Associate Director - Stakeholder Engagement, Consultation and Communications

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We have an exciting opportunity for an Associate Director to join our Stakeholder Engagement, Consultation and Communications team. We’re looking for someone with experience leading consultation and engagement programmes during the consenting stage for Development Consent Order projects, who is passionate about delivering effective communications and who can demonstrate experience of engaging with and consulting a wide range of audiences to support complex projects.

As our Stakeholder, Engagement, Consultation and Communications team is national, and we support hybrid working we are flexible in terms of base location.  This position can be based from our offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Manchester, Leeds or London.

Here’s what you’ll do: 

Communications:

• Developing a communications strategy and delivery plans for major infrastructure projects, including DCOs
• Developing themes, core messages and collateral for multiple audiences and stakeholders, including digital users, the media, local communities, statutory bodies, technical groups, and elected representatives
• Managing communications channels.

Engagement and consultation:

• Identifying and mapping key stakeholders for client projects, and establishing an engagement strategy and delivery plans
• Supporting consultation delivery, developing surveys, managing stakeholder feedback channels and analysing consultation responses
• Planning and delivery of events, both physical and virtual, ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all attendees, delivering logistics, developing tailored materials, developing Q&As and briefing colleagues.

Client Relations:

• Providing strategic leadership to clients on consultation and engagement approaches across different planning regimes
• Liaising with internal and external clients, ensuring a high level of customer service and ensuring accurate, timely reporting

Business development:

• Helping support the growth of stakeholder engagement and communications services across AECOM, focusing on providing advice and support to teams across the UK (United Kingdom) and Ireland. This will require working collaboratively with multi-disciplinary teams
• Identifying and delivering new business opportunities outside of AECOM.
• Responsible for writing tender and commercial responses

Project and team management:

• Managing a range of projects, project teams and budgets
• Delivering on time and on budget, flexibly
• Supporting junior colleagues to grow, including line management responsibilities.

Does this sound like something you can do, and do well? If so, read on…

 About our team

AECOM’s rapidly growing Stakeholder Engagement, Consultation and Communications team plays a key role in delivering major infrastructure and development projects. Most of our work revolves around engagement, consultation and communications during the consenting or construction phase of major infrastructure projects. Our team, which comes from many diverse backgrounds, has been involved in a range of high-profile projects across a range of sectors, working with other AECOM disciplines or providing standalone services for clients such as local councils, transport operators, private developers and utilities suppliers.

Our point of difference? We’re used to working with a wide range of technical experts from engineers, archaeologists, quantity surveyors, planners, designers, environmental and biodiversity scientists, programme and construction managers. As a result, we can translate complex information into accurate, plain English facts that help stakeholders understand a project and engage with it meaningfully.

Ready to push the limits of what’s possible?

Here’s what we’re looking for

• You have extensive experience of leading the communications and consultation activities on DCO projects during the consenting process.
• You are experienced in managing teams of different sizes and complexity, including supporting junior colleagues with their career development.
• You have a strong interest and experience in industry sectors relevant to our business (e.g. infrastructure, transport, energy, water, residential development, commercial development), and are confident engaging a variety of audiences and stakeholder groups.
• You’re proactive and ambitious, work well both alone and in a team, and can bring about new ideas on engagement.
• You have great personal communication skills, are culturally aware, and have a strong focus on inclusion and accessibility. For you, giving people a chance to influence projects that are delivered in and around their communities for the better, is key.
• You have a keen eye for new business opportunities.
• You’re willing to work flexibly and travel when required to meet with clients and project teams.
• You hold a Degree or a Masters in a relevant subject (for instance: Social Science, History, Politics, Geography, Language and Literature, Law, Business…), or an equivalent number of years of successful, relevant experience.

Curious about the role or what it’s like to work at AECOM? Come and follow us on our social media platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube) where you will have the opportunity to explore our AECOM voices, our people stories, the latest projects we are working plus much more!

For further information about the role, reach out to the recruiter on LinkedIn Anne Marie Flynn. 

We celebrate diversity, including neurodiversity, and believe it enriches our team. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and abilities. If you are an applicant with a disability that requires reasonable accommodation to complete the application process, please contact us at [email protected]

At AECOM, we value everyone's unique contributions and perspectives. If you meet some of the requirements above or have transferable skills you believe would benefit us, we would be delighted to hear from you!

About AECOM

AECOM is the world’s trusted infrastructure consulting firm, delivering professional services throughout the project lifecycle – from advisory, planning, design and engineering to program and construction management. On projects spanning transportation, buildings, water, new energy and the environment, our public- and private-sector clients trust us to solve their most complex challenges. Our teams are driven by a common purpose to deliver a better world through our unrivaled technical and digital expertise, a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion, and a commitment to environmental, social and governance priorities. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm and its Professional Services business had revenue of $14.4 billion in fiscal year 2023. See how we are delivering sustainable legacies for generations to come at aecom.com and @AECOM.

Freedom to Grow in a World of Opportunity 

You will have the flexibility you need to do your best work with hybrid work options. Whether you’re working from an AECOM office, remote location or at a client site, you will be working in a dynamic environment where your integrity, entrepreneurial spirit and pioneering mindset are championed.

You will help us foster a safe and respectful workplace, where we invite everyone to bring their whole selves to work using their unique talents, backgrounds and expertise to create transformational outcomes for our clients.

AECOM provides a wide array of compensation, benefits and well-being programs to meet the diverse needs of our employees and their families. We’re the world’s trusted global infrastructure firm, and we’re in this together – your growth and success are ours too.

Join us, and you’ll get all the benefits of being a part of a global, publicly traded firm – access to industry-leading technology and thinking and transformational work with big impact and work flexibility. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we believe in each person’s potential, and we’ll help you reach yours. We are a Disability Confident Employer and will offer an interview to applicants who have a disability or long-term condition, who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role. Please let us know using this email address [email protected]  if you would like to apply through the Disability Confident Interview Scheme.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.