Practice Director, Sustainable Futures

Take our vision into the future

We have an exciting opportunity for a Practice Director in our Sustainable Futures Practice, part of the wider Environment practice in Infrastructure.

You might know us for the great work we do across our wide variety of projects. We're proud to say it's thanks to our people's diversity of thought, expertise and knowledge. And when you join us, you'll be a part of this genuinely collaborative environment, where everyone's voice is valued and treated equally.

We're passionate about what we do, but we don't take ourselves too seriously. Simply put, this a great place to be. So, when it comes to your life outside of work, ask us about our flexible and remote working policies designed to help you get the most out of life.

We're facing our clients' challenges head-on, from climate change to rapid urbanization, consumerization, economic uncertainty, security threats, and technology-driven change. It's complex work, and our teams are up to the challenge. Join us and let's deliver what's right for people and the environment.

As a key leader in our Environment Practice, you'll shape places and spaces that matter across our key sectors, from Aviation, Cities & Development, to Education, Energy and Transportation, while transitioning our world to a zero-carbon future.

The Sustainable Futures Practice is made up of around 70 staff across the UK; it works with clients addressing opportunities and challenges across the closely interconnected areas of air quality, carbon, climate, economic development, and sustainable finance.

The Sustainable Futures practice is a key contributor to projects across all our markets. In particular, it is a major provider of carbon management, green city planning, lenders technical advisory, weather and climate services, sustainable finance and low emission design and leads much of our work as a top tier supplier to the UK government and other international organisations’ development programmes.

Your Purpose & What you can bring

• As a key and integral member of the Environment Practice Leadership Team (PLT), you will be comfortable in taking the lead in operational management of the Sustainable Futures Practice, responsible for delivering results.
• You will be responsible for Practice performance, meeting budgets and controlling overheads as well as making sure that productivity is maintained through efficient resource management whilst facilitating the flow of work to the Global Technology Centre (GTC).
• Health and Wellbeing, Quality, Safety and Integrity are key to Atkins, and you’ll be responsible for driving a strong culture in these areas within the Sustainable Futures Practice.
• You’ll make a real contribution to the success of Atkins Infrastructure business through our significant internal and external markets. You will work with Service Line Leads in Environment and beyond to support the development of client value propositions which shift our services into high-value consulting and advisory areas, and recruit and develop the right capability within the practice to deliver those services, developing relationships and working with external alliance partners and subcontractors as necessary.
• Supported by a strong senior technical team, you’ll take a prominent role in transforming our services into our growing service lines, meet our growing project workload and help us design and apply new approaches to our work.
• As you grow the Sustainable Futures Practice, you’ll ensure that the organisational structure continues to align with future requirements, and you’ll be responsible for developing the practice’s talent, ensuring that the practice team are engaged, motivated, stretched and developed, with appropriate succession planning in place.
• Working alongside a Professional Head of Discipline, you’ll drive continuous improvements in technical leadership, assurance and governance. Through developing a client-centric approach to technical innovation and service excellence, you’ll build on the practice’s reputation for technical excellence, and thought leadership, making Atkins services and expertise the first choice for clients.
• You’ll collaborate with the market and business development teams to understand and influence Market strategies and long-term plans, and ensure the Practice team actively engages with clients and actively sells our services to deliver business objectives.
• The Practices are the ‘technical powerhouse’ that forms the foundation of the Atkins organisation. As Practice Director, you will work collaboratively to deliver results, lead our people, exceed client expectations, drive innovation, and ensure technical excellence.
• We are searching for a candidate with a well-rounded leadership and management background who can deliver the operational performance of a diverse team in a growing work area. If this is you, we want to hear from you.

Why work for Atkins?

We're ranked as one of LinkedIn's Top 25 Companies, where UK professionals want to work and stay once they join. We've also made the Times Top 50 employers for women. Our Infrastructure team uses innovation, new approaches and the power of data to help our clients deliver end-to-end projects and programmes for essential future infrastructure. And as the work becomes ever more complex, our employees continue to challenge the status quo. We're committed to engineering better for our planet and its people, from our global Engineering Net-Zero programme to creating social value through EDAROTH community housing. We're proud of our vibrant employee networks creating awareness and allyship for our under-represented groups. Not to mention programmes supporting communities outside Atkins, including schools, charities, ex-defence and professionals returning after career breaks.

Meeting your needs:

To help you get the most out of life in and outside of work, we offer employees "Total Reward." It's a package that can be tailored to your changing lifestyle, career and personal needs. You'll enjoy benefits such as partner discounts, leadership training, professional accreditations, and career planning for any stage of your career. Find out more.

Read more about 'Total Reward'. More about us Atkins, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group, is a top global consultancy with over 80 years of design and engineering expertise. With us, you'll be surrounded by the skills, knowledge and support to help you succeed. Together, we can deliver projects which have a positive, sustainable impact on the world.

Check out some of our recent, most exciting projects.

This role may require security clearance and offers of employment will be dependent on obtaining the relevant level of clearance. If this is necessary, it will be discussed with you at interview. The vetting process is delivered by United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) and may require candidates to provide proof of residency in the UK of 5 years or longer. If applying to this role please do not make reference to (in conversation) or include in your application or CV, details of any current or previously held security clearance.

We are committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community - a place where we can all be ourselves, thrive and develop. To help embed inclusion for all, from day one, we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements and employee networks to support staff from different backgrounds. As an Equal Opportunities Employer, we value applications from all backgrounds, cultures and ability.

#LI-INFRASTRUCTURE | #LI-UK | #LI-ATKINS