Senior Transport Decarbonisation Consultant

WSP; Leeds; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

WSP is seeking a Senior Technical Lead to drive transport decarbonisation initiatives. You will innovate solutions, advise government bodies, and mobilize best practices in a team committed to achieving Net Zero. This is a pivotal role in shaping sustainable transport policies and practices.

Qualifications

• Experience in technical carbon management and upskilling roles.
• Strong understanding of transport-related Net Zero principles.
• Transport planning experience is ideal but not essential.

Responsibilities

• Champion best practices in transport decarbonisation services.
• Advise government bodies on decarbonisation strategies.
• Innovate and develop methodologies for transport carbon reduction.

Skills

Technical carbon management

Analytical skills

Innovative thinking

Communication skills

Transport planning

Education

Relevant degree in transport planning, engineering or environmental science

Job description

Description

What if you could do the kind of work the world needs?

At WSP, you can access our global scale, contribute to landmark projects and connect with the brightest minds in your field to do the best work of your life. You can embrace your curiosity in a culture that celebrates new ideas and diverse perspectives. You can experience a world of opportunity and the chance to shape a career as unique as you.

A little more about your role…

We have an ambitious growth plan to capitalise on our position at the forefront of transport decarbonisation and further evolve our offer in order to service the growing demand for our services. Our primary focus in the short term is to leverage our position as the UKs as the largest supplier of professional services to the local government sector. This places us in a position to play an influential role in decarbonisation of transport - the biggest source of emissions in the UK.

To assist us in these goals, we need to identify specialist support to help lead and assure our technical offering. Given the relative immaturity of the industry, best practices and standards are continuing to emerge. We are seeking motivated individuals at Senior grade who want to position themselves at the forefront of the industry to continue to drive the transformational change required within the industry.

If successful, you will help resource high-profile projects such as those described above and to play a leading role further developing our technical offer and supporting our clients. To make carbon reduction central to how transport is planned and delivered moving forward, the technical lead will need to work closely with other disciplines to develop linkages across wider policy agendas and embed best practice.

The successful candidate will have strong technical experience in providing strategic advice in transport assessment and management, with suitable knowledge of transport modelling and carbon assessment methods, and an aptitude for defining technical approaches that can be applied in new and innovative areas. This role is best suited to someone with a transport planning, modelling or carbon assessment background, but a passion for mitigating climate change through decarbonising transport is essential. We will also help you to broaden your experience or deepen your specialist skills in line with your career aspirations.

Joining the team at this critical time for climate action presents a great opportunity to influence transport policies, shape WSP’s and our client’s decarbonisation approaches and play a meaningful role on the pathway to net zero.

Your New Role

The role advertised is for a technical lead role within the Transport Net Zero team. You will be responsible for:

• Innovating, championing best practice and further developing WSP’s transport decarbonisation services, tools and methodologies
• Technical assurance of transport net zero deliverables across WSP, with associated technical development and upskilling of supporting staff.
• Advising government (local, regional, national and international) how to decarbonise transport in line with carbon budgets and Net Zero
• Building a collaborative, ‘carbon conscious’ culture across the wider Mobility team, and acting as a champion for embedment of best practice transport decarbonisation approaches across the business
• Aligning transport decarbonisation with other client policy agendas

Your Team

Decarbonising transport is essential if we are to achieve carbon budgets and Net Zero, yet the challenge this presents is huge. WSP has established a Transport Net Zero team to guide our clients through this complex challenge and embed carbon thinking at the heart of our wider Transport services. Since its inception four years ago, our Transport Net Zero team has been at the forefront of change in the industry. This includes:

• Authoring the Department for Transport’s Quantifiable Carbon Reduction guidance that will be published for consultation this year alongside the new LTP guidance and support and ambitious carbon reduction in local transport planning;
• Working with Sub-National Transport Bodies to develop baseline emissions models and supporting regional decarbonisation strategies;
• Advising clients such as West of England Combined Authority, Liverpool City Region and Transport for Greater Manchester of the challenge they face, and the solutions required through strategic transport decarbonisation studies and support in development of Local Transport Plans;
• Bringing an understanding of whole life carbon into the scheme development process for large programmes of Transport Infrastructure (such as Transforming Cities Fund and City Region Sustainable Transport Fund programmes) through best practice carbon assessment and (in line with PAS2080) management from the outset of the project lifecycle;
• Support National Highways to bring carbon into their role as statutory consultees on Local Planning and Planning Applications;
• Regularly presenting at UK and international conferences, delivering webinars and bringing our clients together to share best practice and thought leadership;
• Delivering carbon training to upskill our 500 strong Transport team;
• Innovating new processes and tools to deliver more efficiently and provide new insights and advice; and
• Working with WSP colleagues and clients globally to share and deploy best practice from the UK elsewhere.

.What we will be looking for you to demonstrate…

• Experience in technical carbon management roles, with an associated upskilling role for junior and wider project team staff. Understanding of PAS2080 principles desirable.
• Strong understanding of the principles of Net Zero in a transport context and a specific experience relating to carbon assessment and management.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to innovate beyond traditional processes and methods. This will involve scoping and reviewing technical outputs, requiring a pragmatic nature to resolving often complex issues.
• Confidence in adapting complex information into concise, plain-language summaries is essential.
• Ideally Transport Planning experience, including areas such as transport policy and strategy, major scheme business case development. Knowledge of the planning system, spatial planning decision making process and development control is desirable but not essential. We would also welcome those with an environmental or engineering background, as long as you are able to work with the aforementioned modelling outputs.
• Confidence in working in complex project teams (often cross-discipline) and ability to upskill staff on best practices to carbon reduction.
• Good written and verbal communication skills
• A deep interest and passion for delivering Net Zero

Don’t quite meet all the criteria? Apply, and we can see how your experience aligns to this role and other opportunities within the team.

Imagine a better future for you and a better future for us all.

Join our close-knit community of talented individuals who share your passion for making a positive impact. Our global team includes more than 69,000 employees, working together to make a difference in communities both close to home and around the world.

With us, you can. Apply today.

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