Senior Arboricultural Lead — Projects & Mentoring

WSP in the UK & Ireland; Naas; On-site; EUR 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

WSP is seeking a Principal Arboricultural Consultant to lead complex arboricultural projects, advise on planning and environmental assessments, and mentor the national team. You will set technical direction, review deliverables, and build strong relationships with clients across major infrastructure schemes.

The role emphasizes leadership, safety, and delivering high-quality input to NSIPs and planning teams, with opportunities to shape projects from early concept through to implementation.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in arboricultural consultancy, planning and project delivery.
• Strong technical expertise in BS5837 assessments and reporting.
• Proven experience advising multidisciplinary design and project teams.
• Experience managing complex projects, programmes, budgets and client expectations.
• Commercial awareness, including scope management and budget control.
• Strong relationship-building skills with clients, stakeholders and internal teams.
• Experience leading, mentoring and developing technical professionals.
• A positive approach to health, safety and wellbeing, with the ability to promote safe working practices across project teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead and technically review Arboricultural Impact Assessments, Arboricultural Method Statements, Tree Protection Plans, EIA inputs and other specialist arboricultural advice.
• Deliver arboricultural services on NSIPs and other complex developments.
• Manage client relationships, project programmes, budgets, scopes and delivery risks.
• Provide strategic arboricultural advice to multidisciplinary design teams and stakeholders.
• Support recruitment, mentoring, career development and succession planning within the team.
• Manage and develop consultants and senior consultants, acting as a coach and trusted mentor.
• Support and advise the senior leadership team on technical and operational matters.
• Lead the preparation of tenders, fee proposals, scopes of work, assumptions and commercial reviews.
• Provide specialist advice relating to veteran and ancient trees, woodland constraints, statutory protections and mitigation strategies.
• Drive quality, consistency and technical excellence across project delivery.

Skills

Arboricultural consultancy

BS5837 assessments

Stakeholder management

Mentoring

Project delivery

Education

Chartered Arboriculturist

Chartered Forester

Chartership in progress

Tools

Digital survey technologies

Canopy cover assessments

AI-enabled workflows

Job description

WSP is seeking a Principal Arboricultural Consultant to lead complex arboricultural projects, advise on planning and environmental assessments, and mentor the national team. You will set technical direction, review deliverables, and build strong relationships with clients across major infrastructure schemes.

The role emphasizes leadership, safety, and delivering high-quality input to NSIPs and planning teams, with opportunities to shape projects from early concept through to implementation.