Cost & Commercial Programme Lead, Infrastructure

As Cost & Commercial Lead, you will work closely with the UK Head of Infrastructure and senior colleagues across Ridge to develop and grow our cost and commercial services across major infrastructure sectors.

Your Role Will Include

• Leading the development of Ridge’s national cost and commercial offer across infrastructure, including transport, energy, utilities, defence and related capital programme environments.
• Building trusted relationships with infrastructure clients, public bodies, operators, delivery organisations, framework partners and major programme teams.
• Growing client accounts across cost and commercial services, including procurement strategy, contract forms, contract administration, change management, estimating and commercial assurance.
• Advising clients on the commercial structures, controls and decision-making needed to support major projects and long-term capital programmes.
• Leading bids, frameworks and account development activity across infrastructure markets.
• Building and leading multi-disciplinary teams around major client opportunities, drawing on Ridge’s wider expertise in project management, cost consultancy, engineering, sustainability, health and safety and specialist advisory services.
• Helping shape the future structure, capability and recruitment priorities of the Infrastructure commercial team as the business continues to grow.
• Representing Ridge externally with senior clients and across the wider infrastructure market.
  
  

This is a role for someone who understands both the strategic and operational sides of commercial leadership. You will need to be comfortable advising senior clients, leading business development and working through the detail of how complex programmes are procured, controlled and commercially managed.

What You’ll Be Working On

You will be focused on major infrastructure clients and programmes across sectors such as transport, energy, utilities and defence.

The work is likely to span the full commercial lifecycle, from early procurement strategy and estimating through to contract selection, contract administration, change control, commercial reporting, assurance and framework delivery. You may be advising clients on how to structure a major procurement, how to improve commercial governance, how to manage change across a live programme, or how to create better visibility of cost, risk and value across a portfolio of projects.

Many infrastructure clients are dealing with complex and sometimes competing pressures: affordability, public scrutiny, ageing assets, regulatory expectations, supply chain capacity, decarbonisation, delivery risk and the need to maintain operational resilience. They need commercial advice that is clear, practical and grounded in the realities of major programme delivery.

That is where Ridge is well placed.

Our Infrastructure team is part of a wider multi-disciplinary consultancy. That means our commercial advice can be connected to the technical and delivery questions that sit around it. We can bring together cost consultants, project and programme managers, engineers, sustainability specialists, health and safety advisers, building surveyors and other technical experts to support clients in a joined-up way.

Your role will be to help turn that breadth into a clear, credible and valuable cost and commercial offer for infrastructure clients.

About You

You are likely to be operating at Partner, Director or senior leadership level within a consultancy, commercial advisory business, infrastructure organisation, contractor, programme delivery environment or client-side capital programme team.

You Will Bring

• Significant experience in cost and commercial services across infrastructure.
• Sector exposure across one or more of transport, energy, utilities, defence or major public infrastructure.
• Established relationships with infrastructure clients, operators, public bodies, delivery organisations, framework partners or major programme stakeholders.
• A strong track record of growing client accounts and identifying commercial opportunities within complex organisations.
• Experience across areas such as major project procurement, contract forms, contract administration, change control, estimating and commercial assurance.
• First-hand understanding of major capital programmes, large frameworks or complex infrastructure projects.
• Experience leading sizeable teams and bringing together people with different technical and commercial specialisms.
• Strong commercial judgement, with the ability to build a sustainable and credible consultancy offer.
• The confidence to advise, challenge and influence senior clients.
  
  

You do not need to have worked across every infrastructure sector listed. We are more interested in your ability to build trust, lead growth, understand major programme environments and create a commercial offer that clients genuinely value.