Senior Quantity Surveyor - Highways Contract Lead (Remote) in Chelmsford

Senior Quantity Surveyor Permanent Full Time, 37 hours per week £58,648 to £68,997 per annum Location: Chelmsford Working Style: Anywhere worker Closing Date: 4th June 2026 Interviews: 17th / 18th June (County Hall, Chelmsford)

Essex is an ambitious County, with an equally ambitious agenda. It has an extensive group of assets, with the Essex Highways service being responsible for managing and maintaining one of the largest highway networks in the country: 5,100 miles of roads and around 4,000 miles of footways. Essex Highways is a delivery partnership between Essex County Council and our contractual Provider.

The postholder will work alongside Members and senior officers to be responsible for the financial viability and pricing mechanisms in relation to the commissioning and delivery of all services within Essex Highways including roads, footways and cycleways maintenance, street lighting, drainage and flooding, winter travel, road safety, traffic management, highway development, bridges and structures, grass and vegetation, bus stops and bus shelters, public rights of way and roads strategies linked to all assets.

As a leader you will be a strategic thinker with excellent influencing and negotiating skills, the ability to build strong collaborative partnerships across the Council and with external partners, bringing commercial expertise and a passion to innovate. Working collaboratively with senior officers from both ECC and partners, this role requires a financial and commercial acumen and experience of and expertise in highway contracts and service delivery.

Confidentiality of information must be maintained at all times during and after your employment. This means that you must not divulge information of a confidential, sensitive or commercial nature gained during the course of your employment for any purpose. The full confidentiality clause is contained within your contract of employment.

Accountabilities

• Roles at this level will provide expert professional commercial advice to inform corporate management.
• They lead on turning this advice into contract clauses and payment mechanisms that ensures the procurement of a contract that will address today’s opportunities and begin to tackle tomorrow’s challenges.
• The role is accountable for:

• Being a key responsible leader on the Commissioning of the Essex Highways contract, valued between £2bn and £3bn, ensuring the development and improvement of the highways model to achieve great outcomes for Essex, including translating the ECC Vision into contractual outcomes that matter; the economy; the environment, increasing active travel and accelerating decarbonisation.
• Working collaboratively, driving commerciality, building and nurturing relationships internally and externally to support the delivery of highways works and services, and longer-term developments.
• Identify opportunities using evidence-based insight for the commercial improvement of the contract, managing the changes so that the highest possible levels of service quality are continually delivered.
• Implement commercial solutions to emerging and complex issues, to meet the needs of customers and deliver the best possible outcomes within agreed resources.
• Using own professional expertise and deep insight to develop a contract that ensures value for money whilst ensuring compliance with relevant legislation and statutory requirements and managing a level of appropriate risk.
• Accountable for conducting financial viability analysis, market appraisals and embedding due diligence processes to manage financial risks to the Council.
• Developing innovative commercial approaches across our business so that you can maximise the leverage of our key investments, assets and grant opportunities, whilst delivering the council’s policies and the highways service performance management framework.
• Demonstrate acute awareness of current and future market conditions/trends and highways and construction opportunities, evaluating and recommending direction for Essex Highways to follow to drive growth.

Dimensions

• Budget responsibility (direct or indirect impact) – Indirect, driving the best commercial outcomes for the multi‑billion investment that the council will make in its highways contract.
• People: Supporting a team of approximately 10 people with commercial advice and direction, dealing with external providers and consultants during the procurement and management of the significant highways contract.
• Breadth of role: Accountable for achieving demonstrable best value and strategic outcomes through procurement of the council’s contract which delivers statutory duties, policies and strategies that covers the breadth of the highways and transportation function.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Educated to degree level or equivalent by experience as a qualified surveyor.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge as a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, or equivalent relevant professional body.
• Significant and demonstrable post qualification experience within a Highways a Transportation environment with a proven track record of successful delivery of contracts, schemes, projects and services.
• Excellent leadership skills with the ability to contribute to a highly performing and motivated team from diverse backgrounds.
• Excellent influencing skills – able to build strong collaborative relationships across the Council and with private partners, having keen negotiating skills with the ability to see the big strategic picture and think long‑term.
• Capacity to innovate, embrace new ideas and test creative approaches to delivery in transport – including digital and commercial solutions.
• Expert in commercial awareness and capacity to generate creative options around income generation, grant funding and making best use of our assets.

Why Essex?

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we ensure everyone matters in Everyone's Essex. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you.

In March 2026, the Government announced that councils in Greater Essex will be reorganised into five new unitary authorities from April 2028. In addition to this, Greater Essex has been accepted onto the devolution priority programme, where we will work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs. At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

Please note that the job role requires you to be mobile throughout an operational area. Therefore, the postholder will need to have a driving licence and access to a vehicle, or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means.

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.