RSE partners with Murray McIntosh to fill a run of specialist engineering roles spanning Electrical Design, Process and Commissioning, each one built around a narrow profile.

Each role carried its own constraints: specific technical backgrounds, precise geographic requirements, and in some cases, very narrow skillsets. Because of the urgency of these roles, we talked RSE through what the market could realistically deliver against each deadline, and recommended contract for every search.

Specialist engineers with the right technical background are scarce, and each of RSE's five roles carried its own bar to clear:

• Electrical Design Engineer - needed to meet RSE's technical requirements without compromise, in a market where suitable candidates move quickly once available.
• Process Engineer (x2) - required clean water experience and the ability to manage full lifecycle designs independently, since both positions were based from home with no daily oversight.
• Electrical Commissioning Engineer - needed a base in the Lake District with more than ten years of experience, a combination that left few candidates to choose from in that part of the country.
• Commissioning Technical Lead - needed hands-on experience on membrane plants, a niche within a niche. The hiring manager had been covering the role personally while the search was underway, underlining the pressure to deliver quickly.

Our approach starts with a conversation: how many people genuinely fit the profile, how quickly they could be found, and whether a permanent search made sense given the deadline. RSE's HR function leans on us for that market insight: salary benchmarking, talent pool depth, and whether contract is the faster route.

That conversation shaped the plan for all five roles. The Electrical Design Engineer closed in two weeks. The two Process Engineer searches closed in a week and a half and three weeks respectively. The Electrical Commissioning Engineer search closed in three weeks despite its geographic constraints. The Commissioning Technical Lead, the most specific brief of the five, closed in three and a half weeks, using a single-stage interview process to keep momentum once the right person was identified.

Screening held to a 3:2 CV-to-interview ratio throughout, reflecting how closely each candidate was matched to brief before reaching interview stage.

All five placements were completed with a 100% offer acceptance rate. Onboarding was simple once RSE decided to hire, they equip every contractor with their own kit, and candidate feedback has been consistently positive.

The clearest measure of success is retention: the Electrical Commissioning Engineer, brought on for what was originally a six-month contract, has now been with RSE for a year and a half.

The relationship reflects how Murray McIntosh works across water recruitment: not as a transactional supplier, but as an embedded partner who understands the industry. We continue to work with RSE, trusted to bring them the right people when they need them, while keeping them informed on what we're seeing in the market and advising on the best way forward.