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As a Senior Engagement Manager at HS2, working in our Phase 2B project (Crewe to Manchester and West Midlands to Leeds). You will lead a small engagement team that is responsible for proactively engaging on behalf of the project with local authorities, businesses, MPs and affected communities within the region. Phase 2B is currently in early stage design and environmental assessments in preparation for the Phase 2B Hybrid Bill submission to parliament, currently scheduled for 2019.

These roles have the option of being based at our offices in Birmingham or for the northern areas of the project there is flexibility to be geographically/home based in Manchester, Leeds or Sheffield.

About the role:

  • Lead a diverse functional team, setting objectives, reviewing performance and participating in selection/promotion decisions to ensure that staff have the necessary skills and understanding to deliver the team's objectives;
  • Manage relationships with all stakeholders within the area, including local authorities, MPs, communities and property owners;
  • Maintain strong working relationships with internal technical stakeholders as well as partnering with other areas of the HS2 project;
  • Ensuring that engagement within the area is undertaken in line with the Phase two engagement strategy;
  • Identifying and escalating stakeholder issues and potential petitions within the area to the central engagement team;
  • Ensuring robust and auditable records management is maintained across all engagement activity.

About you:

  • Experience in leading and managing a community or stakeholder engagement team, experience of managing a remote or virtual team would be beneficial;
  • Proven experience of planning and delivering engagement activities across a diverse range of stakeholders, including developing high level engagement strategies;
  • Excellent communication and influencing skills at all levels of the organisation, and with the full range of external stakeholders;
  • Excellent planning & organisational skills and an ability to work under high extremely pressure to meet deadlines;
  • Proven ability to manage a budget;
  • Proven ability to manage political ambiguity within an engagement environment;
  • It is expected that you will actively promote and embed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in all your work and support and comply with all organisational initiatives, policies and procedures on EDI.

About us:

High Speed 2 (HS2) will be the UK’s new high speed rail network. As well as improving capacity, the new scheme will shorten journey times between a number of Britain’s major population centres, boost the economy and create thousands of jobs.

HS2 Ltd is a safety critical organisation with safety being one of our core values. Employees are required to ensure reasonable care of their own and others’ health and safety by taking personal responsibility for working to the HS2 ‘Safe at Heart’ programme principles and following safe working procedures at all times.

Closing date

Applications for this post closed 11:59pm on Sunday 9th October 2016