Associate Director - Engagement and Consultation (Regional North Lead)

A little more about your role…

You’ll be joining WSP’s expanding UK wide Engagement team of 60 plus as an experienced leader, where you’ll play a meaningful role in shaping how major projects connect with communities. Working on some of the UK’s largest infrastructure programmes—as well as projects across the water, health, energy and environmental sectors—you’ll help deliver engagement that is thoughtful, impactful and built on best practice.

Recent contract and framework wins across the water, transport, energy and environmental sectors underpin strong growth over the next three years, with clients including National Grid, East West Rail Co, Nuclear Waste Services, the Environment Agency and others.

As a member of the Engagement and Consultation Service Line Senior Leadership Team within our Planning and Consents business, you will lead engagement delivery across major UK infrastructure projects, shape regional delivery models, lead distributed teams, build strategic client relationships, and drive excellence and innovation in engagement practice.

Key Responsibilities

Reporting to the Service Line Director for Engagement and Consultation, you will lead a regional team of communication and engagement experts. You will play a key leadership role within the business with responsibility for managing new and existing projects, strengthening existing client relationships and developing new partnerships.

Advising on stakeholder engagement and consultation

• Advise project teams and clients on engagement and consultation strategies for complex, multi‑disciplinary infrastructure projects.
• Ensure compliance with planning legislation, including DCO requirements and the Planning and Infrastructure Act (2025).
• Embed global best practice in communications, consultation and engagement.
• Plan and deliver stakeholder communications and consultations, including risk and issue management, public events and high‑quality outputs.

Providing leadership across projects and teams

• Lead and support teams delivering engagement across complex infrastructure projects.
• Work collaboratively with multi‑disciplinary teams to integrate engagement into project delivery.
• Provide line management, coaching and development for engagement specialists.
• Drive team growth and capability across the North, with a regular presence in the Manchester office.

Project management and commercial responsibility

• Take commercial and delivery responsibility for major infrastructure projects.
• Lead tender responses and support business development activity.
• Manage project resourcing, budgets, risks and programmes to ensure on‑time, on‑budget delivery.

What we would be looking for you to demonstrate…

Preferred qualifications / education

• Proven experience leading consultation and engagement on large, multi‑disciplinary infrastructure projects.
• Degree qualified or equivalent relevant professional experience.
• Membership of a relevant professional or trade body (desirable).
• Experience across road, rail, utilities, water, environment or energy sectors.

Preferred competencies

• Collaborative leader with a strong track record of building and motivating high‑performing teams.
• Demonstrable line management experience, including delivering training and performance improvement initiatives.
• Proven ability to build and sustain stakeholder relationships in complex, high‑profile and politically sensitive environments.
• Confident decision‑maker, able to act on own initiative.
• Influential communicator with strong negotiation and problem‑solving skills.
• Strategic, structured and adaptable, with the ability to operate in fast‑paced environments.
• Highly organised, with strong attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously.

The Consultancy hierarchy structure:

• Assistant Consultant → Consultant → Senior Consultant → Principal Consultant → Associate → Associate Director → Technical Director → Director

Find out more about our Engagement and Consultation team
To learn more about the work we do and the impact you could make, visit our Engagement and Consultation business page and explore what a career at WSP could offer you:
Stakeholder engagement and strategic communications | WSP