Location
Manchester, with travel across Ireland and the UK

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.

WSP’s Land team is the largest and most successful in the industry, supporting major strategic infrastructure projects across the UK and Ireland. This exciting role offers the opportunity to lead and develop a career within a team renowned for delivering land referencing, urban and rural landowner engagement, consultation management, land access, formal consents, statutory orders, compensation agreements, and land acquisition.

As Associate Director, you will provide leadership and direction on WSP Land projects, ensuring successful land identification, securing land rights, and acquisition through landowner agreements and statutory powers. You will champion a collaborative, high-performance culture aligned with project and organisational goals, while fostering strong partnerships with senior leadership.

You will serve as a trusted strategic advisor to clients and internal teams, proactively engaging with client capture teams and Key Client Managers to enhance relationships and secure business opportunities. You will oversee the delivery of major projects, ensuring they are completed on time, within budget, and to exemplary quality standards.

Leading business development initiatives within the Energy, Water, and Rail sectors, you will secure new projects and cultivate client relationships. Working closely with WSP’s Engineering, Engagement, Environmental, and Planning disciplines, you will identify multidisciplinary opportunities to support business growth.

You will also enhance WSP Land’s reputation through thought leadership and sector engagement, direct bid and tender preparation, implement resource strategies including talent retention and recruitment, and lead risk and opportunity management to ensure robust project governance.

Promoting WSP’s culture of health, safety and wellbeing, quality assurance, data protection, and digital innovation, you will help grow key markets and expand delivery excellence.

WSP Land supports high-profile infrastructure projects across Energy, Highways, Water, Rail, Local Government, and Aviation sectors. Our portfolio includes renewable energy, nuclear, transmission, major road schemes, rail projects such as HS1 and HS2, light rail and metro schemes, water resilience projects, and local government land and property asset management.

Join a global team of over 69,000 employees committed to making a positive impact on communities worldwide. Imagine a better future for you and for us all. Apply today.

Experience
- Proven leadership managing and directing comprehensive Land services at a strategic level
- Extensive expertise in land consents, consultation, and landowner engagement for major infrastructure projects
- Experience collaborating with multi-disciplinary teams across sectors and locations
- Advanced capability in mitigating land risk and providing strategic land advice throughout project lifecycles
- Experience representing clients at Public Inquiries and Oral Hearings, managing objections effectively
- Strong record of fostering repeat business and expanding client services
- Proven success in securing and cultivating new business opportunities
- Expertise in leading bid management, including writing, review, and approval
- Experience developing and implementing resource strategies including talent retention and recruitment
- Exceptional stakeholder management, communication, influencing, and negotiation skills
- Highly effective collaborator across organisational levels
- Proven ability to build and maintain strong senior client and management relationships
- Resilient under pressure, delivering high-quality outputs in demanding environments
- Excellent commercial acumen and proficiency with relevant IT systems
- Rigorous commitment to quality assurance, data protection, and Health and Safety standards

About you
You are a strategic leader with a passion for infrastructure development and land services. You thrive in collaborative environments, enjoy building strong client relationships, and are motivated by delivering impactful projects. You demonstrate resilience, commercial awareness, and a commitment to excellence in all aspects of your work.

Qualifications
Educated to degree level in Geography, Agriculture, Land and Estate Management, or a related discipline. Chartered status or membership of a recognised professional body is highly desirable.