Senior or Principal Consultant, EIA - Rail and Road (North East , North West and Scotland) in Manchester

Join to apply for the Senior or Principal Consultant, EIA - Rail and Road (North East, North West and Scotland) role at WSP in the UK & Ireland. 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.

A Little More About Your Role… There is a political consensus that infrastructure investment is vital and serves an enduring purpose. At all levels of UK government, projects are being taken forward that support sustainable economic growth, decarbonise the movement of goods and people, and modernise the services received by end users. At WSP, we draw on experience from working on over 36,000 transport and infrastructure projects in over 40 countries across 6 continents. As one of the global leaders in transport and infrastructure, we are committed to sustainable transport and connecting communities.

As one of the largest environmental consultancies in the UK, you’ll get the opportunity to contribute to nationally significant transport projects and collaborate with some of the brightest minds in the industry. You’ll be encouraged to explore new ideas in a culture that values curiosity and diverse perspectives. With the continued changes and demand on the UK transport sector comes increased scrutiny and a more complex consenting environment. As a Senior Consultant or Principal Consultant in our Resilient Infrastructure team, you’ll play a role in navigating this landscape—supporting transport expansion through strategic planning, environmental advice, and technical studies.

You’ll contribute to some of the UK’s most significant and transformative transport infrastructure projects, delivering services such as planning applications, EIA, GRIP Stages, and support for DCO examinations and planning inquiries to name a few. This is a post which is of strategic significance for our business and represents a challenging and exciting opportunity to identify, win and deliver multi-disciplinary inputs for transport infrastructure projects. We need people with creative spirit, a dedicated approach and a solid grounding in environmental design, assessment and management at any stage of the development project lifecycle.

Join a great organisation. As a Senior Consultant or Principal Consultant, you will collaborate with a diverse team of technical specialists and design professionals to lead and coordinate environmental contributions across project designs and assessments. You will be instrumental in improving the environmental performance for a range of projects. You will have responsibility for directing and leading projects including tasks relating to recruitment, bidding, project team management, project delivery, and financial management.

• Managing the delivery of a diverse range of environmental inputs into transport projects including planning applications, EIA, and support for DCO examinations and/or planning inquiries.
• An awareness of and experience in the delivery of environmental inputs into projects including EIA screening requests and scoping reports, environmental constraints studies, environmental management plans and Environmental Statements.
• Building relationships with clients and identifying opportunities to provide support in areas such as resourcing, programming, strategy development and project delivery.
• Undertaking activities to secure new work, including preparing proposals, contributing to strategic bid preparation, and participating in business development opportunities.
• Supporting the development of innovative techniques to shape the way we do our business whether through Digital EIA, Technical Excellence, Future Ready EIA etc.
• Inspiring and upskilling junior colleagues to support their career development.
• Promoting an inclusive workplace, demonstrating an understanding of Health and Safety whilst living the values of our health, safety, and wellbeing culture.
• Undertaking actions that contribute towards the success of the WSP business strategy, whilst being self-motivated towards goals relevant to the role, team, and your projects.

• A relevant environmental degree level qualification in EIA, or similar.
• Achieved or demonstrably working towards Practitioner or Chartered Environmental Status and Full membership of IEMA, or similar qualification with a relevant professional body.
• Familiarity with relevant consenting processes associated with transport infrastructure and transport-related projects, including Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA), Environmental Permit applications etc.
• Understanding of how these processes integrate with the planning system and EIA for rail and road schemes, transport improvement works, rail sidings, or station and infrastructure upgrades.
• Demonstrates the ability to apply programme knowledge to effectively coordinate tasks across technical teams, external clients, stakeholders, and partner organisations, while consistently delivering projects or tasks on time and within budget, in full compliance with business management procedures.
• Ability to lead and contribute to meetings with the wider technical team and external clients and stakeholders.
• Advantageous to understand HS2, Transport for London (TfL), Pathway, WebTAG experience, Network Rail and/or London Underground requirements.
• Experience in coordinating a suite of environmental surveys required to support an EIA for transport schemes, with knowledge of the associated Health and Safety requirements.
• Experience in bid preparation and responding to client change requests with appropriate fee adjustments for transport infrastructure projects.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with strong report writing and review capabilities, attention to detail, and a focus on quality assurance.

EEO Statement #WeAreWSP Here at WSP we positively encourage applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status, pregnancy or maternity/paternity. As a Disability Confident leader, we will interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria, please let us know if you require any workplace adjustments in support of your application.

About Us We are one of the world’s leading engineering and professional services firms. Our 72,800 passionate people are united by the common purpose of creating positive, long-lasting impacts on the communities we serve through a culture of innovation, integrity, and inclusion. With over 9,000 professionals across the UK and Ireland, we are dedicated to our local communities and propelled by international brainpower.

• Work-life balance: Hybrid working policy with the flexibility to work from home two days a week and collaborate in modern UK offices.
• Inclusivity & Belonging: A welcoming culture with employee resource groups supporting inclusion and belonging.
• Health & Wellbeing: Thrive programme, Virtual GP service, reasonable workplace adjustments, Gymflex discount up to 40%, menopause support.
• Flex your time: WSP My Hour—one hour per day for personal activities; flexible working, part-time options, extra leave purchase, and bank holiday time off.
• Your development: Training, mentoring, and Chartered/Chartered Engineer pathways.