Flood risk and Drainage Lead

Hollis; Newcastle upon Tyne; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Life assurance

Private medical insurance

Season ticket loan

5% Employer pension contribution

25 days holiday and birthday day off

Cycle to work scheme

Retail vouchers

Gym discounts

EV car scheme

Longevity awards

Job summary

Hollis is seeking an experienced Flood Risk & Drainage Lead to grow its specialist service within the Environmental team. You will develop technical excellence, lead client engagements and shape Hollis' flood risk capabilities across diverse sectors.

The role offers strategic influence, leadership responsibilities and opportunities to advance climate resilience services while mentoring junior colleagues and representing Hollis externally.

Qualifications

• Degree in Environmental Science, Civil Engineering, Hydrology or related discipline.
• Chartered status or working towards ICE/CIWEM or similar.
• Significant consultancy experience advising on flood risk and drainage.

Responsibilities

• Lead development and growth of Hollis' Flood Risk & Drainage service.
• Deliver flood risk assessments, flood risk appraisals and drainage strategies for diverse projects.
• Advise clients on flood risk, climate resilience and asset protection strategies.
• Support development of future climate resilience services and wider environmental offerings.
• Build strong relationships with existing clients and win new work.
• Collaborate across disciplines to provide integrated consultancy solutions.
• Lead project delivery with high technical standards and commercial outcomes.
• Prepare and review concise, client-focused reports and bids.

Skills

Flood risk assessment

Drainage design

Climate resilience

Project leadership

Client relationship management

Report writing

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Degree in Environmental Science, Civil Engineering, Hydrology

Chartered status (ICE/CIWEM)

Job description

We're looking for an experienced Flood Risk & Drainage professional to join our team and play a leading role in the growth of an exciting and evolving service within Hollis.

This is a fantastic opportunity for an Associate or Senior Associate looking to broaden their influence, take ownership of a specialist discipline and help shape the future direction of our flood risk, drainage and climate resilience offering. Working as part of our growing Environmental team, you'll combine technical excellence with client leadership, helping to develop new opportunities, strengthen existing relationships and integrate specialist advice across a wide range of projects and sectors. The role has been created to lead and develop Hollis' flood risk and drainage capability as part of the wider Environmental growth strategy.

You'll be joining at an exciting stage in the service's development, with the opportunity to influence strategy, raise your profile in the market and help grow a capability that is becoming increasingly important to our clients. For someone who enjoys combining technical expertise, client engagement and leadership, this is a chance to make a genuine impact while developing your own career in a supportive and entrepreneurial environment.

About The Role

As Flood Risk & Drainage Lead, you'll take a prominent role in developing and growing Hollis' flood risk, drainage and climate resilience services. You'll work closely with colleagues across Environmental, Project Management, Building Consultancy and ESG teams, helping deliver integrated solutions that add value for clients while supporting the growth of the wider business.

You'll be a recognised technical specialist, a trusted advisor to clients and an advocate for flood resilience and sustainable development, helping to embed these considerations into property and infrastructure decision-making. The source role includes leading the service, providing technical expertise, supporting strategic objectives and developing future climate resilience capabilities.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development and growth of Hollis' Flood Risk & Drainage service.
• Deliver and oversee Flood Risk Assessments, Flood Risk Appraisals and drainage strategies for a diverse range of projects and assets.
• Advise clients on flood risk, climate resilience, asset protection and adaptation strategies.
• Support the development of future climate resilience services and wider environmental consultancy offerings.
• Build strong relationships with existing clients while identifying opportunities to expand services and win new work.
• Collaborate closely with colleagues across multiple disciplines to provide integrated consultancy solutions.
• Lead project delivery, ensuring high technical standards and commercially successful outcomes.
• Prepare and review concise, technically robust and client-focused reports.
• Support bids, tenders and proposals, helping to secure new projects and grow the service.
• Mentor and develop junior team members and contribute to knowledge sharing across the business.
• Represent Hollis externally through industry events, professional institutions and client presentations.
• Promote best practice in flood risk, drainage and climate adaptation, helping raise Hollis' profile in the market. These responsibilities reflect the original requirements to develop and lead the service, undertake flood risk appraisals, grow climate resilience capabilities, support clients and provide specialist leadership across the business.

About You

We're looking for someone with a combination of technical expertise, commercial awareness and a genuine desire to help grow a specialist service.

You’ll Likely Have

• A degree in Environmental Science, Civil Engineering, Hydrology, Geography or a related discipline.
• Chartered status or working towards ICE, CIWEM or a similar professional body.
• Significant consultancy experience advising clients on flood risk and drainage matters.
• Strong knowledge of flood risk assessment, flood resilience, drainage design, urban drainage systems and climate adaptation.
• Experience managing projects and building trusted client relationships.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical matters in a practical and accessible way.
• A good understanding of current and emerging legislation, policy and guidance relating to flooding, drainage and climate resilience.
• Experience contributing to business development activities, proposals and client growth.
• A collaborative approach and the ability to work effectively within multidisciplinary teams.
• The ambition to take ownership of a growing service area and play an active role in its future success. These requirements are based on the role specification, including chartered status, substantial consultancy experience, technical expertise, policy knowledge, leadership capability and commercial awareness.

Our preference is to recruit directly wherever possible

Should this role be approved for support from external recruitment partners, we will contact our PSL agencies accordingly.

Please note that we do not accept unsolicited CVs from agencies. Effective introduction of a candidate will only be accepted if it has been requested to submit CV’s in relation to a specific vacancy. Any speculative submissions will not incur a fee. For any queries, kindly reach out to the appropriate Talent Acquisition team member.

The Company

Hollis is a leading independent real estate consultancy. We work with owners, occupiers, developers and funders, across both private and public sectors, to help them get more out of their real estate, at every stage of the property life cycle.

We’re a multi-skilled team of surveyors, engineers, ESG consultants, project managers and technical specialists operating across the UK, Ireland, Germany, Spain and The Netherlands. We have a unique way of working and believe that people do things better by doing them together. We aim to do the right thing, be clear, transparent and find some fun along the way.

Why join us?

We are hardworking, progressive, successful and fun. We’re independently-owned and independently-minded, not afraid to give honest advice or to be ourselves. We aim to achieve the right balance for you, delivering excellent client service whilst supporting you in fulfilling your potential and achieving your goals.

We offer a highly attractive salary and a generous benefits package including:

Benefits

• Life assurance and private medical insurance
• Season ticket loan
• 5% Employer pension contribution
• 25 days of holiday and an extra day off on your birthday
• Cycle to work scheme, retail vouchers, gym discounts and more
• EV car scheme
• Longevity awards

Hollis operates a hybrid-working policy giving employees the opportunity to work between their home and our offices, where their job allows it. In addition, employees are encouraged to request flexible working hours when needed and we work hard to accommodate where we can.

We are a sociable bunch and host pay day drinks, quarterly lunches, quiz nights and cultural and sporting activities to socialise and have fun with your colleagues. We also give back and take part in numerous charity events all over the country throughout the year.

We’re Inclusive

Together we welcome, we embrace, and we celebrate our differences. Our aim is to provide a diverse and inclusive workplace which supports and cares for all our employees, including those from underrepresented or non-dominant groups. We’re focused on a culture of inclusion; where all barriers including prejudice are removed from our working environment; and where all our people are empowered to be the best they can be.

Don’t meet every single requirement? If you would like the opportunity to join Hollis but your past experience is not an exact match, we encourage you to apply anyway as you could be the right candidate for this role or another role within the company.

If you require alternative formats of our documents or need to apply offline, please get in touch with the talent acquisition team: [e-mail] or call us on 020 7622 9555.

Company Overview

Hollis is a leading independent real estate consultancy. We work with owners, occupiers, developers and funders, across both private and public sectors, to help them get more out of their real estate.

We’re a multi-skilled team of surveyors, engineers, ESG consultants, project managers and technical specialists operating across the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe. We have a unique way of working and believe that people do things better by doing them together. We aim to do the right thing, be clear, transparent and find some fun along the way.

Being friendly and down-to-earth has always been crucial for us. We’ve consistently been rated by The Sunday Times, Property Week and Estates Gazette as a 'best place to work', and our employee-owned structure proves that we really do put our people first.

Day to day you’ll get to experience and test yourself on a great variety of challenges, with support, encouragement and learning all the way. We'll help you shape and pursue your own career, making sure you have the training and opportunities you need to achieve your best. And you’ll find we take care of you in a whole range of ways that make Hollis a healthy and happy place to work. We have fun too, with away days and a lively social calendar.