Future Leaders Programme in Manchester

For ambitious early-career professionals ready to grow with a scaling business. Competitive, with a structured pathway to accelerate your development in a culture built on trust and shared ambition.

We're an ambitious, fast-growing business with plans to increase our turnover to £500m+ over the coming years. To achieve this, we're building a team of exceptional early-career professionals who want to grow as fast as we do. This is a chance to join a company at a pivotal moment and shape your career in an environment that rewards initiative, ambition, and results. IES are looking to hire circa 10 outstanding individuals across multiple disciplines. You'll already have 2-3 years of experience since graduating and are now ready for the next big step. This is a role for people who want to be trusted with responsibility and given the space to make an impact. We'll work with your talents, match your skills and development ambitions to the appropriate business area where you can thrive, and grow. While gaining exposure to strategic projects, operational delivery, corporate & operational finance, IS, and client engagement. This pathway role provides a unique platform to contribute fresh thinking, embrace innovation, and has the potential to develop future leaders. Successful candidates will play a hands-on role in shaping the future of the company while building their own leadership potential.

What We Offer

• Mentorship & Development: Learn directly from experienced managers who are invested in your growth.
• Real Responsibility: Once you're fully inducted, you'll have ownership and accountability in your chosen department.
• Room to Grow: As the business scales, so will your role, responsibilities, and career.
• Culture of Trust: We treat everyone the same, we value your ideas, give you autonomy, and expect you to deliver.
• Big Impact: Your work will directly contribute to the future success of a company on an exciting growth journey.

Key Responsibilities

• Innovation & Delivery: Introduce fresh ideas and innovative approaches to improve efficiency, sustainability, and delivery performance in your area of expertise. Support the mobilisation of new contracts, frameworks, and acquisitions across multiple sectors, as necessary.
• Leadership Development: Shadow senior leaders to gain hands-on insight into developing a utilities business. Build the skills, resilience, and mindset needed to thrive as a future business leader.
• Business Growth & Strategy: Support tendering, business development, and client engagement activities. Analyse performance data and contribute to divisional reporting and governance. Actively participate in shaping IES's growth strategies across multiple utilities markets.
• People & Culture: Collaborate with teams across all five divisions, building relationships and fostering innovation. Promote a culture of accountability, creativity, and continuous improvement. Lead by example with a focus on safety, sustainability, and integrity.

What We're Looking For

• Bright, ambitious, and driven to succeed.
• Proven themselves in the first few years postgraduate in their field and are hungry to take on more.
• Thrive on autonomy and responsibility.
• Eager to learn fast, and contribute to something bigger.
• See this as an opportunity to grow with a business that's scaling rapidly.
• Demonstrates curiosity, ambition, and passion for utilities, renewables, and infrastructure.
• Analytical mindset with strong problem-solving skills and the ability to think both strategically and practically.
• Confident communicator with excellent collaboration and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Entrepreneurial and adaptable, able to thrive in a fast-growing business environment.
• A clear ambition to progress into / demonstrate exceptional skills in specialist roles within the IES Group.

Who This Role Suits

• Around 2-3 years post-university and ready for your next step/exciting development opportunity.
• Looking for more than just a job, and would like a career with momentum.
• Excited by the idea of building something, not just keeping the lights on.
• Motivated by growth, by this we mean both yours and the Groups.

Key Measures of Success

• Contribution of innovative ideas that deliver measurable improvements across projects and frameworks.
• Demonstrated growth in leadership capability, commercial awareness, and sector knowledge.
• Positive feedback from divisional leaders, project teams, and clients.
• Evident progression and readiness for future leadership roles within IES Group.