Location
London

Hours
Full Time

Salary
Negotiable

About the Role
What if you could do the kind of work the world needs? At WSP, you can access our global scale, contribute to landmark projects and connect with the brightest minds in your field to do the best work of your life. You can embrace your curiosity in a culture that celebrates new ideas and diverse perspectives. You can experience a world of opportunity and the chance to shape a career as unique as you.

Air transport is vital to the economy and the daily lives of millions—regionally, nationally, and globally. At WSP, we draw on experience from working on over 8,000 aviation projects for over 350 national and international airports in more than 40 countries. We are also proud administrators of ACI’s Airport Carbon Accreditation programme, reinforcing our commitment to sustainable aviation.

As one of the largest environmental consultancies in the UK, you’ll have the opportunity to contribute to landmark aviation projects and collaborate with some of the brightest minds in the industry. You’ll be encouraged to explore new ideas in a culture that values curiosity and diverse perspectives.

With the continued growth of the UK aviation sector comes increased scrutiny and a more complex consenting environment. As an Associate or Associate Director in our Environmental Consents team in London, you’ll play a key role in navigating this landscape—supporting airport expansion through strategic planning, environmental advice, and technical studies. You’ll contribute to some of the UK’s most significant and transformative aviation infrastructure projects, delivering services such as planning applications, Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), airspace change proposals, and support for Development Consent Order (DCO) examinations and planning inquiries.

This is a post of strategic significance for our business and represents a challenging and exciting opportunity to identify, win and deliver multi-disciplinary inputs for aviation projects. We need people with creative spirit, a dedicated approach and a solid grounding in environmental design, assessment and management at any stage of the development project lifecycle.

As an Associate or Associate Director, you will collaborate with a diverse team of technical specialists and design professionals to lead and coordinate environmental contributions across project designs and assessments. You will be instrumental in improving the environmental performance for a range of aviation projects.

The role suits an enthusiastic individual looking to influence, lead and deliver environmental elements of aviation projects. You will have responsibility for directing and leading projects including recruitment, bidding, project team management, project delivery, and financial management.

You will play a key role in growing our aviation sector offer, working with sector leads and client account managers to drive thought leadership and win new business. You will provide environmental advice and support to clients, project managers and colleagues, working with environmental specialists, clients and engineering teams to promote sustainable design and environmental enhancement.

You will lead large, multiple, and complex projects, overseeing technical, quality, commercial, and health and safety performance. Building strong client relationships and identifying opportunities to support project strategy, resourcing and delivery will be key.

You will undertake activities to secure new work, including developing proposals for complex opportunities, delivering strategic level bids and framework opportunities, and pursuing business development opportunities. You will champion innovation through approaches such as Digital EIA, Technical Excellence and Future Ready.

Driving performance improvement and career advancement opportunities across the team, promoting an inclusive and positive team environment, acting as a trusted advisor and mentor are also important aspects of the role.

Promoting an inclusive workplace, demonstrating an understanding of Health and Safety whilst living the values of our health, safety, and wellbeing culture is essential. You will undertake actions that contribute towards the success of the WSP business strategy, whilst being self-motivated towards goals relevant to the role, team, and your projects.

Experience
- Relevant environmental or planning degree (or equivalent experience), with chartered status or actively working towards chartership.
- Demonstrable experience delivering Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) for aviation schemes under various UK planning regimes including the Town and Country Planning Act and the Planning Act 2008.
- Awareness of the Transport Works Act 1992 is beneficial.
- Familiarity with consenting processes related to aviation and airport projects, including Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) and Environmental Permit applications.
- Understanding of how consenting processes integrate with planning systems and EIA for airport expansions, airspace change, or infrastructure upgrades.
- Proven ability to lead client communications and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders, regulators, and the public.
- Solid understanding of public consultation and stakeholder engagement processes.
- Knowledge of emerging environmental and planning policy trends.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, strong report writing and review capabilities, attention to detail, and focus on quality assurance.
- Proven people management experience with a track record of developing and upskilling internal teams.
- Demonstrated ability to contribute to strategic planning, win new work through bids and proposals, and enhance reputation in the aviation sector.

About you
Enthusiastic and motivated individual with a creative spirit and dedicated approach. Able to influence, lead and deliver environmental elements of complex aviation projects. Strong leadership skills with the ability to manage multiple projects and teams effectively. Committed to promoting an inclusive and positive team environment and living the values of health, safety, and wellbeing culture.

Qualifications
Relevant environmental or planning degree or equivalent experience. Chartered status or actively working towards chartership is required.