Skills

Communication Research Attention to detail Training Effective Communication

Job Specifications

York

Job Summary

Are you in your last two years at university, studying for a degree in an active travel design related discipline?

Do you have a curious personality?

Looking for a placement during your degree?

Active Travel England is enabling people nationwide to be more active by making streets safe and accessible for walking, wheeling and cycling. We do this by building capability across the country to deliver high-quality networks, routes and places. We engage, we enable, we assure and we advocate to make active travel a core part of transport planning.

At the heart of everything we do is raising standards in street design, to ensure our country’s streets become safer and more accessible.

Find out more about what it's like working at Active Travel England - Department for Transport Careers

Job Description

Our Inspectorate is focused on increasing the capability of local authorities through the provision of support, training and technical expertise. We inspect final schemes, but our focus is on early intervention to ensure quality is designed into schemes.

You might be the support behind the guidance or providing valuable help to the enabling directorates. During your placement, you will understand the impact you can make to the lives of real people in local communities and the considerable contribution to both local and national economies while improving people’s quality of life, saving households money, and helping to address some of the key public health and environmental challenges of our time. Supported by our design community your growth will be nurtured as you apply existing and new skills to genuine projects.

ATE internship opportunity

You will be provided with a structured programme but will also have the opportunity to identify areas of interest to you.

On Your Internship You Will:

Observe and learn from ATE Inspectors to understand engagement and liaise with Authority partners and DfT colleagues
Learn about ATE’s policies, procedures and culture
Take part in design review meetings
Undertake design checks using ATE tools
Contribute to the research library and extend ATE’s resources
Assist with research on the tools and policies applied to active travel design assurance

Open Sessions:

Would you like to find out more about the role, the team and what it’s like to work in our department? If so, we are organising an open session where you can virtually 'meet the team' on 03/03/2026 at 17:00. Sign up here https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/cb500ea1-8da6-4ee4-8096-e53db4824ceb@28b782fb-41e1-48ea-bfc3-ad7558ce7136

Our Inspectorate is focused on increasing the capability of local authorities through the provision of support, training and technical expertise. We inspect final schemes, but our focus is on early intervention to ensure quality is designed into schemes.

You might be the support behind the guidance or providing valuable help to the enabling directorates. During your placement, you will understand the impact you can make to the lives of real people in local communities and the considerable contribution to both local and national economies while improving people’s quality of life, saving households money, and helping to address some of the key public health and environmental challenges of our time. Supported by our design community your growth will be nurtured as you apply existing and new skills to genuine projects.

ATE internship opportunity

You will be provided with a structured programme but will also have the opportunity to identify areas of interest to you.

Open Sessions:

Would you like to find out more about the role, the team and what it’s like to work in our department? If so, we are organising an open session where you can virtually 'meet the team' on 03/03/2026 at 17:00. Sign up here https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/cb500ea1-8da6-4ee4-8096-e53db4824ceb@28b782fb-41e1-48ea-bfc3-ad7558ce7136

Person specification

We Are Looking For Someone:

Who is studying for a degree in an active travel design related discipline (in your final 2 years at university). - see attached course list).
Effective communication and interpersonal skills.
Good organisational skills and good attention to detail.
Hard working and motivated.
Open to taking on new roles/tasks and delivering quality results to set deadlines.

Working Hours, Office Attendance And Travel Requirements

Full time roles consist of 37 hours per week.

This role is suitable for hybrid working, which is a non-contractual arrangement where a combination of workplace and home-based working can be accommodated subject to business requirements.

The expectation at present is a minimum of 60% of your working time a month will be spent at either your designated workplace (one of the locations cited in the advert) or, when required for business reasons, in another office/work location/visiting stakeholders. Your designated workplace will be your contractual place of work. There may be occasions where you are

About the Company

Active Travel England is a new government agency dedicated to creating people-friendly streets and high-quality transport infrastructure with the aim of 50% of trips in our towns and cities being made by walking, wheeling or cycling by 2030. Active Travel England will support councils with the funding and tools needed to make active travel as easy and attractive as possible for many millions of people across the country. Know more