AECOM Advisory - Director (Defence)

Work with Us. Change the World. At AECOM, we're delivering a better world. Whether improving your commute, keeping the lights on, providing access to clean water, or transforming skylines, our work helps people and communities thrive. We are the world's trusted infrastructure consulting firm, partnering with clients to solve the world’s most complex challenges and build legacies for future generations.

There has never been a better time to be at AECOM. With accelerating infrastructure investment worldwide, our services are in great demand. We invite you to bring your bold ideas and big dreams and become part of a global team of over 50,000 planners, designers, engineers, scientists, digital innovators, program and construction managers and other professionals delivering projects that create a positive and tangible impact around the world.

AECOM Advisory is our new management consulting Global Business Line. Created to build on AECOM’s considerable operational expertise in infrastructure design and engineering services, AECOM Advisory is a trusted adviser to senior level clients and executive teams on their most pressing enterprise and strategic needs.

We serve the full value chain of clients active in infrastructure and the built environment, including: central and local government, defence, energy, investors, transportation and water. Our UK team of 100 staff comprises business analysts, economists, commercial strategists, major programme advisors and change management practitioners. We help our clients develop their strategy, set-up major programmes for successful delivery and improve their operational performance, to generate value for their stakeholders and impact for their communities.

As a Senior Director in AECOM Advisory’s UK business, your day-to-day role will include driving business development, overseeing engagement delivery and leading practice development for the defence sector. This is a seller-doer role, and these tasks will include, but not be limited to:

• Driving industry conversations and engaging professional networks to identify and originate business development opportunities.
• Leveraging industry expertise and commercial acumen to proactively target, define and shape business development campaigns.
• Oversee all aspects of business development, for both engagements and broader campaigns, including: client outreach, proposal development, solutions architecture, commercial and pricing strategy, internal risk review, and compliance procedures.
• Oversee multiple parallel delivery teams, across various delivery models, tempos and engagement scopes.
• Provide leadership for client interactions on delivery progress and insight validation, and visibility for interactions including with C-suite clients and senior management stakeholders.
• Architect analytical workstreams and strategically guide engagement teams.
• Provide timely quality assurance and control over scope, assumptions, analyses and insights.
• Drive practice development with conducting performance appraisals, FP&A, operational performance improvement, thought leadership and IP generation.
• Proactively coach and mentor staff.

Here’s what we’re looking for:

• Proven track record in a seller-doer role in a management consulting firm.
• At least 10 years of management consulting and/or related industry experience.
• Bachelor’s degree.
• Deep understanding of the defence sector and an exceptional network.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills, client-service mindset and ability to act as a trusted adviser to clients.
• Able to be self-directed, anticipatory and a collegial team-player who can work across a devolved-leadership and highly-matrixed consulting organization.
• Exceptional verbal communication and narrative development skills, with the ability to summarize and convey key insights to C-suite and senior management audiences.
• Exceptional commercial acumen and willingness to have an informed point-of-view, grounded in an interest in enterprise challenges (people, process, technology) and expert understanding of client industries and their context.
• Domain expertise across multiple areas such as corporate or enterprise strategy, market analysis, organisational assessment, business transformation, corporate finance, capital projects advisory, and economic development.

At AECOM, we are committed to maintaining a secure and trustworthy recruitment process and take any fraudulent hiring activity seriously. To support this commitment, all newly hired employees are required to attend an in-person Day 1 onboarding at an AECOM office location as a condition of employment.

You will have the flexibility you need to do your best work with hybrid work options. Whether you’re working from an AECOM office, remote location or at a client site, you will be working in a dynamic environment where your integrity, entrepreneurial spirit and pioneering mindset are championed.

AECOM provides a wide array of compensation, benefits and well-being programs to meet the diverse needs of our employees and their families. We’re the world’s trusted global infrastructure firm, and we’re in this together – your growth and success are ours too.