Associate Director - Planning / EIA

Employer: Our client, a leading staff-owned planning & development consultancy

Listed by: FutureGen Recruitment (exclusive partner)

Ready to step up and shape nationally significant projects?

Our client is seeking an ambitious Associate Director (EIA) to join their high-performing Infrastructure Planning & EIA team in London. You'll lead complex, large-scale projects across housing, education, retail, leisure, sport and infrastructure-at a time when the UK regime is evolving toward Environmental Outcomes Reports (EOR).

The opportunity

Impactful work: Lead and advise on major UK projects, coordinating multi-disciplinary teams and in-house planners.

Sector breadth: Housing, education, retail, leisure, sport and infrastructure-varied portfolios and marquee clients.

Evolving regime: Help shape best practice as policy shifts from traditional EIA to EOR, strengthening our client's offer and delivery model.

Career platform: Take a senior leadership role with visibility, client ownership, team mentoring and scope to grow.

What you'll do

Lead EIA strategy, scoping, ES/EO documentation and submissions; ensure technical robustness and quality control.

Manage complex, multi-site programmes with tight timelines; allocate resources, budget and risk effectively.

Direct specialist topic inputs; integrate baseline, assessment and mitigation across disciplines.

Advise clients on EIA/EOR routes, consenting strategy and stakeholder engagement.

Build and deepen client relationships; drive proposals and win work.

Coach and develop colleagues; foster a collaborative, high-standards culture.

What you'll bring

Professional credentials: Chartered RTPI (essential) with an RTPI-accredited Masters; and/or RICS (Planning & Development route) and/or IEMA (or similar) accreditation.

Academic background: Typically a 2:1 (or equivalent) at first degree level; please provide full details of A-Level/GCSE (or equivalents).

Experience: 5+ years in planning/EIA (or closely related) with proven delivery of large, complex, often EIA-led schemes.

Skills: Outstanding technical competency, report writing, analysis and communication; able to work with minimal supervision.

Commercial edge: Market credibility plus a track record of nurturing clients and winning repeat/new work.

Bonus: Specialist EIA topic interests/skills welcome.

What's on offer

Competitive salary with a profit-sharing bonus reflective of a staff-owned business model.

Flexible, supportive culture with genuine work-life balance.

Professional development via structured training, leadership exposure and major-project responsibility.

Inclusive environment: Our client is an equal opportunities employer; applications from all backgrounds are encouraged, and reasonable adjustments will be provided where needed.

If your profile aligns, we'll be in touch to arrange interviews at a convenient time.