Technical Director; EIA​/Water

Job Description

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.

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Technical Director to join our Infrastructure Planning and Environmental Assessment team. This post is of strategic significance for our business and represents a challenging and exciting opportunity to identify, win and deliver multi‑disciplinary inputs to a range of long‑term, complex water infrastructure and planning projects for the sector. Our current portfolio includes some of the UK’s most important and transformational infrastructure projects at the heart of helping the UK meet its commitments to Sustainable Water Resource Management and Net Zero.

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.

You will work with a range of technical environmental specialists and design teams across multiple disciplines to direct and lead environmental teams and inputs to project designs and assessments. You will be instrumental in improving the environmental performance for a diverse range of projects across multiple sectors. The role would suit an enthusiastic individual looking to influence, lead and deliver environmental elements of large‑scale, complex, long‑term infrastructure projects.

You will have responsibility for directing and leading projects, including tasks relating to recruitment, bidding, project team management, project delivery, and financial management.

• Play a key role in the expansion and diversification of our offer in the water sector, working alongside sector leads and client account managers to provide thought leadership and win new business.
• Provide environmental advice and support to clients, project managers and colleagues.
• Work with colleagues, diverse environmental specialists, clients and engineering teams to promote sustainable design and environmental enhancement.
• Lead large, multiple, and complex projects, overseeing our performance on technical, quality, commercial, and health and safety.
• Build relationships with clients and identify opportunities to provide support in areas such as resourcing, programming, strategy development and project delivery.
• Proactively seek to develop new client relationships and actively pursue opportunities for marketing services and cross‑selling, including presenting at conferences on behalf of WSP.
• Undertake activities to secure new work, including developing proposals for complex opportunities, delivering strategic‑level bids and framework opportunities, and undertaking business development opportunities.
• Lead on and contribute to the development of innovative techniques to shape the way we do our business, whether through Digital Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Technical Excellence, Future‑Ready, etc.
• Drive performance improvement and career advancement opportunities across the team.
• Promote and build team culture and be identified as a ‘go to’ person within the wider team, supporting others in problem solving and achieving team and business goals.
• Promote an inclusive workplace, demonstrating an understanding of Health and Safety whilst living the values of our health, safety, and wellbeing culture.
• 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 of leading the successful delivery of environmental assessments for major water schemes, e.g., Strategic Resource Options (SROs) or as part of National Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) planning.
• Familiarity with other consenting processes such as Habitats Regulations Assessments (HRA) and Water Framework Directive (WFD) assessments.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills,…