Permanent Project Manager

North West England

Civil Engineering | Water | Energy | Infrastructure

A well-established and highly reputable privately owned contractor is looking to appoint an experienced Project Manager to support a growing portfolio of civil engineering and infrastructure works across the North West.

With a trading history of more than 50 years and a workforce of over 500 employees, this business has built a strong reputation for delivering technically demanding projects across civil engineering, building, surfacing and infrastructure. Its work spans the UK, although a large proportion of projects for this role are centred around the North West, with a strong flow of schemes across Warrington, Preston, Lancaster and Cumbria.

This is an excellent opportunity for a proven Project Manager who enjoys taking full ownership of delivery, leading teams from pre-start through to handover, and playing a visible role in the successful delivery of varied and technically interesting projects.

The Opportunity

The role will suit an experienced civil engineering Project Manager who is comfortable leading both people and projects. You will take responsibility for overall project delivery, ensuring schemes are planned properly, resourced effectively and driven forward in line with programme, budget, quality and health and safety expectations.

The workload is broad and offers genuine variety. Projects are typically centred around water, civils and energy-related works, alongside wider highways, drainage, external works, concrete structures, roadworks and land remediation. There is also an increasing emphasis on sustainable and low-carbon construction methods, making this an attractive opportunity for someone who wants to be involved in modern, forward-looking infrastructure delivery.

Typical project values range from around £100,000 to £10 million, with an average scheme value of circa £6 million. Scheme durations tend to range from around 12 weeks through to 12 months, providing a healthy mix of shorter and longer-term projects. The business also operates with useful flexibility, delivering roughly half of its work as a main contractor and half as a subcontractor.

Most work for this position is retained within around 90 minutes of the Warrington office, making it particularly appealing for individuals seeking strong local or regional project exposure without excessive national travel.

Types of Work

This is not a narrow or repetitive role. The company delivers a broad range of projects across highways, infrastructure, water, industrial and energy environments.

That includes highways and civils schemes such as roads, drainage, utilities, public realm, earthworks and external works; energy-related civils involving substations, battery storage facilities, HV and LV ducting and reinforced concrete foundations; AMP8 water infrastructure works including storm tanks and wastewater treatment environments; and industrial civils projects within process-led and safety-critical settings.

The breadth of the project portfolio makes this a particularly attractive opportunity for a Project Manager who wants to stay involved in meaningful and technically diverse civil engineering work.

The Role

As Project Manager, you will lead projects from pre-start through to completion, handover and final account, ensuring each job is delivered safely, efficiently and in line with client expectations. You will coordinate the project team and supply chain, manage key delivery priorities and maintain strong control over programme, resources, quality and commercial performance throughout.

You will be expected to create a high-performance culture on site, setting standards around health and safety, programme certainty, quality of delivery and cost control. This role will require strong organisational ability, clear communication and the confidence to make decisions that keep projects moving in the right direction.

A major part of the role will involve owning the programme and ensuring look-ahead planning is effective, realistic and communicated clearly across the team. You will need to identify risks and constraints early, remove blockers, keep stakeholders aligned and ensure accurate progress reporting is maintained throughout the life of each project.

Health, safety, quality and environmental performance will also sit firmly within your remit. You will be expected to set best practice standards across your schemes, ensure robust compliance is maintained, and take ownership of key delivery documents including construction phase planning and environmental management arrangements. Driving defect-free delivery, strong QA processes, good site standards and audit readiness will all be an important part of the role.

Commercially, this role requires a good practical understanding of NEC contracts and the discipline that comes with early warning, change control, risk management and record keeping. You will work closely with the commercial team to monitor subcontract packages, valuations, progress measurement and CVR input, while ensuring subcontractor performance aligns with programme and contractual requirements.

From a client perspective, you will be the key delivery lead and a visible representative of the business. You will need to present professionally, communicate clearly and build trust with clients, consultants, third parties and stakeholders. The ability to manage relationships well, deal with challenges constructively and maintain confidence throughout a project will be essential.

There is also a strong people leadership element to the position. You will lead, coach and support Site Agents, Engineers and wider site teams, helping to raise standards, strengthen capability and develop succession within the business.

What They Are Looking For

The ideal candidate will already have proven Project Management experience within civil engineering and infrastructure and will be confident leading projects as the main delivery lead. You should be comfortable taking ownership of schemes valued in the region of £5 million to £8 million and above, or alternatively overseeing several projects concurrently across a live portfolio.

You will need to be a credible, organised and commercially aware project leader with strong NEC knowledge, sound operational judgement and the ability to drive results through others. This is a role for someone who can set standards, hold people accountable, maintain control and still build strong working relationships across site, commercial, design and client teams.

Essential Requirements

• Proven Project Management experience delivering civil engineering schemes for a main contractor
• Strong background across highways, drainage, public realm, structures, cycleways, footpaths or wider infrastructure projects
• Track record of leading projects valued at £5 million to £8 million and above, or successfully managing multiple schemes concurrently
• HND, Degree or equivalent in Civil Engineering, Construction Management or a related discipline
• Strong NEC contract knowledge with practical understanding of change control and risk management
• Confident and professional client-facing communication skills
• Strong organisational and reporting capability
• Comfortable using digital systems for programme management, QA and project reporting
• Full UK driving licence

How to Apply

All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence. Your details will not be shared with anyone until we’ve discussed the opportunity in more detail and you’re happy to proceed.

We will also confirm the name of the company hiring for this role during the same conversation.

To apply, simply click “Apply for this Job” on this listing, or email your CV to cv@fulcrumrecruit.com If you have any questions beforehand, feel free to call me on 07880 369 557.