Project Director - HS2

Project Director – HS2 London Tunnels

Working directly for the client on High Speed Two.

Salary: £130,000 – £140,000 + 12% Pen + health

Location: London – Euston / North Acton

Working Pattern: Minimum 4 days per week office/site

Project: SCS Main Works Civils Contract

Package Value: Responsibility for £3.5bn+ of works

Programme: Old Oak Common to Euston | Delivery through to 2034/35

A Nationally Significant Delivery Role

HS2 Ltd is recruiting a Project Director to take a senior client-side leadership role responsible for the delivery of a £3.5bn+ tunnelling and heavy civils package between Old Oak Common and Euston. This is one of the UK's most high-profile and technically challenging infrastructure projects, forming part of the wider £10.5bn SCS Main Works Civils Contract.

The package includes: Underground Cavern, extensive TBM tunnelling, sprayed concrete lining, major underground and structural works, utilities and complex interfaces with existing and operational railway infrastructure. This is fundamentally a delivery role. The successful candidate will be responsible for taking the project through the remaining design phase, construction and ultimately successful delivery, working closely with the Tier 1 contractor and an integrated professional and technical supply chain.

HS2 Operates as a lean/intelligent client you will have line management responsibility for 2 senior PM’s, 4 PM’s.

The project is expected to continue through to approximately 2034/35, providing a long-term opportunity to lead delivery of a nationally important piece of infrastructure.

The Project

The £3.5bn+ package includes some of the most complex heavy civil engineering works on HS2:

• Complex underground structures and major structural works - including an Underground Cavern, complex subterranean cavern directly beneath the live, operational West Coast Main Line.
• Major TBM tunnelling between Old Oak Common and Euston.
• Sprayed Concrete Lining (SCL).
• Shafts and headhouses.
• Major utility diversions and reinstatement.
• Construction within a highly constrained London environment.
• Complex interfaces with existing and operational railway infrastructure.
• Extensive stakeholder and third‑party interfaces.

The design is currently around 60% complete, with the remaining design needing to be driven efficiently towards construction and delivery.

Your Role

You'll provide senior client-side leadership across the project, working with the Tier 1 contractor and HS2's multidisciplinary teams to drive successful delivery.

You will be responsibel for the whole project lifecycle from leading the completion of the design into construction and handover in c2035. You will need to have personally led major projects through both design and construction and understand how to turn complex designs into efficiently delivered infrastructure.

You’ll be expected to:

• Lead delivery of the £3.5bn+ package on behalf of HS2.
• Drive the remaining design towards efficient, coordinated and buildable solutions.
• Ensure design decisions support construction, programme and value for money.
• Lead the relationship with the Tier 1 contractor and challenge performance where necessary.
• Drive efficient processes and procedures across design and delivery.
• Oversee major tunnelling, structural, utility and civil engineering works.
• Manage complex interfaces across HS2, rail, utilities, contractors and multiple third parties.
• Lead multidisciplinary teams through design and construction.
• Monitor programme, cost, risk, quality and key delivery metrics.
• Ensure the project is delivered safely and in accordance with HS2 requirements.

Commercial & Delivery Environment

HS2 is evolving its commercial approach across the major works programme, including greater use of milestone incentives and mechanisms designed to improve delivery certainty, allocate risk appropriately and protect value for money for the taxpayer.

The Project Director will not be responsible for leading these commercial negotiations, but will need to understand the principles behind them and their impact on project delivery. You'll need to be commercially astute, comfortable working with significant budgets and able to work effectively with commercial and contract teams.

You’ll understand how commercial mechanisms, risk allocation and incentives can influence contractor behaviour and delivery, while continually looking for opportunities to simplify processes, remove inefficiencies and improve value for money.

About You – The Non‑Negotiables

We're looking for an experienced Project Director or senior delivery leader who has personally delivered c£1bn projects and understands what it takes to successfully complete complex infrastructure. We're open to candidates from client, Tier 1 contractor or consultancy backgrounds. What matters is your proven ability to deliver major projects rather than which side of the industry you've worked for.

You must have:

• Proven experience delivering projects valued c£1bn+.
• Significant experience leading major civil engineering, rail, tunnelling or heavy infrastructure projects – open to a range of infrastructure projects.
• Personally led projects through both design and construction/delivery.
• Strong understanding of the complete project lifecycle and the relationship between design, construction, programme, cost and risk.
• Experience working on NEC contracts, ideally NEC Option C.
• Previous experience personally running major projects under NEC / Option C.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen, with experience managing major budgets and understanding how commercial mechanisms, risk allocation and incentives influence delivery.
• Exceptional leadership skills and the ability to galvanise a complex, integrated supply chain.
• Superb stakeholder management skills, with experience operating on high-profile major projects.
• Experience managing major structural works, utilities and complex third‑party interfaces.
• Strong project management discipline and leadership capability, with an understanding of APM principles and structured project delivery methodologies.
• Experience leading large multidisciplinary teams and Tier 1 contractors.
• The credibility and confidence to operate with senior stakeholders across a nationally important infrastructure programme.

International mega-project experience is welcomed, as many candidates with the required £1bn+ experience will likely gained from abroad but must be eligible to work in the UK without sponsorship.

The key requirement is genuine £1bn+ project delivery experience. This is not a programme governance or sponsorship role.

Leadership & Project Management

HS2 places significant emphasis on structured project delivery and leadership. Its internal project management framework and staff development approach are aligned with Association for Project Management (APM) principles.

You’ll therefore need strong project management discipline, the ability to establish clear accountability and the leadership capability to bring together a highly complex integrated supply chain around a common delivery objective.

The successful candidate will be comfortable creating clarity across multiple teams, establishing effective processes and procedures, identifying inefficiencies and maintaining focus on programme, cost, risk, quality and delivery outcomes.

The Opportunity

This is an opportunity to take a senior leadership position directly with HS2 Ltd on a nationally important infrastructure scheme.

You’ll be responsible for turning one of the UK's most complex infrastructure designs into a successfully delivered piece of railway, working alongside a Tier 1 contractor and highly integrated professional, technical and supply‑chain organisations.

The project is expected to continue through to 2034/35, giving the successful candidate the opportunity to lead the project through its major construction and delivery phases.

If you’re a senior delivery leader who has personally delivered £1bn+ projects, understands both design and construction, is commercially sharp and has the leadership and stakeholder skills to operate in a highly complex, high-profile London environment, this is a role worth discussing confidentially

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