WSP in the UK & Ireland
Strategic Growth Director – Business Development and Client Engagement – Sustainability, Earth and Environment
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Strategic Growth Director – Business Development and Client Engagement – Sustainability, Earth and Environment
Senior Portfolio Business and Client Engagement Leader
Global Scale. Landmark Projects. Work That Shapes Your Career.
At WSP, you can contribute to meaningful work that delivers real impact—while shaping a career as dynamic and ambitious as you are. Our culture thrives on curiosity, embraces diverse perspectives, and offers a world of opportunity. If you're ready to make a difference and grow alongside a global team of the brightest minds, here’s your chance.
About the Role
You will lead structured business development, client engagement, and market profile activity across WSP’s Earth, Environment, and Sustainability portfolio, translating strategic goals into tangible growth. This critical role spans existing and emerging markets, connecting clients with WSP’s technical expertise to deliver sustainability, climate resilience, planning, consenting, and nature-focused solutions. Your primary focus will be:
- Shaping and implementing a portfolio-wide strategy to strengthen relationships, open new opportunities, and drive coordinated work-winning efforts.
- Acting as a connector between client needs, sector strategy, technical capabilities, and growth activities, ensuring seamless integration across Business Units, disciplines, and delivery teams.
- Building senior engagement with clients—fostering trust, accessing decision-makers, and developing cross-selling opportunities.
Key Responsibilities
Client Engagement & Account Development
- Design and execute a structured engagement programme for priority clients and sectors, aligned to portfolio and growth plans.
- Build and maintain senior-level relationships with executive stakeholders, procurement teams, and technical decision-makers.
- Map and improve access to key decision-makers, including C-suite influencers, sustaining engagement in strategic accounts.
- Identify and qualify new business opportunities in existing, adjacent, and emerging markets, leveraging integrated capabilities in environmental risk, sustainability, planning, digital tools, and multidisciplinary delivery.
Cross-Selling & Market Positioning
- Unite business units and disciplines to present coordinated offerings to clients, addressing complex challenges where Sustainability, Environment, and other WSP capabilities intersect.
- Collaborate with Strategic Growth Leads, Managing Directors, and Sector Heads to align proposition development with client priorities.
- Support cross-selling initiatives, particularly between Earth/Environment/Sustainability and other business lines (e.g., Infrastructure, Advisory).
Market Intelligence & Horizon Scanning
- Share actionable insights on client drivers, policies, regulations, competitor activity, and investment cycles with internal stakeholders.
- Ensure timely positioning efforts through intelligence from capture planning, market trends, and client feedback.
Strategic Pursuits & Work Winning
- Contribute to early positioning and capture strategies for high-value bids, including:
- Developing strategic propositions and value-driven narratives.
- Leading client intelligence and value propositions for complex pursuits.
- Aligning bids with WSP’s technical strengths, ensuring consistent messaging and differentiation.
- Foster coordinated pursuit efforts across bid teams, capture planners, and technical experts.
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Client Feedback & Continuous Improvement
- Lead a consistent feedback programme across the portfolio, capturing insights from clients and projects.
- Translate feedback into actionable improvements for client experience, delivery quality, and future positioning.
- Ensure results are shared across account teams to strengthen relationships and tailor delivery.
Market Profiece & Thought Leadership
- Work with marketing and comms teams to execute campaigns, events, client briefings, thought leadership efforts, and case studies.
- Highlight the portfolio’s unique expertise and differentiators across key sectors and regions.
Collaboration & Governance
- Operate as a bridge between senior leadership, discipline teams, bid managers, and commercial functions.
- Embed disciplined approaches in business development, including:
- Opportunity qualification and prioritisation.
- Client engagement planning and follow-up processes.
- Marketing and pipeline management strategies.
What We Need from You
Essential
- Proven track record in senior-level client engagement, ideally in Earth Sciences, Environment, and Sustainability sectors (or related technical/consultancy fields).
- Business development expertise with a results-driven portfolio of qualified deals, bid contributions, and cross-selling initiatives.
- Exceptional relationship-building skills, including:
- Access to executive decision-makers (C-suite, procurement, technical sponsors).
- Ability to interpret client needs and align WSP’s offerings accordingly.
- Experience with strategic account management and pipeline development, understanding deal dynamics and competitive positioning.
- Collaborative mindset – ability to coordinate with growth teams, senior leaders, and multi-disciplinary workflows.
- Comfortable influencing upwards without direct authority across diverse organisational layers.
Preferred
- Sector experience in sustainability, climate resilience, planning/consenting, digital transformation, or nature-based solutions.
- Familiarity with capture planning techniques, bid strategies, or market visibility frameworks.
- Exposure to CRM platforms and data analytics for tracking profiles, pursuits, and client feedback. -embershi of professional bodies (e.g., Chartered Institute of Public Relations, Chartered Association of Business Advisors).
What Success Looks Like
| Outcome | Measurement |
|---|---|
| Client Engagement | Quarterly reviews of engagement plans: relationship owners, stakeholder maps, and touchpoints aligned to portfolio strategy. |
| Senior Access | Growth of executive engagement (e.g., C-suite meetings) by at least 20% across targeted accounts. |
| Pipeline Quality | Increased pipeline efficiency: 30%+ data quality, well-defined ownership, and pre-positioned priorities. |
| Cross-Selling Success | Tangible application of Earth/Environment/Sustainability with other WSP units (e.g., Infrastructure/Advisory), driving growth from existing frameworks. |
| client Feedback System | Implementation of quarterly feedback cycles, with 90% of major projects contributing insights and actionable feedback. |
| Market Profile | Enhanced visibility for portfolio differentiators, supported by scheduled campaign, event, and thought-leadership activity. |
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Who You’re Interfacing With
- Portfolio Leadership: Richard Clayton, Elena Amirkhanova, Mark Hurley, Barry Cowell.
- Business Unit Heads & Discipline Leads (e.g., Managing Directors: Charles Humphries, Chris Warner).
- Strategical Growth Leads, Key Account Managers, and technical specialists.
- Bid teams, capture professionals, marketing/resources owners, and delivery teams.
- External stakeholders: clients, partners, influencers, consultative market bodies.
Why WSP?
Work-Life Balance & Flexibility
- Hybrid working model: Two days in-office, with modern HQs across the UK.
- My One Hour Initiative: Delegate one hour daily for personal time (workable around your schedule).
- Flexible arrangements: Part-time schedules,a bank holiday coverage, and extra leave purchases.
Inclusivity & Belonging
- Employer resource groups celebrating diversity across experiences, identities, and backgrounds.
- Chartership programmes: Support for your professional development journeys.
Wellbeing Support
- Thrive programme: Commitment to both mental and physical health, including:
- NHS/Irish Medical Council-friendly Virtual GP access.
- Workplace adjustments available, irrespective of individual needs.
- Gymflex benefits: Discounted gym memberships via our flexible rewards platform.
- Support packages (e.g., menopause or similarly integrative health initiatives).
Impact & Career Growth
- Join a legally leading firm with 84,000+ employees shaping communities worldwide.
- Be part of a amature that values purpose and innovation in engineering, sustainability, and consultancy.
Equality & Opportunity
“Believe you belongs here.” At WSP, we positively encourage applications from candidates irrespective of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religious beliefs, civil partnership/marital status, parenthood status, dentity, other protected characteristics. As a Disability Confident leader, we commit to interviewing all disabled candidates meeting essential criteria—simply let us know how we may best support your application.
Application note: If you’re transitioning from another division or keen to discuss, we’d love to hear more about how your background can advance the growth of our environmental and sustainability activities.
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