Construction Lawyer

Severn Trent; Coventry; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

31 days holiday

Annual bonus

Car allowance

Pension scheme

Family policies

Sharesave

Training and development

EV scheme

Volunteer days

Job summary

Severn Trent is seeking a Construction lawyer to join the Legal team in Coventry. The role focuses on non-contentious construction law, managing NEC-based contracts from a framework and supporting a £6bn capital programme across water and wastewater projects.

You will act as a legal business partner to cross-functional teams, balancing delivery pace with commercial contracts, and collaborating with supply chain partners to optimise outcomes.

Qualifications

• Demonstrable non-contentious construction legal experience.
• Experience on contentious construction matters and/or regulated procurement is beneficial.
• Self-starter with strong leadership skills and a collaborative partnering approach.
• Ability to act as a legal business partner to cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Support the capital programme with day-to-day delivery as part of the legal team.
• Contract on and deliver NEC-based contracts called off from a framework and manage project delivery of billions in value.
• Engage with supply chain partners and provide guidance to ensure commercial deals align with delivery timelines.
• Report to senior stakeholders and partner with designers, project managers and quantity surveyors.

Job description

At Severn Trent, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We’re in the top 5% of utility companies worldwide when it comes to employee engagement and ranked as a Top 50 UK Employer on Glassdoor. Join us in making a positive impact on the environment and our communities, while being valued and supported in a truly inclusive workplace.

If you want to do more, because you care, we want you on our team.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

We’re looking for a Construction lawyer to join our dynamic and diverse Legal team, based at our head office in Coventry. In this role, you’ll help lead on a variety of legal matters, working with both the water business and Severn Trent group companies on a wide range of construction projects, predominantly in the infrastructure, water and wastewater treatment sector.

We are a FTSE 100 group which includes two water and wastewater businesses, a leading renewables company and other commercial businesses. It’s an exciting time for our capital delivery teams as we engage with our ambitious c.£6bn capital programme over the next few years.

What You’ll Be Doing

Supporting the capital programme with day-to-day delivery, you will be part of a team of lawyers responsible for ensuring that the contracts with our supply chain balance the pace of required delivery with a clear expression of the commercial deals struck for each project.

Predominantly working on NEC based contracts called off from a framework, you will help us contract on and assist in contract delivery of c.£1.5bn to £1.9bn of project each year of this AMP, delivering wastewater treatment works, storm overflow reduction schemes, new water resource development, and extensive network renewal.

Engaging regularly with our key supply chain partners, with an increasingly innovative approach to design and supporting programme level procurement of key assets and long lead items and onward transfer to contractors, you’ll help position Severn Trent to deliver a complex portfolio of hundreds of concurrent projects aimed at improving environmental performance, resilience, and capacity across its asset base.

What is equally important for you and us as a business is ensuring customers’ needs are at the heart of all advice and decisions which we make. This is a business leader role with regular reporting into senior stakeholders in our businesses. You will act as a legal business partner to teams in other parts of the business including designers, project managers and quantity surveyors responsible for delivering the capital programme.

How We Work

You’ll be based at our Severn Trent Centre in Coventry. With this being such a critical role, we’re looking for someone who can join us 37 hours a week.

You’ll join a caring culture that collaborates to achieve, grow, and develop. Our employee engagement scores are among the highest globally in energy and utilities. That’s why, we value in-person moments to keep our culture alive but also understand the flexibility working from home can bring. So, you'll usually find us in the office, but working from home is supported, when you need it.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

We are looking for you to have demonstrable non-contentious construction legal experience and it would be beneficial if you have had experience gained from working on contentious construction matters and/or regulated procurement. We are looking for someone who is a self-starter with strong leadership skills but who can also demonstrate a collaborative partnering approach to working with business colleagues and with the wider Severn Trent Legal team.

You’ll be a great team player, will seek to understand the business, and help to deliver its strategic objectives and the vision of the General Counsel team. You will benefit from the support of colleagues throughout the business and drive to ensure we create an awesome place to work. As a member of the Legal team, you will be part of the wider General Counsel directorate, which also includes Group Compliance and Assurance and Company Secretariat.

Skills and experience are important, but character, positivity, and a caring attitude matter too. We welcome and celebrate diverse individuals, knowing they help us better serve our communities. We seek people who get involved, want to be part of something bigger, and make a difference because they care.

How We’ll Reward And Care For You

It’s not just a job you’ll get here, you’ll get a career too.

We have a range of benefits that reward and recognise great work and award-winning training to ensure you reach your potential. And we’ll also help you play your part in looking after the environment and the community in which we live.

Here’s Some Of Our Favourites

• 31 days holiday + bank holidays (and the ability to buy/ sell up to 5 days per year)
• Annual bonus scheme (of up to 20% per annum based on company performance)
• Car allowance – per annum up to £5,208
• Leading pension scheme – we will double your contribution (up to 15% when you contribute 7.5%)
• Family friendly policies
• Sharesave – the chance to buy Severn Trent Plc shares at a discounted rate
• Dedicated training and development with our ‘Academy’
• Electric vehicle scheme and retail offers
• Two volunteer days per year