Transport Planning Director
About this role
SLR is a global leader in sustainability solutions, working with clients to help make sustainability happen, within a collaborative, people-first culture.
Due to continued growth, we are seeking an experienced Transport Planning Team Lead to join our established Transport & Mobility Planning team in Manchester. This is an exciting opportunity to lead and grow our transport planning capability in the North of England, supporting a diverse portfolio of development, infrastructure and sustainability projects.
As part of our national leadership team, you will play a key role in expanding our presence in Manchester, strengthening client relationships, and delivering innovative transport planning solutions that support sustainable development and decarbonisation objectives.
The Role
You'll lead and grow our Manchester Transport Planning team while working closely with Directors and Associate Directors across our Midlands and Northern offices. This role combines business leadership, team development, client management and technical excellence.
The role includes:
- Leading the growth and development of the Manchester Transport Planning team
- Working with the national leadership team to implement business growth strategies
- Generating new business opportunities from existing and prospective clients
- Developing and managing key client relationships
- Recruiting, mentoring and supporting the development of team members
- Providing expert transport planning advice across a variety of development sectors
- Managing and delivering complex development projects from feasibility through to planning consent
- Supporting local plan promotions, planning applications, appeals and public inquiries where required
- Preparing and negotiating fee proposals and overseeing project finances
- Promoting a strong culture of health, safety and wellbeing
- Raising awareness of CDM responsibilities and best practice
- Keeping abreast of planning, policy, legal and transport sector developments
- Identifying opportunities to add value to projects through innovation and technical excellence
You'll collaborate with colleagues across Planning, Environmental, Engineering and Sustainability disciplines, delivering complex and impactful projects while benefiting from the support of SLR's national leadership team.
Rewards & Benefits
SLR's ‘One Team’ culture is at the heart of our business, providing a collaborative and supportive environment where people can develop and grow. Through a structured career framework, regular performance reviews, and support towards chartership, professional qualifications and licences, we offer excellent opportunities for long-term career progression.
Our flexible benefits and reward package includes:
- Competitive salary with discretionary bonus
- Company pension
- Private medical insurance
- Life, income, and travel insurance
- Salary sacrifice car lease and cycle-to-work schemes
- Flexible, hybrid and agile working
- 25 days' annual leave plus flexible public holidays
- Buy or sell leave options
- Core working hours
- Cross-border remote working and sabbatical opportunities
- Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave pay
- Workplace Nursery benefit
- Volunteering and Community Giving
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Specialist support for mental health, stress and menopause, supporting our people both professionally and personally
About You
We're looking for a commercially minded transport planning professional with strong leadership skills, a proven track record of winning work, and experience developing successful teams.
You will ideally have:
- Extensive experience delivering transport planning projects within the development industry
- Proven experience leading, mentoring and growing high-performing teams
- Strong business development and work-winning capability
- Excellent client contacts, particularly within the private sector
- Experience managing project and team budgets
- A successful track record of securing and delivering project work
- Experience across a range of land-use development sectors
- Public sector and/or Development Consent Order (DCO) experience (desirable)
- A high level of knowledge of planning, policy and legal frameworks affecting development projects
- Strong technical expertise in sustainable transport planning and strategy development
- Understanding of transport modelling and commercially viable transport solutions
- Excellent knowledge of transport innovation and emerging industry trends
- Outstanding communication, leadership and stakeholder management skills
- Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to build effective relationships with clients, colleagues and project partners
Culture & Inclusion
Inclusion is fundamental to who we are. We are committed to equal opportunities and foster a workplace where everyone can thrive, supported by active Culture & Inclusion Committees and Employee Networks.
We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds and are a Disability Confident Committed employer. If you require any adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know and we will be happy to support you.
As part of our Disability Confident Committed status, applicants with a disability who meet the essential requirements of the role will be guaranteed an interview.
Apply Today
If this Transport Planning Team Lead role feels like a great fit for your experience and ambitions, we'd love to hear from you.
Company at a glance
SLR is a committed partner in our clients’ sustainability journeys.
We help them move from influence to impact, turning intent into purposeful, practical action that delivers real-world results.
Guided by our philosophy of Rational Sustainability, we focus on what truly drives long-term value. By viewing decisions through the lenses of risk, reward, and resilience, we help clients act with confidence, balancing environmental and social responsibility with commercial and strategic success.
Our purpose - Making Sustainability Happen - means delivering outcomes that are grounded in evidence, shaped by experience, and built to last.
SLR has been advising clients for over 30 years at every point of their project life-cycle. Starting as a UK business, we now operate as a global company with more than 4,500 people delivering client solutions across six regions. We have grown both organically and through welcoming other like-minded businesses with a similar One Team culture into the SLR group. We are ably supported by our principal investor, Ares Management, and will continue to build a balanced, successful and growing business.
We’ve designed working life at SLR to look a little different. Because we know talented people often feel restricted by the rigid systems, lack of cross-functional collaboration and limited options for growth on offer elsewhere.
Our One Team culture promotes meaningful professional and personal growth, our flat management structure provides many opportunities to progress, and our collaborative approach means you’ll get the chance to work on projects you care about and make a real difference.
If you’re purpose-driven, self-motivated and keen to make an impact on a global scale, we want to hear from you.
Top Benefits
- Competitive salary
- Discretionary bonus
- Company pension
- Private medical insurance
- Life insurance
- Income protection insurance
- Travel insurance
- Salary sacrifice car lease
- Cycle-to-work scheme
- Flexible working
- Hybrid working
- Agile working
- 25 days annual leave
- Buy or sell leave options
- Workplace nursery benefit
- Volunteering and community giving
- Employee assistance programme
- Mental health support
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