Highways Asset Manager

Buckinghamshire Council; Aylesbury; Hybrid; GBP 74,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Buckinghamshire Council is seeking an experienced Highways Asset Manager to lead the highways asset management function and shape long-term investment for a large local authority network. You will oversee carriageway/footway assets, budget planning, and data-led decision making, advising elected members and senior leaders on strategic priorities.

The role demands strategic leadership, robust asset data use, and the ability to influence investment decisions across Buckinghamshire’s highway

Qualifications

• Degree level education or equivalent experience.
• Extensive highways asset management knowledge including data and lifecycle planning.
• Experience leading multi-disciplinary teams and managing large budgets.

Responsibilities

• Lead highways asset management strategy, policies and programmes.
• Oversee significant capital and revenue budgets and long-term investment planning.
• Develop carriageway and footway investment programmes using asset data.
• Advise elected members, senior leaders and external partners on priorities.
• Ensure compliance with legislation, health and safety and industry standards.
• Monitor programme performance and drive continuous improvement across the service.

Skills

Asset management

Leadership

Budget management

Stakeholder engagement

Carriageway assets

People management

Education

Degree or equivalent

Job description

We're hiring an experienced, influential and forward-thinking Highways Asset Manager to lead Buckinghamshire Council's highways asset management function and shape the future of one of the country's largest local authority highway networks.

This is a highly technical leadership role at Professional technical managerial group (PTMG1) level, combining strategic asset management expertise with significant budgetary, stakeholder and people management responsibilities. While overseeing the broader highways asset portfolio, the successful candidate will bring substantial experience in carriageway and footway asset management, investment planning and lifecycle strategies, alongside the ability to lead teams, influence elected members and drive service excellence.

You will play a pivotal role in developing long-term investment plans, maximising the value of infrastructure funding and ensuring our highway assets remain safe, resilient and sustainable for future generations.

Leading a team of asset management professionals, you will provide expert advice to senior leaders and elected members, helping shape investment decisions that directly impact communities, businesses and road users across Buckinghamshire.

About us

Buckinghamshire Council manages one of the country's largest and most diverse highway networks, supporting communities, businesses and road users across both urban and rural areas.

As part of a wider £220 million transport infrastructure programme, we're delivering a £120 million four-year Strategic Highways Investment Programme, creating a unique opportunity to influence how major investment is planned and delivered across the network.

The Highways Asset Management Team plays a vital role in shaping long-term investment decisions, developing asset management strategies, and ensuring maintenance programmes are data-led, cost-effective and aligned with national best practice.

Working closely with elected members, service providers, government bodies and local communities, we help ensure Buckinghamshire's highway network remains safe, resilient and fit for the future.

This version reduces the word count significantly while retaining the key selling points: scale of network, size of investment programme, strategic influence, and stakeholder engagement.

About the role

As Highways Asset Manager, you will lead Buckinghamshire Council's highways asset management function, providing strategic and technical leadership across a complex and diverse network.

With particular responsibility for carriageway and footway assets, you will shape long-term investment strategies, oversee significant maintenance programmes and ensure decisions are driven by robust asset data, lifecycle planning and value-for-money principles.

Operating at a senior level across the organisation, you will provide expert advice to elected members, senior leaders and external stakeholders, translating complex technical information into clear recommendations that support informed investment decisions and corporate priorities.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading and developing a high-performing team of asset management professionals.
• Developing and delivering highways asset management strategies, policies and programmes.
• Managing significant capital and revenue budgets, ensuring effective investment and financial planning.
• Leading the development of carriageway and footway investment programmes using asset condition data and lifecycle planning principles.
• Supporting Medium Term Financial Plan bids, business cases and whole-life cost modelling.
• Ensuring compliance with legislation, industry standards and health and safety requirements.
• Providing expert advice to elected members, senior officers and external partners on asset management priorities and investment decisions.
• Monitoring programme performance and ensuring maintenance investments deliver agreed outcomes.
• Overseeing devolution arrangements, income generation activities and performance reporting.
• Representing the Council at regional and national forums, promoting innovation and industry best practice.
• Driving continuous improvement across the highways asset management service.

Reporting to the Head of Infrastructure and Capital Schemes, you will lead a team of professionals and play a key role in influencing investment and asset management decisions across Buckinghamshire's highway network.

This version is easier to scan while still highlighting the three things your target audience will care most about: technical expertise, leadership responsibility and influence over major investment programmes.

Any-Desk:

As an ‘any-desk’ worker, you’ll need to be connected to our network to access digital folders and resources, but this can either be from home or an office location when required. You will be required to work from the office a couple of times a week, depending on your role and team requirements.

About you

You will be an experienced highways asset management professional with strong technical expertise, leadership skills and the confidence to operate in a political and public-facing environment.

We're particularly interested in candidates with significant experience in carriageway and footway asset management, developing long-term investment strategies and leading teams responsible for complex highway networks.

We're looking for someone who can demonstrate:

• Experience leading a professional or technical service within a large, complex organisation.
• Extensive knowledge of highways asset management, including asset data, lifecycle planning, investment prioritisation and relevant legislation.
• Significant experience managing carriageway and footway assets and developing evidence-based maintenance programmes.
• A strong track record of managing substantial budgets and delivering value for money.
• Strategic planning, policy development and long-term programme management experience.
• Experience leading and developing multi-disciplinary teams.
• The ability to engage and influence elected members, senior leaders and stakeholders.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to present complex technical information clearly.
• A proactive, innovative and solutions-focused approach.

You will be educated to degree level (or equivalent experience) in a relevant discipline and ideally hold membership of a recognised professional institution.

If you're an accomplished highways asset management leader looking to influence a major infrastructure investment programme, this is an opportunity to shape the future of one of the country's largest local authority highway networks.

Other information

For full details about this opportunity, please refer to the attached job summary.

• Salary: Up to £82,251 per annum
• Location: Walton Street Offices, with hybrid working available
• Interview date: TBC
• Interview process: Interviews will be held in person.

This post is politically restricted under the provisions of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.

This post is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent cautions and/or unspent convictions

We understand that candidates may use AI tools to assist with their applications. While we welcome innovation, we expect all submissions to reflect your own experience, skills, and achievements accurately. Please ensure your application is truthful and demonstrates your personal capabilities, as this will be assessed during the selection process.

Our values and culture

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

At Buckinghamshire Council, we know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation.

From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

About the Business Unit

Our Communities directorate works across the county to deliver a number of the key customer‑facing services that our residents, businesses and visitors rely on every day.

This directorate includes a wide range of services, including:

• collecting and disposing of waste and recycling
• maintaining our roads and Rights of Way network and parking
• ensuring the delivery of school transport, and supporting sustainable travel including public bus services and School Crossing Patrollers
• managing Country Parks
• leisure facilities, museums, theatres and libraries, as well as developing our Cultural Strategy
• Licensing, Environmental Health and Trading Standards
• Cemeteries and Crematoria

The customer is central to how we develop and deliver all of these services, which help promote our rich and vibrant culture and special environment.

We are looking for enthusiastic, ambitious and committed individuals to join our team and help us to continue to make Buckinghamshire a great place to live, work and visit. This is an exciting time for us as we bring together the services previously run by five separate councils before Buckinghamshire Council was created. Whilst making major changes to contracts affecting residents across Bucks, we continue to focus on delivering great customer service. You will join us on our journey of continuous improvement - whether that’s through developing strategies and ways of working or delivering services on the ground, every person in Communities is a valued member of the team.

We recognise and reward you

Hard work and success deserves recognition. That’s why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. In addition to the opportunity to gain membership to Costco, we have discounted gym memberships, travel discounts with Arriva and much more.