Murphy

Infrastructure construction and engineering
Last updated:
February 6, 2026
Company details
HQ
HEADCOUNT
3000-9999
ORG TYPE
Startup
SECTOR
Transportation & Infrastructure
About the company
Murphy is an engineering and construction contractor founded in 1951, working across major infrastructure sectors such as transportation, water, energy and natural resources. The company positions its purpose as “to improve life by delivering world-class infrastructure,” and runs large project portfolios that create structured early-career rotations and site-based learning. Murphy operates internationally and hires across engineering, commercial, project delivery and safety disciplines. The latest annual reporting frames talent development as a growth priority alongside safety and operational performance.
Locations and presence
Murphy operates in the United Kingdom and Ireland, with additional operations in Canada, the USA and Australia. Early-career roles are commonly tied to project locations, and some graduate roles state mobility or working away from home during the programme.
Palpable Score
76.2
/ 100
Murphy scores well because early-career entry points are visible and recurring across apprenticeships, placements, and a structured two-year graduate programme, with a clearly described, adjustments-friendly hiring process. The score is held back mainly by limited pay transparency in early-career listings, plus mixed public sentiment on consistency of line management support for graduates and apprentices.
Pillar 1: Early-career access

Score

17.0
/ 20
  • The company runs a two-year structured graduate training programme and advertises multiple graduate pathways (engineering, quantity surveying, SHES) as annual intakes rather than one-off hiring.
  • Murphy offers apprenticeships across the UK and Ireland and frames these as “earn while you learn” roles linked to offices, depots and live projects.
  • The company offers university placements and sponsored programmes, with explicit student placement messaging designed to convert into full-time graduate roles.

Pillar 2: Hiring fairness and transparency

Score

17.5
/ 20
  • The company sets out a consistent three-stage recruitment process on early-career job pages, including application with CV, an online stage, and an in-person assessment centre with dated start points.
  • Murphy explicitly invites candidates to request reasonable adjustments and provides emerging-talent contact emails for both the UK and Ireland hiring flows.
  • The company flags practical constraints upfront in graduate postings, such as needing a driving licence for project locations and confirming that sponsorship is not provided, which reduces late-stage surprises.

Pillar 3: Learning and support

Score

16.0
/ 20
  • The company describes the graduate programme as a two-year structured training programme aimed at professional and personal development, with project-based learning at the centre.
  • Murphy uses placements and sponsored programmes to give students project-focused exposure before graduation, supported by testimonials describing being encouraged and supported during placements.
  • The company’s job adverts repeatedly include “dedicated and continued investment in your professional development” and list concrete benefits that typically underpin learning stability, such as annual reviews and structured benefits from day one.

Pillar 4: Pay fairness and stability

Score

12.2
/ 20
  • The company frequently describes early-career pay as “competitive” rather than publishing salary ranges, which makes it harder for graduates to judge market alignment before applying.
  • Murphy early-career job listings do include a meaningful benefits package in several postings, including pensions, annual leave, private healthcare allowances (in Ireland), and bonus language, which supports overall reward clarity even when base pay is not shown.
  • The company’s publicly available pay signals for apprentices and graduates rely heavily on third-party estimates and reviews rather than Murphy-posted ranges, so pay fairness cannot be scored as strongly as programme structure.

Pillar 5: Early-career outcomes

Score

13.5
/ 20
  • The company reports emerging-talent scale in published ESG reporting, including counts of apprentices and graduates on active programmes in a given year, which is a strong “repeat intake” signal.
  • Murphy has substantial public review volume on Glassdoor with both positive early-career comments and warnings that graduate and apprentice experiences can vary by line manager, suggesting outcomes are not consistently predictable across teams.
  • The company shares cohort-style early-career recruitment and programme content via social channels, but public data on conversion rates, promotion timelines, or 12–24 month retention for graduates and apprentices is still limited.

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