Associate Director - Regional Local Authority Account Lead

Arcadis; Cardiff; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Arcadis is seeking an experienced Associate Director to lead a Local Authority account and shape highways, regeneration and infrastructure delivery in the UK region.

This role sits within the Transportation Sector, with a focus on client relationships, high‑quality delivery, and growth across public‑sector projects. Multiple hires are planned as workload expands.

Qualifications

• Experience in a construction consultancy or professional services environment.
• Strong experience supporting Local Authority highways, regeneration and public-sector clients.
• Understanding of public-sector procurement, governance and framework delivery.
• Track record delivering complex infrastructure, transportation or regeneration programmes.

Responsibilities

• Act as the senior day‑to‑day lead for the Local Authority account and manage key client relationships.
• Build and sustain strong relationships with senior officers, procurement teams and stakeholders.
• Demonstrate understanding of Local Authority governance, procurement procedures, frameworks and routes to market.
• Represent the consultancy professionally at client meetings, workshops and review sessions.
• Support the development and delivery of the account management strategy and identify opportunities for growth.
• Contribute to framework bids, tenders and fee proposals with governance compliance.
• Collaborate with other disciplines to deliver integrated client solutions.
• Monitor workload, pipeline and performance against account objectives.
• Provide project or commercial management leadership across a portfolio of commissions.
• Ensure projects are delivered within scope, quality, cost and programme constraints.
• Maintain a strong personal delivery record and oversee project teams.

Skills

Client relationships

Public sector

Account management

Infrastructure delivery

Education

Degree in construction/engineering/commercial

Chartered status (RICS/CIOB/APM/ICE)

Job description

Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets.

We are more than 34,000 people, in over 30 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.

Role description:

At Arcadis, we're helping clients solve some of the UK's most complex infrastructure and mobility challenges. As demand continues to grow across our Transportation business, we're looking for an experienced Associate Director to lead a key Local Authority account and help shape the future of highways, regeneration and infrastructure delivery across the region.

We are recruiting for multiple planned hires within this team and are taking a phased approach to appointments as our workload continues to grow across the Highways sector. While recruitment timelines may vary, we encourage interested candidates to apply early and become part of our talent pipeline for these strategically important opportunities.

The role sits within our Transportation Sector covering our Project Management and Commercial Management service lines. Our commissions span across Highways & Transportation Capital Delivery, Regeneration, Infrastructure, and Highway Asset Management. The successful candidate will be responsible for maintaining excellent client relationships, ensuring high‑quality delivery and supporting sustainable account growth.

This is a highly visible, client‑facing position, acting as a trusted advisor to senior Local Authority stakeholders while also playing a key leadership role internally.

Role accountabilities:

• Act as the senior day‑to‑day lead for the Local Authority account, managing key client relationships.
• Build and sustain strong, trusted relationships with senior officers, procurement teams and other stakeholders.
• Demonstrate a thorough understanding of Local Authority governance, procurement procedures, frameworks and routes to market.
• Represent the consultancy professionally and credibly at client meetings, workshops and review sessions.
• Support the development and delivery of the account management strategy, identifying opportunities for growth and service expansion.
• Contribute to framework bids, tenders and fee proposals, ensuring compliance with internal Governance.
• Work collaboratively with other disciplines and service leads to deliver integrated solutions to the client.
• Monitor workload, pipeline and performance against agreed account objectives.
• Provide project or commercial management leadership across a portfolio of commissions.
• Ensure projects and programmes are delivered in line with agreed scope, quality, cost and programme requirements.
• Maintain a strong personal delivery record and oversee the performance of project teams.
• Promote best practice in project, commercial and risk management.
• Line‑manage, mentor and support junior and mid‑level staff within the region.
• Contribute to team development, resource planning and performance management.
• Act as a role model for the consultancy’s values, behaviours and standards.

Qualifications & Experience:

• Experience within a construction consultancy or professional services environment.
• Strong experience supporting Local Authority highways, regeneration and wider public-sector clients.
• A proven understanding of public-sector procurement, governance and framework delivery.
• A successful track record delivering complex infrastructure, transportation or regeneration programmes.
• Experience growing client relationships and managing strategic accounts.
• Chartered status with RICS, CIOB, APM or ICE, or be working towards chartership.
• A degree in a relevant construction, engineering, commercial or built environment discipline.

Why Arcadis?

We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It’s why we are pioneering a skills-based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.

You’ll do meaningful work, and no matter what role, you’ll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark, on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.

Together, we can create a lasting legacy.

Join Arcadis. Create a Legacy.

Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We believe that by working together diverse people with different experiences develop the most innovative ideas. Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of how we improve quality of life and we work closely with our people across six ED&I Workstreams: Age, Disability, Faith, Gender, LGBT+ and Race. A diverse and skilled workforce is essential to our success.