Senior Land Consultant in Leeds

What if you could do the kind of work the world needs? At WSP, you can access our global scale, contribute to landmark projects and connect with the brightest minds in your field to do the best work of your life. You can embrace your curiosity in a culture that celebrates new ideas and diverse perspectives. You can experience a world of opportunity and the chance to shape a career as unique as you.

WSP’s Land team is the largest and most successful Land business supporting infrastructure development in the UK and Ireland. With more than 300 specialist professional colleagues, we provide services ranging from land referencing, urban and rural landowner engagement, consultation management to land acquisition. We support major strategic infrastructure projects across the UK and Ireland.

The Role

• Focus on securing land, land access, arranging surveys, and building strong relationships with stakeholders and landowners via statutory powers and/or negotiation.
• Experience managing land referencing and land access projects.
• Lead audits and quality assurance reviews of land referencing documentation and processes.
• Drive integration of land requirements with engineering, planning, and environmental strategies.
• Provide senior-level advice to clients and project boards on land acquisition risks and opportunities.
• Oversee compliance with statutory processes and ensure projects meet regulatory and legal obligations, including data security and privacy.
• Resolve disputes and elevate sensitive issues with diplomacy and authority.
• Contribute to commercial strategy and risk management for land-related contracts.
• Establish training programmes and succession planning within the Land team.
• People management and team leadership.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills to engage with landowners, communities, and stakeholders.
• Ability to arrange and coordinate land surveys, ensuring compliance with legal and environmental standards.
• Experience working on infrastructure, utilities, or energy projects (preferred).
• Consult with landowners to explain proposed schemes, programmes, discuss potential impacts and ensure accurate consultation notes are uploaded to our consultation database.
• Skilled in stakeholder engagement, building trust, and maintaining positive relationships.
• Ensure that WSP H&S procedures are adhered to for all site work.
• Knowledge of land access permissions, s172 licences, and site safety experience (preferred).
• Manage junior members of the Land team, providing support and technical training through our CPD-accredited Land Academy.
• Use statutory powers and available mechanisms to acquire land.
• Prepare and quality-assure technical documents relating to land interests and rights; negotiate access for surveys, consents, and acquisition of land rights.
• Negotiate Heads of Terms to secure land for projects.
• Liaise with landowners, land agents, auctioneers, legal representatives, planning authorities, key stakeholders, contractors, and clients.
• Work closely with Land team colleagues and collaborate with internal and external engineering, environmental, and planning teams.
• Experience with multidisciplinary teams across UK and Ireland.
• Develop efficient working practices and promote innovation within the team to provide industry-leading, best-value services to clients.
• Develop and manage a team of early-career professionals, providing technical training and career development support.
• Contribute to business development and delivery of business strategy.
• UK and Ireland travel plus potential travel to WSP’s Global Capability Centre (GCC) in India.

Qualifications

• Degree or equivalent experience in Geography, Land/Estate Management, Agriculture, or a relevant discipline.
• Experience delivering land referencing, land access, landowner engagement services and statutory processes on major infrastructure projects.
• Experience negotiating with landowners and knowledge of the legal process for acquisition of wayleaves/easements/servitudes.
• Experience with multidisciplinary teams across sectors and locations in Ireland and/or UK.
• Demonstrable experience reducing land risk for clients and advising throughout all stages of a project lifecycle.
• Proven track record developing orders or equivalents and/or acquiring consents and land rights, and knowledge of relevant legislation.
• Experience with infrastructure development schemes, particularly in energy, highways, rail, water, or aviation sectors.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, building relationships with colleagues, landowners, and clients.
• Strong influencing and negotiating communication skills.
• Knowledge of urban/rural environments and farming practices desirable.
• Chartership or membership in a professional body advantageous.
• Ability to travel effectively to various sites/locations (required).

Location & Working Arrangements

The role is based in Leeds or Newcastle, with hybrid working between these locations and home. Candidates should ideally be located within North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire, County Durham, Teesside, Tyne and Wear or North Lincolnshire.

Professional Development

WSP’s Land Academy provides training and CPD to support chartership, project management, consultancy, and leadership skills. The Academy offers training in GIS, data management, valuations, negotiations, referencing, access, and project management. Projects rotate on average every 18 months, providing varied experiences.