Development Manager WCC621466

Hampshire County Council; City of Westminster; On-site; GBP 54,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Westminster City Council seeks a Development Manager to contribute to community-focused projects. This role involves leading diverse teams, managing project life cycles, and ensuring stakeholder engagement within a vibrant council committed to diversity and inclusivity.

Benefits

Flexible working patterns

Agile working opportunities

Diversity and inclusion initiatives

Qualifications

• Confident in managing projects from RIBA stages 0-7.
• Skilled report writer with strong command of English.
• Understanding of construction and contracting principles.

Responsibilities

• Lead projects from initial concept to completion.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary teams throughout design stages.
• Oversee risk management and compliance across all projects.

Skills

Communication

Project Management

Risk Management

Stakeholder Engagement

Leadership

Education

Professional qualification in Project Management

Job description

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Salary range: £54,684 - £74,487per annum. Salary negotiable depending upon experience
Work location: Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, Westminster, SW1E 6QP
Hours per week: 36
Contract type: x2 Permanent

About Us:

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF MIHIR

Regeneration, Economy and Planningin Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories. Where dedicated and focused people like Mihir are using all their skills to improve and enhance the lives of the people who live, work and play in our borough.

As a Senior Project Manager, it’s Mihir’s job to make sure the estates in the south of the borough are great places to live. Since joining us, he’s worked on many important projects, but is particularly proud of a recently completed major works project at Vale Royal House, in the heart of bustling Chinatown. In the pipeline for about 12 years, renovating the site has been one of the most complex and challenging projects ever undertaken by the council.

Before work started, Mihir had to liaise with dozens of different stakeholders, taking into account local events such as the Chinese New Year celebrations and the vibrant, round-the clock nature of the area. But after a challenging two year programme he and his team are proud to have delivered upgrade work to 117 state-of-the-art apartments set around a beautiful hidden courtyard, which are home to more than 1500 people from a hugely diverse range of backgrounds, sitting above 15 new commercial food and retail shops.

Mihir is dedicated to providing homes that people can cherish and be proud of, places where they can live, work and raise their families. His vision and inspiration has been the driving force behind the transformation of a rundown inner-city area into an oasis of peace, calm and security, and will allow its residents to grow and flourish in the heart of one of the world’s great capital cities.

The Role:

As Development Manager, you too can make a powerful contribution. We’re building a leadership team that is ambitious, community and outcome focused. We're committed to new ways of working, bringing teams together across structures and disciplines to focus on shared project goals and milestones. It is vital that we recognise talent and support the growth of all our members.

You will be key to us achieving this. By creating project and team environments that are positive, successful and fully inclusive. You’ll use your exceptional communication skills to encourage all team members, ensuring that they feel valued and keen to actively contribute. Set out a clear performance management structure to support staff to be accountable and take ownership of risks and issues. Further to this, you’ll embed energised collaboration across different Westminster City Council teams and external stakeholders.

As Development Manager, you’ll take the lead in delivering projects from initial concept to completion. Working alongside the Senior Development Manager, you’ll coordinate multidisciplinary teams throughout all design stages and help procure the right people to get the job done. You’ll collaborate closely with legal advisers on contracts, plans, and development opportunities—supporting land negotiations, including Heads of Terms, sale and purchase agreements, and securing internal approvals.

You’ll call on the Development Services Team to ensure that client requirements are reflected in the design and that everything stays on budget. Risk management will be a critical part of your role, as you’ll oversee, assess, and mitigate risks across all projects — whether retained by the client or assigned to a contractor, developer, or design team. You’ll also lead regular site monitoring, with a focus on health and safety.

Driving compliance, you’ll escalate any deviations from client requirements, contract performance, or project timelines early, to reach swift, informed decisions. Your day-to-day will include building and communicating detailed project plans, facilitating design reviews and project meetings, and reporting on progress at each stage. You’ll measure supply chain performance, produce clear and timely reports, and step in for the Senior Development Manager when needed.

You will play a vital role in supporting Westminster City Council to achieve our Fairer Westminster Delivery. You’ll be helping – and at times, leading – a transformation of the borough into a more connected one that promises a good quality of life and opportunities for its residents to fulfil their potential. We’d like you to bring an understanding of our ambitions, and more importantly, fresh ideas to turn them into a reality.

You’re a confident, competent development manager with a gleaming track record of managing or assisting with the development of projects from RIBA 0-7 (or part of). This will be complemented by a professional qualification or equivalent work experience. You’re able to understand and implement ERs. You’re assured at reviewing and interrogating design, development, cost and construction information for compliance with and departures from the client’s requirements. When it comes to construction and contracting, your understanding is sufficient to participate and assist in value engineering processes.

You have a good command of written and spoken English. In particular, you’re skilled at report writing and are comfortable conveying complex financial and commercial information in a way that can be easily understood by stakeholders outside of the construction industry.

Importantly, you’re committed to diversity and inclusion just as much as we are, and you’re keen to make these a core part of the Westminster construction industry.

Westminster City Council is committed to supporting Care Leavers into the workplace. Care Leavers seeking their first job and who wish to be considered under our scheme, will automatically be invited to interview should they meet the essential criteria for the role.

The Council is committed to achieving diverse shortlists to support our desire to increase the number of staff from underrepresented groups in our workforce. We especially encourage applications from a Global Majority ( GM), people who are Black, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and or have been racialised as 'ethnic minorities' ( formally known as B.A.M.E , Black, Asian and multiple ethnic) background and, while the role is open to all applicants, we will utilise the positive action provisions of the Equality Act 2010 to appoint a candidate from a global majority background where there is a choice between two candidates of equal merit. If you are from a Global Majority background you can self-declare this to the hiring manager as part of our positive action commitments.

What We Offer:

Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster. Westminster City Council’s strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe.

At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit https://www.westminster.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/public-health-strategy-policies-and-reports/equality-duties

As a forward-thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.

The Council is a Disability Confident Employer. If you have declared a disability in your application, we guarantee an interview if you meet the essential criteria of the job. If you are invited for interview, you will be asked if you need any reasonable adjustments in order to attend, and we will make these wherever possible.

We reserve the right to extend or close this vacancy early without warning subject to the volume of suitable applicants.