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About the roles

Great Britain's electricity infrastructure is undergoing an ambitious, exciting and vital transformation. Together with industry, we are creating a cleaner, greener system, one that protects the planet and serves generations to come.

As a Senior Consents Manager you will build and lead a team of consenting lands, legal and external affairs experts, with line management responsibility for the project consents team.

You will be an experienced strategic thinker and advisor with a significant influence on the successful outcome of projects, reporting to the Project Director. You will also influence other senior managers, directors and executives at a strategic level.

You’ll be working to facilitate the transition to renewable energy, particularly offshore wind. You’ll be responsible for consenting activities for multi-million or multi-billion-pound projects, managing the delivery of consents to time, budget and scope. Please view our video to learn more about what it's like to work in our teams.

We are open to full time and part time applicants, as well as flexible working arrangements.

About you

What we do isn’t just important – it’s essential. That’s why we look to recruit experts in their field. In this case, we’re looking for someone who:

• You are a proactive self-starter who is committed to making a difference and using your consents experience to drive green energy forwards.

• You are an effective, inclusive leader who is open to new approaches and knows how to foster that same openness in your team.

• You know how to get other people on board with the process, and how to make it as efficient and collaborative as possible.

• You are proficient at resource planning and have in-depth experience of the development stage of major infrastructure projects.

• It would be highly desirable, although not essential, for you to know about the policy and legislation of the energy industry, particularly environmental and planning policy.

• Previous media experience would be very helpful.

• The flexibility to travel is essential.

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At National Grid, we’re committed to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace for everyone. So if you’re excited about this role but your experience or qualifications don’t match the job description exactly, we encourage you to apply anyway. You might just be the right person for our growing business in this role or another one.

What you'll do

Within this role you will be required to:

• Using your project management and leadership experience to guide, challenge and lead your team to successfully deliver project consents.

• Submitting compliant planning applications, with emphasis on the consenting process such as town and country planning or DCOs.

• Managing the post application processes through the examination and determination of projects, and the discharge of any planning conditions or requirements.

• Consistently and effectively applying current legislation, regulations, guidance, and policies.

• Taking charge of the planning process and environmental assessment for your projects, and coordinating the activities of lands, legal and external affairs teams.

• Liaising closely with the Consents Centre of Excellence, following industry best practices and leading the project team accordingly, including sharing lessons learnt.

• Building and leading a high performing team, either of existing colleagues or by recruiting new members. Incorporating a good mix of experience, background, culture and diversity of thought. Also knowing when to call in external support.

• Identifying areas in consenting guidance and technical training where team members might need support, and providing the relevant training.

• Delivering all project consenting and environmental assessment activities to specification, programme and cost.

• Collaborating with a wide variety of people on DCO projects. These might include representatives of Ofgem; statutory consultees such as Natural England, the Environment Agency and Historic England; government bodies; landowners, or any other member of the public affected by a proposed scheme.

• Confidently and eloquently advocating for National Grid. At events such as townhall meetings, online webinars, public exhibitions and public enquiries, you will explain how our work plays a vital role in issues such as Net Zero and energy security.

• Balancing the interests of people and communities with the technical demands of projects. Working with our External Affairs team to engage effectively with local communities and gain useful feedback on our proposals.

• Identifying the resources needed to deliver consents and procuring them ahead of need, in a timely and cost-effective manner.

• Being rigorous in your optioneering process and mindful that ultimately we are here to serve our customers and consumers. We aim to be as efficient as possible and to minimise disruption to communities as we make the transition to greener energy.

• Ensuring we have the correct technical expertise in place.

• Managing contracts and specialist suppliers, such as environment and planning specialists, ensuring they deliver what they are meant to.

What you'll get

A competitive salary of up to £78,000 dependent on capability.

In addition to your annual salary, you will also receive;

• Bonus

As well as your base salary, you will receive an annual bonus of up to 15% of your salary for stretch performance

• Pension

We offer a generous pension scheme, where we double match, which means for every £1 you contribute, we’ll put in another £2. We will pay a maximum of 12% into your pension when you pay 6%. That gives you a total 18% into your pension every month.

• Company Car

Dependant on the mileage completed for business travel per year, you may be eligible for a company car. We'll give you a monthly voucher value so you can select a car from the company car choice list. You can trade your company vehicle up or down by a maximum of 25% with a voucher value of £470.

• Annual Leave

26 days annual leave, alongside the option to buy an additional 5 days.

There is also the option to use up to 3 bank holidays flexibly, With the aim to provide employees the ability to take holidays that are personally meaningful to them. Up to three of the eight public/bank holidays will become “flexible” allowing employees to request to work on a holiday and swap the time off for another day during their leave year

• Share plans

You can share in our potential success through our two share plans. Our Sharesave plan is a three or five year savings scheme where you can buy shares at the end of the period at a reduced price. You can buy Partnership Shares each month through our Share Incentive Plan, and become a shareholder and receive dividends

• Family Care

We offer you a number of family friendly provisions designed to promote your work-life balance needs. Eligible employees are entitled to full pay for the first 26 weeks of maternity, adoption, surrogacy or shared parental leave, or two weeks full pay for paternity leave. If you have caring responsibilities, we offer up to six emergency backup care days each year for when your usual care arrangements fall through. You can also access a free online platform offering support and guidance to best help you combine work and family

• Additonal Benefits

You will also have access to a number of additional benefits such as our Proffessional development scheme, technology schemes, support via employee assistance lines and matched charity giving to name a few.

About us

National Grid Strategic Infrastructure has a key role to play in tackling climate change by accelerating our capacity to deliver clean electricity across the UK. We already operate the fastest decarbonising electricity grid in the world, with an ambition for zero carbon operation by 2025. And by 2035, we want to run 100% clean, green energy, all the time.

Here at National Grid, we connect homes and businesses to power, making sure supply and demand match each other. We make sure the lights are on in schools, operating theatres, and sporting arenas; we’re thousands of people working on behalf of millions of people.

Our investment in Strategic Infrastructure via the Great Grid Upgrade will mean more home grown power, greater energy security and a cleaner future.

Whatever your role, wherever you work with us, you’ll help us hit stretching targets and achieve our far-reaching goal: to secure, clean energy that supports our world far into the future. Here, you will be at the heart of energy.

More Information

This role closes on 15th October 23:59, however we encourage candidates to submit their application as early as possible and not wait until the published closing date as this can vary. Interviews will begin week commencing 7th October.

We work towards the highest standards in everything we do, including how we support, value and develop our people. Our aim is to encourage and support employees to thrive and be the best they can be. We celebrate the difference people can bring into our organisation, and welcome and encourage applicants with diverse experiences and backgrounds, and offer flexible and tailored support, at home and in the office.

We're committed to building a workforce that represents the communities we serve, and a working environment in which each individual feels valued, respected, fairly treated, and able to reach their full potential.

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