Consultant Town Planner ( Policy)

SmartRecruiters, Inc.; Leeds; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work options

Job summary

AECOM is recruiting a consultant planner to join the UK Planning Practice with hybrid working across London, Bristol, Leeds or Manchester. You will contribute to planning policy and strategy development, and engage with clients and stakeholders to secure successful outcomes.

You will support multi-disciplinary teams on infrastructure and development projects, develop strategic planning advice, assist in tenders, and ensure quality outputs while adhering to QA and health and safety standards.

Qualifications

• Experience contributing to planning policy and strategy development in consultancy or public sector
• Ability to produce high-quality technical reports and clear communication
• Business development mindset and stakeholder engagement skills

Responsibilities

• Carry out research and analysis for planning policy projects
• Assist on policy projects and develop local plan evidence
• Formulate strategic planning advice for clients and internal teams
• Develop relationships with clients and stakeholders through project work and networking
• Share technical knowledge and excellence

Skills

Planning policy experience

Client relationship management

Policy drafting and reporting

Team collaboration

Education

Degree in Town Planning

RTPI membership or working towards

Job description

• Legal Entity: AECOM Infrastructure and Environment UK Limited
• Business Line: Environment
• Work Location Model: Hybrid
• Operating Group: International
• Primary Location: UK - London - Aldgate Tower

Company Description

Work with Us. Change the World.

At AECOM, we're delivering a better world. Whether improving your commute, keeping the lights on, providing access to clean water, or transforming skylines, our work helps people and communities thrive. We are the world's trusted infrastructure consulting firm, partnering with clients to solve the world’s most complex challenges and build legacies for future generations.

There has never been a better time to be at AECOM. With accelerating infrastructure investment worldwide, our services are in great demand. We invite you to bring your bold ideas and big dreams and become part of a global team of over 50,000 planners, designers, engineers, scientists, digital innovators, program and construction managers and other professionals delivering projects that create a positive and tangible impact around the world.

We're one global team driven by our common purpose to deliver a better world. Join us.

Job Description

Due to a significant increase in planning policy project wins and new opportunities, we are looking to recruit a consultant plannerwith opportunities to be based at our offices in London - Aldgate, Bristol, Leeds or Manchester whilst also taking advantage of our flexible hybrid working model

You will be joining a great team; you will have an interesting and diverse workload and you will be given the opportunity to make the most of your abilities.

You will work on key planning policy projects, working alongside multi-disciplinary teams and engaging directly with clients and stakeholders to secure successful planning outcomes. There will also be opportunities to work on infrastructure and development projects within the Planning team. Hybrid and flexible working arrangements are available, as well as reduced hours.

Here’s what you’ll do:

Planning Strategy and Expertise

• Carry out research and analysis for planning policy projects
• Assist on elements of policy projects, including supporting local authority policy and strategy development, local plan evidence studies, strategic growth studies, infrastructure strategies and other policy and strategy commissions.
• Assist in formulating strategic planning advice to other client and internal teams.
• Provide effective representation for the organisation, developing and managing relationships with clients, local authorities and other stakeholders through project work and through attendance at conferences and other networking events.
• Sharing technical knowledge and excellence.

Project Management

• Assist Project Managers to ensure projects are delivered successfully on budget and within programme timelines.
• Assist in coordinating multi-disciplinary teams for seamless project execution.
• Implement and uphold quality assurance and health and safety principles.

Business Development

• Contribute to the business development strategy where required
• Assist in the preparation of commercial tenders to secure new opportunities.

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

About our team

AECOM is a top ten UK planning consultancy by size, employing around 70 Chartered or Licentiate Planners. The AECOM Planning Practice projects include some of the largest, most complex and high profile development and regeneration projects in the UK for both public and private sector clients. We are a dynamic planning team and work closely with colleagues in other related disciplines, including masterplanning, landscape, environment, sustainability, transport and economics. Examples of our project work include:

Sub-Regional Spatial Plans- AECOM is a leading provider of sub-regional growth studies and evidence base for plans and policy (including our strategic planning work in the OxCam Arc, Thames Estuary, Hertfordshire and the East Midlands). For many years, we have also been thought leaders and enablers for new communities and Garden Towns (including research for MHCLG, Local Government Association and Town and Country Planning Association).

Local Plans– Providing local planning authorities with local plan evidence and support is a key area in the policy team. We have worked on the local plans of over 100 authorities in the last decade. This includes the full range of evidence base studies, secondments, critical friend support and coordinating multi-disciplinary teams to provide evidence to inform and test planning policy at all stages of plan-making.

Strategic Masterplans- We have masterplanned new Garden Communities totalling almost 100,000 homes (with current examples including Southern Manydown in Basingstoke and Naas North West Quadrant in Ireland). Our work continues to create places where people want to live and invest over the long term.

Joining AECOM will provide you with opportunities for career progression within a positive culture where learning and development is actively supported and promoted.

Come grow with us.

Qualifications

Ready to push the limits of what’s possible?

Experience

• Relevant experience of contributing to planning policy and strategy development in a consultancy or public sector role.

Client & Stakeholder Relations

• Client focus, with good interpersonal skills and a collaborative working approach.
• A business development mindset, ideally with some experience of work winning and developing relationships with existing and new clients.

Skills

• Ability to produce high quality technical reports and excellent communication skills.
• Ability to work on your own initiative and under pressure.

Quality & Commitment

• High level of commitment to quality.

Education & Professional Memberships

• Degree in Town Planning or a related discipline, and membership of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) or equivalent professional body, or working towards membership.

To support this commitment, all newly hired employees are required to attend an in-person Day 1 onboarding at an AECOM office location as a condition of employment.

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 $16.1 billion in fiscal year 2025. 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 aDisabilityConfidentEmployer 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 [e-mail] if you would like to apply through theDisabilityConfidentInterview Scheme.

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