Project Manager (Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme)

-; City of Edinburgh; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading water engineering company in Scotland is seeking a Project Manager for the Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme. This role involves taking ownership of key programme elements, leading multi-disciplinary teams, and managing relationships with various stakeholders. Candidates should have a degree and experience in delivering complex projects. Benefits include generous holiday, pension contributions, and performance-related bonuses. This position offers a unique opportunity to shape infrastructure that strengthens water supplies for future generations.

Benefits

26 days' holiday + bank holidays (rising to 30)

Up to 14% employer pension contribution

10.5% performance-related bonus + recognition awards

Company-funded private healthcare

Qualifications

• Degree-level education or equivalent experience, plus APM and NEC3/4 (or working towards).
• A strong track record of delivering complex capital or engineering projects to challenging timelines.
• Excellent stakeholder, communication and influencing skills across technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong financial management capability and the ability to balance competing priorities.
• A collaborative mindset and the ability to think across functions and organisations.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of key programme elements and deliver them safely, efficiently and to TCQi standards.
• Lead multi-disciplinary internal teams and supply chain partners within the DPC delivery model.
• Develop robust project management and resource plans, manage risk and change, secure statutory approvals and uphold project governance.
• Build strong relationships with engineers, environmental specialists, corporate affairs, regulators, local authorities, NGOs and community stakeholders.
• Manage assurance activities and monitoring procedures, liaising with the DPC partners.
• Provide clear reporting and insight to programme leadership.

Job description

Join United Utilities at a pivotal moment in UK water engineering. We're delivering the Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme (HARP) a once in a generation scheme to upgrade the 110km aqueduct that supplies clean, reliable drinking water to 2.5 million people across Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria. First built in the 1950s and powered entirely by gravity, the aqueduct carries 570 million litres of water every day the equivalent of nearly 250 Olympic swimming pools.

With construction starting in 2026 and delivered through the UK water sector's first Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC) model, HARP will see the replacement of six major tunnel sections using cutting-edge tunnelling techniques. It is one of the largest and most complex capital delivery infrastructure programmes in Britain, set to create hundreds of jobs, build regional skills and strengthen water resilience for decades to come.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of key programme elements and deliver them safely, efficiently and to TCQi standards.
• Lead multi-disciplinary internal teams and supply chain partners within the DPC delivery model.
• Develop robust project management and resource plans, manage risk and change, secure statutory approvals and uphold project governance.
• Build strong relationships with engineers, environmental specialists, corporate affairs, regulators, local authorities, NGOs and community stakeholders.
• Manage assurance activities and monitoring procedures, liaising with the DPC partners.
• Provide clear reporting and insight to programme leadership, helping steer one of the UK's most high-profile infrastructure programmes.

Qualifications

• Degree-level education or equivalent experience, plus APM and NEC3/4 (or working towards).
• A strong track record of delivering complex capital or engineering projects to challenging timelines.
• Excellent stakeholder, communication and influencing skills across technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong financial management capability and the ability to balance competing priorities.
• A collaborative mindset and the ability to think across functions and organisations.

Be part of an organisation that's strengthening, greening and modernising the North West, backed by the stability and ambition of a FTSE 100 company.

Benefits

• 26 days' holiday + bank holidays (rising to 30)
• Up to 14% employer pension contribution
• 10.5% performance-related bonus + recognition awards
• Company-funded private healthcare
• A rare opportunity to shape a major infrastructure legacy that will protect water supplies, support economic growth and set new standards for innovation in the water industry.

This role will be working on HARP, the first Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC) project, and consequently certain responsibilities will differ from a traditional Capital Delivery Project Manager.

We may be unable to offer sponsorship for this role.