Location
Leeds or Newcastle offices with hybrid working flexibility between office and home. Ideally located within North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire, County Durham, Teesside, Tyne and Wear or North Lincolnshire.

Hours
Full Time

Salary
Negotiable

About the Role
At WSP, you can access global scale, contribute to landmark projects and connect with the brightest minds to do the best work of your life. Our Land team is the largest and most successful in the industry, delivering major strategic infrastructure projects across the UK and Ireland through land referencing, landowner engagement, consultation management, land access, formal consents, statutory orders, compensation agreements and land acquisition.

As a Principal Land Consultant, you will ensure successful delivery of projects securely, on time, within budget and to high standards. You will be a trusted advisor to clients, managing relationships and advising on land issues across the UK and Ireland, including statutory processes such as DCOs, DNOs, hybrid Bills, Scottish Bills, TWA, T&CPA, CPOs, Motorway Orders and Vesting Orders.

You will secure land rights for high-profile, strategic infrastructure projects across all sectors, liaise with landowners, agents, legal representatives, planning authorities, stakeholders, contractors and clients. Collaboration with Land team colleagues and multidisciplinary teams within WSP and project supply chains is key.

Your responsibilities will include quality assurance of deliverables related to land interests and rights, negotiation of access for surveys, consents and acquisition of land rights for large-scale developments, land acquisition and planning applications. You will support knowledge sharing and quality standards across regions and projects.

As a people leader and role model, you will manage, motivate, mentor and develop staff, contribute to business strategy, support bid/tender writing, and deliver training through our CPD-accredited Land Academy. The role involves UK and Ireland travel, with possible travel to WSP’s Global Capability Centre in India.

Join a close-knit community of talented individuals passionate about making a positive impact through infrastructure development.

Experience
- Expertise in urban and/or rural environments, property, communities and stakeholders
- Experience working on infrastructure development schemes with multidisciplinary teams across sectors and locations
- Experience negotiating commercial terms with landowners and knowledge of legal processes for acquisition of wayleaves, easements and negotiated access
- Demonstrable experience reducing land risk for clients and advising on land-related matters throughout project lifecycles
- Track record in development of Orders and/or acquisition of consents and land interests, with knowledge of relevant legislation
- Strong landowner and public engagement skills
- Good business and IT skills
- Adherence to quality assurance and document management standards

About you
- Ability to communicate effectively with strong influencing and negotiating skills
- Able to work both independently and as part of a team, managing pressure and delivering high-quality outputs
- People management skills with ability to motivate, mentor and develop staff
- Willingness and ability to travel effectively to various sites and locations

Qualifications
- A degree in Geography, Land/Estate Management, Agriculture or similar
- Chartership or membership of a relevant professional body is advantageous