Southwest
  
• Competitive salary and benefits package
  
• The chance to make a difference: Work that carries genuine social and environmental meaning
  
• A culture shaped by values: safety, integrity, collaboration, innovation and customer care
  
• Support toward professional registration and clear pathways to chartership
  

Closing Date: 20th March 2026 – We reserve the right to close this vacancy before the advertised closing date.

Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK for the full duration of the 2‑year programme. We are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this programme.

We’re committed to building a team that reflects the communities we serve and ensuring everyone can participate in our recruitment process fully and fairly. If you need any adjustments or face any barriers in our processes, just let us know. We'll work with you to make sure you can show us what you can do.