Head of Major Projects - South West

National Grid; Bodmin; On-site; GBP 104,000 - 127,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Electric company car or car allowance

28 days' annual leave + 8 bank hols

Private Medical Insurance for you and

Pension scheme with employer match

Life assurance

Sharesave scheme

Employee Assistance Programme

Free on-site parking

Job summary

National Grid plc seeks a senior leader to guide a large engineering team and oversee a portfolio of capital projects across the distribution network. You will ensure delivery of commitments under the RIIO/ED3 framework, maintain strong safety and governance, and optimise budgets and resources to meet strategic objectives.

You will drive performance, analyse data to inform decisions, and collaborate with PMO and stakeholders to deliver value for customers and shareholders in a dynamic energy

Qualifications

• Strong people leadership of large engineering or construction teams, insourced and outsourced.
• Experience delivering a portfolio of projects within a utility/energy context is preferred.
• Financial management expertise including budgeting and capital/revenue planning.

Responsibilities

• Lead and inspire a team of managers and operational functions.
• Set objectives, monitor performance and control primary distribution activities.
• Deliver excellent customer service within the distribution area.
• Develop and manage budgets, coordinate capital and revenue plans and control expenditure.
• Drive a strong safety culture across operations.
• Manage major capital projects from end-to-end with time/cost/quality targets.
• Design and implement a new operating model and governance framework.

Skills

People leadership

Portfolio leadership

Budgeting

Risk governance

Job description

About Us

The energy sector is evolving, and National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED) is at the heart of that transformation.

The opportunity

As we prepare for ED3, our next regulatory period under the RIIO framework, we are developing the plans, investments and commitments that will shape the future of our electricity network. ED3 will determine how we deliver for customers, communities and stakeholders while enabling the UK\'s transition to a cleaner, more resilient energy system.

This is a pivotal moment for NGED. Following submission of our ED3 Business Plan, our focus turns to securing the strongest possible regulatory outcome and preparing the organisation to successfully deliver its commitments from day one of ED3.

What You\'ll Be Doing

• Lead and inspire a team of Managers and operational functions, fostering engagement and high performance
• Set clear objectives, monitor performance and control of all Primary Distribution activities within the region.
• Deliver exceptional customer service, ensuring customers in the Distribution Area receive the highest level of service.
• Develop and manage budgets, coordinating Capital and Revenue plans and controlling expenditure effectively.
• Drive a strong safety culture, embedding best practices across all operations.
• Manage major capital projects/programmes from end-to-end, ensuring delivery against time, cost and quality targets.
• Design and implement a new operating model, overseeing sign-off and successful execution.
• Embrace, implement and embed, best practice governance and controls in partnership with the PMO.
• Translate strategic business plans into operational delivery plans, including making decisions on insourcing versus outsourcing.
• Oversee the full project lifecycle, from appointing project leaders to project closure.
• Define WBS and support schedule creation across all programme types.
• Track and report on project performance, including forecasting, baseline scheduling, resource loading, cost to complete, variance analysis and lessons learned.
• Ensure effective risk, issue and Opportunity, engagement throughout all programmes.
• Embed governance and, compliance, including gating performance reporting insights.
• Monitor contractual compliance across all projects, ensuring supplier performance and contractual obligations are met.
• Champion best practice and consistency across the wider matrix organisation.

About You

• Exceptional people leadership skills, with experience managing large engineering or construction teams, both insourced and outsourced.
• Proven experience in managing a portfolio of projects. Preferable to have electricity or energy or other utility industry.
• Strong project, programme or portfolio leader with a track record of managing contracts and planning large capital infrastructure projects. Ideally you\'ll also be confident in data analysis and using insights to drive decisions.
• Financial management expertise, including developing and managing budgets, co-ordinating capital and revenue plans
• A change leader at heart - curious, adaptable, and always looking for innovative ways to help us to achieve more.

What You\'ll Get

A salary of up to £115,000 depending on experience.

• Annual performance-related bonus of up to 40%
• Electric company car or car allowance
• 28 days\' annual leave plus 8 bank holidays
• Company funded Private Medical Insurance for you and contributory healthcare for your family
• Competitive contributory pension scheme (we double match your contributions up to a maximum of 12%)
• Life assurance of four times your annual salary
• Annual Sharesave scheme
• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme, including musculoskeletal and physiotherapy support, as well as Backup Care support for children, adults and elderly dependants
• Free on-site parking at all our main sites

Further information

This role closes on 08 November 2026, however we encourage candidates to submit their application as early as possible and not wait until the published closing date as this can vary. National Grid’s recruitment periods can and may vary. We reserve the right to remove this advert or close it to further applications at any point during the recruitment process.