Land Strategy Development Manager

United Utilities is responsible for one of the largest and most diverse land portfolios in the UK. Our estate underpins everything from water quality and environmental resilience to recreation, biodiversity and long‑term commercial opportunities.

We are looking for a Land Strategy Development Manager to help shape the future of this landscape and play a key role in designing how our land is managed for decades to come. This is an opportunity for someone who can balance environmental stewardship, community value and commercial thinking, and who understands the potential of land and enjoys working collaboratively to turn strategic ideas into deliverable, responsible outcomes.

As our Land Strategy Development Manager, you will help define the long‑term direction of the United Utilities estate. You’ll develop land‑use strategies, policies and programmes that maximise environmental, operational, social and commercial value, ensuring they align with our Land Strategy and the Recreation–Regenerate–Realise framework. Your work will involve identifying land opportunities, conducting strategic analyses, building business cases and influencing stakeholders across and beyond the organisation.

You’ll also work closely with external partners to unlock value responsibly from natural capital and farming reform through to land optimisation, renewable energy and battery storage, while ensuring all proposals protect water resources, heritage, habitats and our relationships with local communities. If you enjoy shaping long‑term plans, making sense of complex landscapes and creating strategies that balance multiple priorities, this could be a great fit.

• Lead the development and implementation of the Land Strategy.
• Produce long‑term strategic plans for land use across recreation, farming, biodiversity, woodland, peatland and commercial development.
• Ensure land strategy aligns with corporate priorities and PR29 planning.

• Identify and evaluate opportunities across the estate, including recreation, nature recovery, natural capital schemes, agricultural transformation, renewable energy and surplus land.
• Use spatial, commercial and environmental data to inform decision‑making.
• Develop option appraisals, prioritisation frameworks, and land opportunity maps.

• Translate strategic ideas into structured programmes with financial models, risks, milestones and delivery routes.
• Develop business cases for investment in land‑based programmes including recreation, environment and commercial opportunities.
• Provide strategic input into PR29 submissions.

• Work closely with Land, Property, Sustainability, A&R, Catchment, Operations, Legal, Finance and Corporate Affairs teams.
• Establish consistent governance pathways for land proposals.
• Represent land strategy in internal committees, steering groups and panels.

• Build trusted relationships with Natural England, the Environment Agency, National Parks, AONBs, local authorities, catchment partnerships, NGOs and land sector partners.
• Represent UU’s interests in strategic land discussions and negotiations.
• Scan external policy, regulatory changes and market trends to identify risks and opportunities.

• Lead research into opportunities, regenerative farming, access models and new land use approaches.
• Benchmark against organisations.
• Produce insight reports, strategic papers and recommendations for senior leadership.

• Identify long‑term risks to land use, water quality, regulatory compliance, community acceptance, environmental resilience and visitor pressures.
• Develop mitigation strategies and integrate land risk thinking into wider business planning.

• Lead the identification, assessment and prioritisation of high‑value commercial opportunities on UU land, including battery energy storage systems (BESS), onshore wind, solar PV, hydrogen / energy hubs, data…