Strategic Programme Manager – Transmission and Distribution in Newcastle upon Tyne

At AECOM, we are 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 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.

In this role you will play a central role in translating AECOM’s Transmission & Distribution growth strategy into a clear, governed and executable portfolio of initiatives. This role will focus upon strengthening capability across the UK & Enterprise Capabilities (EC), enabling expansion into new delivery geographies, supporting digital and AI-enabled ways of working, and ensuring the business has the talent, capacity and structure required to meet future demand.

This is a senior programme leadership role requiring strong judgment, influence and coordination across multiple workstreams. You will operate at the intersection of strategy, operations and delivery, ensuring priority initiatives are well defined, sequenced, governed and reported, while providing trusted advice to senior leadership on progress, risks and trade-offs.

You will work closely with the Business Unit Director, Sub Business Unit Directors, Operations Director and wider leadership team. The role will confirm priority T&D programmes, establish and operate a Programme Management Office (PMO) framework, and, where required, directly manage selected strategic initiatives.

Here’s what you’ll do:

• Establish and operate a T&D PMO to govern priority growth, capability and transformation programmes.
• Translate strategic objectives into a clear, priorities programme roadmap with defined outcomes, dependencies and success measures.
• Provide structured reporting, risk management and decision support to the T&D Leadership team.
• Ensure programmes remain aligned to E+E governance, commercial and risk requirements.

Talent & Capability Enablement:

• Provide strategic direction for recruitment priorities across the UK and Enterprise Capabilities, aligned to forecast demand.
• Shape and oversee capability development and reskilling initiatives, including training plans and investment priorities.
• Work closely with HR and technical teams to ensure capability plans meet current and future T&D requirements.
• Support long-term workforce planning rather than short-term resourcing solutions.

Expansion into New Countries of Operation:

• Identify and assess opportunities to establish or scale T&D delivery capability in new geographies.
• Support development of market entry strategies, including phasing, regulatory considerations, partnerships and resourcing.
• Ensure expansion initiatives are commercially viable, appropriately governed and aligned to E+E approval frameworks.
• Build effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders to support controlled and sustainable growth.

Leadership Advisory & Stakeholder Engagement:

• Act as a trusted advisor to the T&D leadership team on programme sequencing, capacity constraints and delivery risk.
• Maintain strong alignment across business Units, Sub Business Units and enabling functions.
• Serve as a primary coordination point for strategic T&D initiatives, ensuring transparency and shared understanding.
• Escalate issues and decisions appropriately, providing clear options and recommendations.

Ready to push the limits of what’s possible? Here’s what we’re looking for:

• Proven experience leading complex programmes within the Transmission & Distribution or related infrastructure sectors.
• Strong background in programme governance, portfolio coordination and senior stakeholder engagement.
• Experience operating within large, matrixed organisations across multiple geographies.
• Demonstrated ability to balance growth, people, risk and delivery priorities in parallel.
• Sound understanding of digital transformation and AI-enabled delivery approaches in an engineering or infrastructure context.
• Experience in developing and executing market entry strategies for new countries of operation.
• Have a track record of building and managing relationships with SMEs and other strategic partners.
• Have strong judgment, communication skills and ability to influence at senior levels.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline (engineering, finance, business etc.) is preferred.
• MBA or similar post graduate business qualification is advantageous.

We celebrate diversity, including neurodiversity, and believe it enriches our team. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and abilities. If you are an applicant with a disability that requires reasonable accommodation to complete the application process, please contact us at ReasonableAccommodations@aecom.com.

At AECOM, we value everyone's unique contributions and perspectives. If you meet some of the requirements above or have transferable skills you believe would benefit us, we would be delighted to hear from you!

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