Lead Consents Officer

Join our Consents Team and help deliver The Great Grid Upgrade.

The Great Grid Upgrade is the largest overhaul of the electricity grid in generations - and Consents play a pivotal role in making it happen.

Our Consents teams are at the heart of this transformation. They navigate and secure the complex planning and environmental processes that underpin every major infrastructure project. Without their work, it simply wouldn’t be possible to build, operate, or maintain the future electricity network that will power a cleaner, greener Britain.

That's why we have opportunities across our Onshore, Offshore and Central Teams supporting the development and delivery of electricity transmission projects working through all consenting and planning processes, both the nationally significant infrastructure (DCO) and wider consenting and planning processes (TCPA), Marine Licence, s.37 consents, and permitted development.

Join us as a Lead Consents Officer and lead on the planning and environmental consenting workstream for defined packages within a DCO or portfolio of TCPA projects - owning consents strategy/ies and programme at workstream level, coordinating EIA and environmental reports prepared by consultants/partners including oversight of budgets, and ensuring legal compliance during development and delivery.

You’ll also take the lead in building and managing statutory stakeholder relationships, driving proactive engagement at every stage of the consenting journey. As a senior member of the team, you’ll mentor colleagues and support the development of our growing consents capability.

Your work could see you shaping complex, multi‑kilometre overhead line projects, steering significant marine and underground cable developments, or delivering a series of technically challenging new substations that require sensitive siting. You may also be involved in upgrading critical existing assets across the network - ensuring each project progresses in the right way, at the right time, and with the right outcomes.

You'll join a growing Consents Team, of circa 100 people, expertly drawn from industry, authorities, stakeholders, and planning and environmental assessment consultancies. We're a high-performing, world-class team, one that is diverse and inclusive in position and thought, and one that truly cares about the safety, security and wellbeing of its people. Find out more about Life at National Grid.

This role welcomes applicants UK wide, and we offer hybrid working with key hub and project offices across the UK, but with an Onshore and Offshore DCO project focus in the East Midlands, Central Midlands, East Anglia, Scottish Borders and Wales. Our Central team supports projects through England and Wales, but has team clusters based in Leeds, London, Warrington, Bristol and Warwick.

You'll be required to travel to sites and partner offices across the UK as part of the job. Flexible working patterns are supported.

• Shape and deliver consents for major electricity transmission projects – from strategy, routeing/siting and assessment, through application, examination and into construction delivery, ensuring legal and policy compliance throughout, you’ll work closely with Lands, External Affairs, Legal, Engineering and Project Management teams to deliver BIG projects.
• Coordinate and support Environmental Surveys, Appraisals and Impact Assessments (EIA) and other specialist environmental studies (e.g., ecology, landscape/visual, heritage, noise, traffic & transport), working with appointed multidisciplinary consultants to produce robust application submissions and environmental management and compliance in delivery.
• Engage and manage Government, authority and key stakeholder relationships (LPAs, statutory bodies, and communities), support the preparation of consultation materials, and capture feedback to inform decisions and derisk project programmes.
• Drive consistency and continuous improvement:
  You’ll use and apply our ‘Approach to Consenting’ to drive projects, share and take on lessons learned with colleagues, and help standardise ways of working across the portfolio.

What we do isn’t just…