Project Engineers are key to capital projects but the role is rarely acknowledged in project management publications.
They possess both project and engineering skills which I found were not covered by any one professional body’s professional development information
Most project engineers are trained deeply in one discipline and expected to perform across five.
For a competence specification I used the UK Chartered Engineer standard for competence (UK-Spec) as a basis and added selected competences from the Association of Project Management’s competence framework.
I used 5 generic areas of competence & commitment:
- Engineering and project management knowledge and understanding
- Use and development of engineering (list disciplines being managed) and associated procurement and construction (EPC) processes
- Responsibility, management or leadership
- Communication and inter-personal skills
- Professional commitment and safety management
If possible, I wanted these professionals to become Chartered Engineers before developing to Capital Project Manager
The most effective project engineers aren’t the smartest in the room — they’re the ones who can balance technical integrity, commercial reality, and human behaviour under uncertainty.