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 seeking talented Land professionals to join what is already the largest and most successful team in our industry. This is an exciting opportunity to develop or begin a career with a team that enjoys a successful reputation for the successful delivery of major strategic infrastructure projects across the UK and Ireland through the support provided by land referencing, urban and rural landowner engagement, consultation management, land access, formal consents, statutory orders, compensation agreements and land acquisition.

The Role: We are the largest and most successful Land business supporting infrastructure development in the UK and Ireland, with 300+ specialist professional colleagues consisting of land consultants, property specialists, project managers and utility and topographical surveyors. We have the widest portfolio of projects available in our industry, offering unrivalled opportunities to both develop and diversify careers, working on some of the most exciting and challenging projects across the whole of the UK and Ireland.

Alongside our land referencing capabilities, our team of surveyors secures powers and/or negotiates land acquisition and land access to support infrastructure development. We provide clients with Property Cost Estimates, agree Heads of Terms and compensations, manage disposals, payments and client accounts, and offer the full range of property-related services to assist our clients in the planning, securing and exercise of powers to construction, operation and maintenance of their infrastructure assets.

The position focuses on securing land, land access, arranging surveys and building strong relationships with stakeholders and landowners via statutory powers and/or negotiation. Ideally, candidates should have experience of 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, and provide senior-level advice to clients and project boards on land acquisition risks and opportunities.

Key Responsibilities:

• Oversee compliance with statutory processes and ensure projects meet regulatory and legal obligations, including those relating to data security and privacy.
• Resolve disputes and escalate 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.
• 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).
• Consulting with landowners to explain proposed schemes, discuss potential impacts and ensure accurate consultation notes are taken and uploaded to our consultation database.
• Skilled in stakeholder engagement, building trust and maintaining positive relationships.
• Ensuring that WSP H&S procedures are adhered to for all site work.
• Knowledge of land access permissions, land access, s172s licences and site safety experience (preferred).
• Management of junior members of the Land team providing support and technical training.

Using statutory powers and other available mechanisms to acquire land, preparation and quality assurance of technical documents in relation to the identification of land interests and rights, negotiation of access to land for surveys, consents and acquisition of land rights. Liaising 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 in working with multi-disciplinary teams across a range of sectors and locations across the UK and/or Ireland. Develop efficient working practices and promote innovation in the team to provide industry-leading, best-value services to our clients.

Management and development of a team of early career professionals providing both technical training and career development support. Contribute to business development and the delivery of the business strategy. UK and Ireland travel plus the possibility of travel to WSP’s Global Capability Centre (GCC) in India.

What we will be looking for you to demonstrate:

• Degree or equivalent experience in Geography, Land/Estate Management, Agriculture or a relevant discipline.
• Worked to deliver land referencing, land access, landowner engagement services and statutory processes on major infrastructure projects.
• Experience of negotiating with landowners and knowledge of the legal process for the acquisition of wayleaves/easements/servitudes desirable.
• Experience working with multi-disciplinary teams across a range of sectors and locations across Ireland and/or UK.
• Demonstrable experience of reducing land risk for clients and advising them on land related matters throughout all stages of a project lifecycle.
• Proven track record of the development of Orders or equivalent and/or acquisition of consents and interests in land, and knowledge of relevant legislation.
• Experience of infrastructure development schemes, particularly in the energy, highways, rail, water and/or aviation sectors.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to build relationships with colleagues, landowners and clients at all levels.
• Ability to communicate effectively with strong influencing and negotiating skills.
• Knowledge of the urban and/or rural environment and farming practices would be desirable.
• Chartership or membership of a professional body would be advantageous.
• The ability to travel effectively to various sites/locations is a necessary function of this role.

Your development: We appreciate that development and training is important to you and that is why we have a supportive environment that invests in your development, whether that’s chartership, training or mentoring. WSP’s Land Academy is designed and delivered by our expert Land team for our Land team, with a focus on providing the best standard training and CPD across the industry and support and guidance to achieve your chartership.

With a network of experts available to guide, we support your management and ownership of your own projects, client advisory, line management, presentation, training and leadership skills. With a broad selection of projects, we don’t pigeonhole you into a particular project or role. The Land Academy enables you to broaden your capability into GIS, Data Management, Valuations, Negotiations, Referencing and Access and Project Management to be a more rounded and valuable consultant. Project experience rotates, on average, around every 18 months. Day to day activities vary from site activities, landowner engagement, access negotiations, client meetings, project management, report writing, data management, digital innovation scoping and map production.

Imagine a better future for you and a better future for us all. Join our close-knit community of talented individuals who share your passion for making a positive impact. Our global team includes more than 69,000 employees, working together to make a difference in communities both close to home and around the world. With us, you can. Apply today.