Senior Project Lead
| Posting date: | 08 January 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £42,665 to £50,495 per year |
| Additional salary information: | National: £42,665 - £46,765 London: £46,060 - £50,495 For details of our pay on appointment policy, please see below under the heading ‘Salary’. |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 22 January 2026 |
| Location: | Newcastle-upon-Tyne |
| Company: | Government Recruitment Service |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 443584/3 |
Summary
As a Senior Project Lead, you will work at the intersection of policy and delivery, ensuring that water infrastructure enables housing growth and economic development. You will take ownership of complex projects, collaborating with regulators, water companies, developers, and local authorities to unblock issues and accelerate progress.
We have roles in four teams on offer:
1.Reservoir Programme: Coordinating Defra’s input on major reservoir projects, supporting legislative changes, and ensuring timely development and construction.
2. Critical Response Team: Leading rapid interventions to resolve water-related issues—such as those affecting new towns or major energy projects—that threaten delivery of 1.5 million homes by 2029 or critical national infrastructure.
3.Planning and National Policy Statements: Driving improvements in planning frameworks and securing legislative changes to speed up delivery.
4. Price Review 2024 and non-reservoir major projects team: Driving delivery of PR24 and non‑reservoir major projects by overseeing progress, resolving barriers, and shaping policy levers to unlock growth and ensure water and wastewater capacity keeps pace with national needs.
These roles require proactive, adaptable individuals who can navigate complex policy landscapes and deliver practical solutions. You will provide strategic advice to ministers, develop policy proposals, and manage stakeholder relationships across government and industry. This is an opportunity to influence decisions that shape the UK’s water infrastructure for decades to come.
Defra’s newly formed Water Infrastructure Delivery team is recruiting six Senior Project Leads (SEO grade) to drive critical water infrastructure projects across the UK.
These roles will shape new reservoir development, lead rapid water related interventions to unblock housing and growth, and improve planning and policy frameworks for water infrastructure. This is a unique opportunity to work closely with industry, Ministers and other departments to influence major projects that underpin economic growth and environmental sustainability.
- Leading projects within the Reservoir Programme, Critical Response Team, or Planning & NPS workstreams (e.g how to most effectively fund a reservoir or how to ensure a mutli billion pound investment isn’t held up due to water related issues).
- Coordinating Defra’s input on major water infrastructure projects and supporting legislative/policy changes.
- Engaging with stakeholders including regulators, water companies, developers, and local authorities to unblock delivery challenges.
- Providing strategic advice and briefings to ministers on high-profile issues.
- Developing short-term and long-term policy solutions to enable growth and resilience.
- Driving improvements in planning frameworks and supporting updates to National Policy Statements.
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