Technical Director – Highways & Civils
Lead. Advise. Deliver Complex Highway Infrastructure.
Tetra Tech RPS is seeking an experienced and credible Technical Director to lead and shape our Highways and Civil Infrastructure capability based from Birmingham or Newark, with travel and hybrid working. This is a senior leadership role for a technically strong highways professional who thrives on guiding complex schemes, supporting and influencing teams, and playing a central role in commercial performance and work winning. This position offers the opportunity to take technical and commercial ownership of a well‑established highways team delivering complex infrastructure schemes across residential, industrial, commercial and strategic development projects.
Purpose & Scope of the Role
As Technical Director, you will provide technical leadership, commercial oversight, and strategic direction across a portfolio of highways and civil infrastructure projects. While highways is the core focus of the role, it sits firmly within a broader civil engineering and infrastructure context, particularly in relation to large residential developments, industrial sites, and major infrastructure‑led schemes.
You will act as the senior technical authority within the highways discipline, supporting project teams through complex technical challenges, stakeholder engagement, and third‑party approvals. Hands‑on day to day, you will remain technically engaged, providing direction, challenge, and assurance on design development, approvals strategy, and compliance with standards and regulation. You will also lead client engagement and key account management.
Your Impact in this Position
You will support and influence a highways and civils team of approximately 12 engineers, primarily based in Newark, with additional presence in Birmingham and London. The team delivers highway infrastructure designs for residential developments, including estate roads, junction improvements, earthworks, and S278 highway improvement schemes, alongside crucial highways work designs to industrial and commercial developments.
The role also requires close collaboration across disciplines and locations. You will work alongside senior leads in Birmingham and London, sharing capability and capacity where required, and supporting complex schemes that cut across multiple teams and regions. There is strong interaction with other infrastructure disciplines, including aviation and utilities, ensuring a joined‑up approach to infrastructure delivery across the business.
Technical Expertise
Technical credibility in highways engineering is fundamental to this role. You will bring extensive experience delivering and overseeing highway infrastructure and associated civil works design, with particular strength in complex Section 278 highway improvement schemes, highway upgrades tied to residential and commercial development, and infrastructure works within constrained or existing networks.
A key aspect of the role is leading the technical approval process. You will guide projects through third‑party approvals with local authorities and national highway bodies, including negotiations and departures from standard where required. You will lead technical discussions, presentations, and formal submissions, making robust technical cases under pressurised stakeholder environments.
Experience with highway works forming part of major development schemes, including large‑scale commercial and data centre projects, will be highly beneficial, as will exposure to earthworks, complex utilities coordination, and infrastructure phasing.
Leadership & Collaboration
Leadership in this role is about technical guidance, mentoring, and influence. You will support project leaders and senior engineers, helping them navigate complex technical decisions and build confidence in managing challenging schemes.
Collaboration is central to the role. You will work closely with peers across Birmingham, Newark and London, supporting cross‑team delivery, sharing expertise, and ensuring a consistent technical and commercial approach. You will also collaborate with colleagues leading aviation, utilities, and wider civils capabilities, recognising the transferable skills and shared challenges across infrastructure disciplines.
Commercial & Business Development Responsibilities
Commercial responsibility is a key element of this position. You will oversee the performance of multiple projects across the highways portfolio, ensuring robust fee management, risk control, and successful delivery outcomes. Typical project fees range from tens of thousands up to £500k–£1m, with highways packages also contributing to significantly larger multidisciplinary commissions.
A key competency for this position is work winning and client relationship management, supporting existing clients and developing new opportunities. This includes expanding relationships with developers, contractors, strategic land promoters, and industrial clients, as well as broadening service offerings where Tetra Tech RPS currently provides a limited scope.
You will identify new opportunities, support bid strategies, and help position the highways team as a trusted advisor delivering high‑value infrastructure solutions.
Strategic Vision & Growth
As Technical Director, you will contribute to the ongoing growth and evolution of the highways and civils capability. This includes strengthening our technical reputation, supporting the development of utility and infrastructure‑led workstreams, and ensuring we remain well positioned to support complex, infrastructure‑heavy development schemes.
You will help shape how highways expertise integrates with wider civil engineering, planning, and multidisciplinary services, ensuring clients benefit from a coordinated, strategic approach to infrastructure delivery.
Technical Governance & Assurance
A key competency for this position is the ability to provide robust technical governance and assurance across multiple schemes and delivery teams. You will be responsible for maintaining high technical standards, challenging designs where required, managing technical risk, and ensuring that projects are delivered in line with both regulatory requirements and client expectations. This includes overseeing approval strategies, leading technical reviews, supporting departures from standards, and ensuring consistent quality, compliance, and defensible engineering decisions across the highways portfolio.
Mandatory Requirements
* To be considered for this role, you will hold a degree in Civil Engineering or a related discipline and be a Chartered Engineer (CEng) through a recognised professional institution.
* You will bring substantial experience in highways engineering and civil infrastructure design delivery, with a proven record of leading and assuring complex highway schemes, including third‑party approvals and stakeholder negotiation.
* You will demonstrate strong technical credibility, sound commercial awareness, and the confidence to act as a senior technical authority, guiding teams and clients through technically challenging and high‑profile infrastructure projects.
Beneficial Experience
* Experience in Section 278 highway schemes, residential‑led infrastructure, utilities coordination, industrial and commercial developments, and engagement with third‑party regulators will be highly advantageous.
* Exposure to large multidisciplinary projects and strategic infrastructure planning and coordination will further strengthen your suitability.
About Tetra Tech RPS
Tetra Tech RPS is committed to creating an inclusive and equitable workplace. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and will make reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process and employment lifecycle in line with the Equality Act 2010.
Recruitment Agencies
We have a Preferred Supplier List of trusted partners to assist us when required and do not acknowledge any speculative CVs or unsolicited candidate introductions from agencies not on this list and any submitted will be taken as a gift. Please refer to the careers page on our website if you require any further information.
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