Project Manager - Washwood Heath Area

Charlton Recruitment; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 75,000 - 78,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension

Health insurance

25 days holiday

Job summary

High Speed Two Ltd is seeking an experienced Project Manager to support delivery across the Washwood Heath depot and Birmingham Spur. The role requires a technically credible professional who can coordinate design, procurement and site activities for a major railway infrastructure programme.

You will work with HS2 colleagues, the contractor and the wider supply chain to resolve issues, manage interfaces and maintain progress.

Qualifications

• Previous experience delivering major railway infrastructure projects.
• Strong technical understanding of railway engineering and interfaces between civil and railway systems.
• Experience coordinating multidisciplinary teams, contractors and stakeholders.
• Experience monitoring progress, milestones and design deliverables.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate delivery across Washwood Heath area, including the Birmingham Spur and depot.
• Integrate design, procurement and construction activities.
• Manage interfaces between civil works, railway systems and contractors.
• Identify and resolve engineering issues and interface risks with engineering teams.
• Monitor progress against scope, programme and milestones.
• Support scheduling and programme progress with planners (Primavera P6).
• Maintain risk and issue registers and escalate where needed.
• Support procurement/specification development for overhead works.
• Governance, assurance and reporting to ensure deliverables are documented.

Skills

Railway project management

Stakeholder management

Multidisciplinary coordination

Risk & issue management

Problem solving

Education

Engineering degree or equivalent

Tools

Primavera P6

Job description

Project Manager | High Speed Two | Washwood Heath & Birmingham Spur

High Speed Two Ltd | Client Side Project Delivery

Salary: £75,000 to £77,500 + 12% pension + health + 25 days

Location: Birmingham | Hybrid working, typically 3 days in the office or on site

Programme: Washwood Heath Depot and Birmingham Spur – 8-10 years

Career progression: Senior Project Manager £100,000 to £110,000 + package

The Opportunity

Are you an experienced Project Manager with a background in major railway infrastructure and a strong technical understanding of how civil engineering works integrate with railway systems?

High Speed Two Ltd is looking for a Technically mided Project Manager to support delivery across the Washwood Heath area, including the Birmingham Spur and the main maintenance depot.

This is a high profile opportunity within a critical section of HS2, expected to be among the first parts of the railway to be commissioned and handed back. Successful delivery will be highly visible across the programme, providing an opportunity for strong performers to demonstrate their capability, build relationships with senior stakeholders and progress into more senior positions.

The role combines engineering understanding, project coordination and delivery management. You will bring together multidisciplinary teams, manage interfaces between projects and ensure design and construction activities are properly coordinated, sequenced and progressing.

This is not primarily a cost control position. It is an opportunity for a technically credible Project Manager who understands railway infrastructure, can coordinate delivery teams and is confident managing the interfaces between civil engineering and railway systems.

The Project

Washwood Heath is a major part of the HS2 programme, incorporating the main maintenance depot and the infrastructure connecting the Birmingham area to the wider high speed railway.

The Birmingham Spur is progressing through design and will move into construction, providing the opportunity to remain involved as the project develops through successive delivery stages.

The HS2 Birmingham Spur is a high-stakes, 15-kilometer branch that connects the core London-to-North mainline to the city centre terminus at Curzon Street Station, characterized by extreme geographic compression, brownfield remediation, and close proximity to live infrastructure, its construction represents some of the most concentrated civil engineering challenges in Europe.

The wider Washwood Heath area involves multiple work packages, contractors, technical disciplines and interfaces. Effective coordination will be essential to ensure that design, procurement, site works and construction activities are integrated and aligned with the overall programme.

You will gain exposure to a significant railway infrastructure project, working across engineering, planning, procurement and delivery activities within a complex and highly visible programme.

The Role

Reporting to the Senior Project Manager, you will coordinate project activities across the Washwood Heath area, ensuring that work is integrated across disciplines and interfaces and delivered in line with agreed scope, programme and technical requirements.

You will work closely with HS2 colleagues, the main contractor, the wider supply chain, engineers, designers and planners to resolve issues, manage risks and maintain progress.

The role includes supporting the development of procurement and specification documents for overhead works at Washwood Heath, working alongside technical, commercial and procurement teams. You will also manage interfaces with the joint venture responsible for site works and ground remediation.

A strong technical understanding of railway engineering will be important. You will need to recognise how civil engineering works affect railway systems, identify interface risks and coordinate the people responsible for resolving them.

You will monitor progress, manage dependencies and ensure that the right decisions are made at the right time to support successful delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Coordinate delivery activities across the Washwood Heath area, including the Birmingham Spur and main maintenance depot.
• Integrate multidisciplinary project activities, ensuring design, procurement and construction work is properly coordinated and sequenced.
• Manage interfaces between civil engineering works, railway systems, contractors and other HS2 projects.
• Work with engineers and technical specialists to identify and resolve engineering issues and interface risks.
• Monitor design deliverables, production progress and key project milestones.
• Work with Primavera P6 planners and delivery teams to understand programme progress, identify potential delays and support mitigation measures.
• Monitor main contractor progress against agreed scope, programme, cost and quality requirements.
• Maintain project risk and issue registers, ensuring risks are assessed, mitigated and escalated where necessary.
• Manage change, including proposed changes to scope and cost, and assess potential impacts on affordability and delivery.
• Support the development of procurement and specification documentation for overhead works, working with technical, commercial and procurement colleagues.
• Manage interfaces with the joint venture responsible for site works and ground remediation.
• Support effective project governance, assurance and reporting, ensuring key deliverables and decisions are documented.
• Coordinate stakeholders across HS2, the contractor and supply chain to maintain alignment and resolve delivery issues.
• Identify dependencies between work packages and other HS2 projects, ensuring these are understood and managed.
• Provide appropriate challenge where programme, technical or quality requirements are at risk, while maintaining a collaborative approach to delivery.

About You

You will be a Project Manager or engineering professional with experience delivering major railway infrastructure projects. You will combine practical project delivery skills with a strong technical understanding of railway engineering and the interfaces between civil engineering and railway systems.

You should be comfortable working with engineers, designers, planners and contractors, translating technical and programme information into clear priorities and actions.

The role would suit someone who has worked on a major rail project in a project management, project engineering or engineering coordination capacity and wants to take greater responsibility for integrated delivery.

Candidates from client, main contractor or design consultancy backgrounds will be considered, provided they meet the essential railway infrastructure and technical requirements.

Essential Experience

• Previous experience working on major railway infrastructure projects.
• A strong technical understanding of railway engineering, including the integration of civil engineering works with railway systems.
• Experience in project management, project engineering or engineering coordination within a complex infrastructure environment.
• Experience coordinating multidisciplinary teams, contractors and technical stakeholders.
• The ability to manage interfaces, risks, issues and dependencies across multiple work packages.
• Experience monitoring project progress, design deliverables and programme milestones.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to bring teams together and resolve delivery issues.
• The ability to identify emerging risks, coordinate mitigation actions and escalated issues appropriately.
• A practical, delivery focused approach, with the ability to manage competing priorities and maintain progress.

Desirable Experience

• Experience on HS2, Crossrail, HS1 or another major rail infrastructure programme.
• Experience coordinating interfaces between civils, railway systems and associated infrastructure.
• Familiarity with NEC contracts, including Early Warnings and change management.
• Experience using Primavera P6 or working closely with project planning teams.
• Experience supporting procurement, technical specifications or contractor delivery.
• A degree or equivalent professional experience in engineering, project management or a related discipline.

Career Progression

Washwood Heath offers an opportunity to build experience on a major railway infrastructure project with a substantial delivery lifecycle ahead.

The area is part of a critical section of HS2, with early commissioning and handback activity expected to attract significant attention across the programme. Strong performers will have the opportunity to demonstrate their capability, build relationships with senior stakeholders and position themselves for further responsibility.

The next step is Senior Project Manager, with salaries of approximately £100,000 to £110,000 plus package