The Institute of Highway Engineers (IHE) was asked to contribute to a consultation on the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC2020). Through engagement with members, we gathered a range of insights and evidence to create a comprehensive response on behalf of the highways sector. The IHE's policy and engagement manager, Cyrena Lafronte, writes.
The IHE's position is straightforward. The fundamental purpose of highway engineering has not changed; we are still designing, maintaining and managing the network. What has changed considerably is how that work gets done and occupational classifications need to reflect that reality.
New roles are emerging
One of the clearest things to come from our members was the rise of data-driven roles sitting within highways teams. Local authorities and consultancies are hiring for positions such as data insight manager, senior data insight officer and data insight officer. These are not purely IT roles; they combine analytical tools like Power BI and SQL with genuine engineering knowledge of highway networks, helping teams make smarter investment decisions and manage assets more effectively.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also having a growing influence, particularly around condition monitoring, predictive maintenance and road safety analysis. Job titles with AI in them are still relatively rare, but the skills and tools are increasingly woven into day-to-day engineering work. Further down the line, robotics and autonomous systems look set to push this shift out of the office and into maintenance and site operations too.
Some skills are being lost
While new roles are emerging, some established specialisms are gradually fading. Traffic signing, road markings and road safety engineering are areas where experienced people are retiring and not being directly replaced. Instead, their knowledge is being absorbed into broader engineering or project management roles, which is not always a straightforward swap.
Restructuring and budget pressures in local authorities have made this worse, pushing councils towards generalist engineers where there were once dedicated specialists.
There is also a wider concern about the loss of genuine public sector technical expertise, as more design and engineering work moves to private consultancies. The old-fashioned ‘municipal engineer', someone who really understood how local authority systems worked from the inside is a dying breed, and that matters.
Skill requirements have increased
Across the board, digital competence is now expected as standard. Engineers and technicians need to understand digital mapping, data management and analytical software on top of the core civil engineering principles that have always underpinned the profession.
In practice, employers are increasingly looking for people who hold traditional qualifications such as ONC, HNC, HND, but who have also picked up digital or data skills at Levels 4 to 5.
The IHE's own certificate and professional development programmes have become an important route for practitioners building these combined skillsets. Project management and leadership are also increasingly part of the job, as flatter structures mean engineers are expected to run projects from start to finish rather than hand off to someone else.
The IHE's recommendation
The IHE have recommended that the SOC framework needs enough flexibility to capture how digital and data-driven roles are developing within the highways sector, without losing sight of the core engineering professions that have always been central to the industry.
As technology continues to reshape both office work and operations on the ground, a classification system that cannot keep up will increasingly fail to reflect what the highways workforce actually looks like. We think that is worth getting right.
