Associate Director - Engagement and Consultation (Regional North Lead)

A little more about your role

You'll be joining WSP's expanding UK wide Engagement team of 60 plus as an experienced leader, where you'll play a meaningful role in shaping how major projects connect with communities. Working on some of the UK's largest infrastructure programmes-as well as projects across the water, health, energy and environmental sectors- you'll help deliver engagement that is thoughtful, impactful and built on best practice.

Key Responsibilities Advising on stakeholder engagement and consultation

• Advise project teams and clients on engagement and consultation strategies for complex, multi disciplinary infrastructure projects.
• Ensure compliance with planning legislation, including DCO requirements and the Planning and Infrastructure Act (2025).
• Embed global best practice in communications, consultation and engagement.
• Plan and deliver stakeholder communications and consultations, including risk and issue management, public events and high quality outputs.

Providing leadership across projects and teams

• Lead and support teams delivering engagement across complex infrastructure projects.
• Work collaboratively with multi disciplinary teams to integrate engagement into project delivery.
• Provide line management, coaching and development for engagement specialists.
• Drive team growth and capability across the North, with a regular presence in the Manchester office.

Project management and commercial responsibility

• Take commercial and delivery responsibility for major infrastructure projects.
• Lead tender responses and support business development activity.
• Manage project resourcing, budgets, risks and programmes to ensure on time, on budget delivery.

Preferred qualifications / education

• Proven experience leading consultation and engagement on large, multi disciplinary infrastructure projects.
• Degree qualified or equivalent relevant professional experience.
• Membership of a relevant professional or trade body (desirable).
• Experience across road, rail, utilities, water, environment or energy sectors.

Preferred competencies

• Collaborative leader with a strong track record of building and motivating high performing teams.
• Demonstrable line management experience, including delivering training and performance improvement initiatives.
• Proven ability to build and sustain stakeholder relationships in complex, high profile and politically sensitive environments.
• Confident decision maker, able to act on own initiative.
• Influential communicator with strong negotiation and problem solving skills.
• Strategic, structured and adaptable, with the ability to operate in fast paced environments.
• Highly organised, with strong attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously.

Consultancy hierarchy structure

• Assistant Consultant Consultant Senior Consultant Principal Consultant Associate Associate Director Technical Director Director