Senior Land Consultant

Senior Land Consultant

Location: Scotland - may be positioned in Edinburgh, Glasgow or Perth with hybrid flexibility.

We offer flexible working patterns, competitive salaries and other benefits.

Responsibilities

• The position focuses on securing land, land access, arranging surveys and building strong relationships with stakeholders and landowners via statutory powers and/or negotiation
• Ideally have experience of managing land referencing and land access projects
• Lead audits and quality assurance reviews of land referencing documentation and processes
• Drive integration of land requirements with engineering, planning, and environmental strategies
• Provide senior-level advice to clients and project boards on land acquisition risks and opportunities
• Oversee compliance with statutory processes and ensure projects meet regulatory and legal obligations, including those relating to data security and privacy
• Resolve disputes and elevate sensitive issues with diplomacy and authority
• Contribute to commercial strategy and risk management for land-related contracts
• Establish training programmes and succession planning within the Land team
• People management and team leadership
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills to engage with landowners, communities, and stakeholders
• Ability to arrange and coordinate land surveys, ensuring compliance with legal and environmental standards
• Experience working on infrastructure, utilities, or energy projects (preferred)
• Consult landowners to explain proposed schemes, program, discuss potential impacts and ensure accurate consultation notes are taken and uploaded to the consultation database
• Skilled in stakeholder engagement, building trust and maintaining positive relationships
• Ensure that WSP H&S procedures are adhered to for all site work
• Knowledge of land access permissions, s172 licences and site safety experience (preferred)
• Manage junior members of the Land team, providing support and technical training by contributing to and participating in the CPD-accredited Land Academy
• Use statutory powers and other mechanisms to acquire land
• Prepare and quality assures technical documents related to identification of land interests and rights, negotiation of access for surveys, consents and acquisition of land rights
• Negotiate Heads of Terms to secure land for projects
• liaise with landowners, land agents, auctioneers, legal representatives, planning authorities, key stakeholders, contractors and clients
• Work closely with Land team colleagues and collaborate with internal and external engineering, environmental, and planning teams
• Experience working with multi disciplinary teams across a range of sectors and locations in the UK and/or Ireland
• Develop efficient working practices and promote innovation to provide industry leading, best value services to clients
• Manage and develop a team of early career professionals, providing both technical training and career development support
• Contribute to business development and the delivery of the business strategy
• UK and Ireland travel plus the possibility of travel to WSP's Global Capability Centre (GCC) in India

Qualifications

• Degree or equivalent experience in Geography, Land/Estate Management, Agriculture or a relevant discipline
• Worked to deliver land referencing, land access, landowner engagement services and statutory processes on major infrastructure projects
• Experience negotiating with landowners and knowledge of the legal process for acquiring wayleaves/easements/servitudes (desirable)
• Experience working with multi disciplinary teams across a range of sectors and locations in Ireland and/or the UK
• Demonstrable experience reducing land risk for clients and advising them on land related matters throughout all stages of a project lifecycle
• Proven track record of developing Orders or equivalent and/or acquiring consents and interests in land, and knowledge of relevant legislation
• Experience with infrastructure development schemes, particularly in the energy, highways, rail, water and/or aviation sectors
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to build relationships with colleagues, landowners and clients at all levels
• Strong influencing and negotiating communication skills
• Knowledge of urban and/or rural environment and farming practices (desirable)
• Chartership, membership, or a professional body (advantageous)
• Ability to travel effectively to various sites/locations is a necessary function of this role