Senior Project Manager (NEC Contracts)

Job Purpose

Job Title: Senior Project Manager

Advertised Salary: £42,500 - £45,000 + car cash allowance (£5,100 p.a.) + benefits (see 'what we offer' section)

Location: Remote, with regular travel across our Northwest canal network. See our network map here.

We are currently looking for a Senior Project Manager to join our high performing delivery team. The opportunities are within our dedicated team of project managers delivering our £20m programme of externally funded projects and our core programme of canal infrastructure works.

Our projects focus on ensuring more people have access to and the ability to use our towpath and waterway network, ultimately benefiting millions of people across England & Wales.

The main focus of this role initially will be to manage and deliver two new bridges as part of the overarching Montgomery Canal restoration project in Powys, involving contractor and stakeholder management. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use your skills to build two new structures in a challenging legislative environment. Upon completion of this work (February 2026), you will then begin to deliver a wider range of civil engineering projects across our canal network, including bridges, locks, reservoirs, embankments, and culverts.

You will use your skills and expertise to develop and deliver projects from start to finish, working with our teams of third-party funders, heritage managers, ecologists, engineers, funders, local communities, and contractors. You will look for efficiencies and opportunities and be accountable for project safety and delivering safely to the highest standard.

As one of our Senior Project Managers, you will be within the Asset Improvement Team and play an important role in supporting our vision and delivering our Waterways and Wellbeing strategy, ensuring our national waterways are improved, managed, and maintained for our visitors, customers, and service users to benefit from.

Location & Coverage

Offered on a remote working basis, with a requirement to attend our main hub spaces as needed for team working and collaborative meetings. Significant travel throughout the regional waterway network will also be expected to enable site visits and conduct improvements. You will ideally be located within the Wrexham, Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, or Greater Manchester area.

Base location: Ellesmere Port.

Regular accessibility to this network is essential.

Knowledge, Skills/Qualifications & Experience

In this role, you will be working with diverse stakeholders and partners to deliver projects from conception through to successful completion. As a large and diverse organisation, our projects will vary in size, scope, budget, and impact. You will be managing medium, higher risk, and complex projects. Therefore, you need to bring with you an understanding of how to select and adopt different processes and methods to ensure that the project delivers its objectives on time and within budget.

You don't need to have worked in a charity before, but we believe we can offer you an exciting change of environment and impactful projects to support and manage. Our towpaths and various historic assets provide a refreshing backdrop and unique working environment. As Senior Project Manager with the Canal & River Trust, you will further develop your already impressive skill set and project management career on the sides of our canals and waterways, in an organisation that values wellbeing and work-life balance.

Key Accountabilities

• Manage projects in accordance with the Trust’s Health and Safety policy and defined standards to ensure compliance. Work safely at all times, ensuring the safety of others and contribute to safe working in all activities.
• Capture project requirements, assess customer and stakeholder impact, and prepare a business case to justify investment in a project.
• Develop, implement, and monitor a schedule of project activities and key milestones to achieve the project objectives.
• Provide financial and cost management, estimating and justifying project costs, while controlling expenditure and evaluating the outcomes.
• Carry out budgeting and cost control. Estimate costs, develop and agree project budgets and control forecast and actual costs against the budgets.
• Assign, lead, and motivate the project team to ensure all project (time, cost, quality, health and safety, and environmental and heritage) objectives are achieved.
• Manage risks, issues, and changes on the project.
• Maintain communications with stakeholders and the project team/organisation to satisfy their differing needs.
• Manage all contracts applicable to the project (e.g., NEC ECC, NEC PSC), administering all their aspects to ensure commercial control and compliance. Carry out the role of the Project Manager and Supervisor as defined in the NEC.
• Handover and closure of the project in a controlled manner, highlighting any areas for improvements or elements of good practice to be considered in future projects.
• Provide environmental management by appraising the environmental impact of the project activities and ensuring that all controls and requirements are implemented and actioned.
• Always display the Trust values and behaviours. Ensure that diversity and inclusion are integrated into all aspects of Trust life and promote inclusion by challenging behaviour, practices, actions, or decisions that are counter to the objectives of the Trust’s policies and values.

About You

Qualifications:

• Degree (or equivalent) in a related discipline e.g. Civil Engineering, Project Management.
• Valid UK driving licence - Car Cash allowance & regional/national travel, including to remote locations is expected.
• [Desirable] to have a minimum Technician/Associate level (or equivalent) membership of an appropriate professional body i.e. Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), Association for Project Management (APM), Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
• [Desirable] Project/Programme Management accreditation/qualification i.e. APM Project Management Qualification, Managing Successful Programmes (MSP), Prince2.

Experience:

• Previous Project Management experience. Proven track record of successfully managing multiple projects within the relevant discipline/sector (e.g. construction, asset management).
• Comprehensive knowledge of project management processes and systems.
• Knowledge and experience of Managing Safety in Construction, and the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations.
• NEC Contract Management experience.
• Experience of SAP particularly in the Logistics, Accounting and Information System modules [Desirable].

General Skills:

• Possess excellent communication skills both verbal and written. Be able to manage stakeholders, taking account of influence and impact.
• Proven ability to manage resources. Be able to coordinate work carried out by different people and organisations.
• Be effective at planning, monitoring, and reviewing all project activities, taking into account all dependencies and resource requirements.
• Proven ability to develop and agree budgets for projects, control forecasts, and actual costs. Construction commercial awareness.
• Be able to motivate and encourage others. Be able to work as part of a team and on your own initiative.
• Be good at problem solving, be able to resolve conflicts, and successfully influence and negotiate.
• Possess good IT skills, including intermediate use of MS Project.
• Hold a valid driving license.

To Apply: Click on the "Apply for this job" button and follow the process - complete the application form & upload your current CV. If you have any questions about the role, please contact CRT.recruitment@canalrivertrust.org.uk.

The Trust has recently signed the Armed Forces Covenant and welcomes applicants from the Service Leaver community.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient suitable applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

What We Offer

In addition to your salary of £42,500 - £45,000, you will benefit from a Car Cash Allowance of £425 per month, a competitive contributory DC Pension scheme arrangement, great holiday entitlement, and numerous other employee benefits, including several salary sacrifice benefits, all of which can be found here.

Other benefits include:

• Competitive contributory DC Pension scheme arrangement, where we will double your contribution to a maximum of 10%.
• 25 days paid holiday (plus paid Bank Holidays), increasing with years of service to up to 30 days after 5 years.
• Home working status with ‘hub’ facilities available should you need the flexibility to work outside of home.
• Annual £200 personal learning & growth award to spend on any learning-related activity.
• Free access to specialist counselling on a range of issues, e.g. health, financial, well-being, and domestic matters.
• Access to a range of employee benefits including store discounts, boating holiday discounts, and a holiday purchase scheme.
• 2 days paid volunteering leave per annum, allowing you to volunteer for a local community project etc.
• Free fishing facilities across our canal network.

At the Trust, we care passionately for our waterways, and as importantly, for those who look after and use them. We strongly believe that a diverse workforce brings with it a diversity of ideas, thinking, and ways of working which enhances what we do as a Trust. We are striving to represent the diverse communities that we are a part of and welcome applicants from across all sectors of the community.

All candidates will be treated on the basis of their merits, skills, and abilities and solely by being assessed against the requirements for the job.

When you join the Canal & River Trust, you become a member of an engaged team working to preserve our heritage for future generations. Come and share your passion and knowledge with a team that makes a difference to millions of people every day.

Find out more about us on our website: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us