Head of Pre-Construction – Internal Drainage Boards (IDB

About the role

Job Title
:
Head of Pre-Construction
- Internal Drainage Boards (IDB)

Location: Flexible across Central, Eastern and South East England, including Northampton, Cambridge, East Anglia, London and Kent.

Company: Balfour Beatty
- Regional Civils

Sector: Water / Flood & Coastal Erosion Risk Management / Internal Drainage Boards

About the Role

Balfour Beatty is looking for an experienced Technical Head of Pre-Construction to lead and develop our growing presence within the Internal Drainage Board (IDB) market.

This is a senior and influential role for someone who understands the water, drainage, flood resilience or pumping station environment and can combine technical pre-construction expertise with strong customer relationships, work winning and strategic market development.

You’ll work closely with Internal Drainage Boards, the Environment Agency, consultants, designers, suppliers, local authorities and wider water industry stakeholders, developing trusted long-term relationships and helping to identify, shape and convert opportunities across the sector.

With a particular focus on pumping stations and associated civil engineering works, you'll provide leadership from the earliest stages of an opportunity - bringing together technical, design, commercial, estimating and operational expertise to develop practical, innovative and deliverable solutions.

This isn't simply a bid management position. We're looking for someone who can become a recognised technical and pre-construction leader within the IDB sector, building relationships today that create a sustainable pipeline of work for the future.

As Technical Head of Pre-Construction, you will take a leading role in developing Balfour Beatty's IDB capability and pipeline across Regional Civils.

You will:

• Build strong, long-term relationships with Internal Drainage Boards, the Environment Agency, consultants, designers, suppliers and other water industry stakeholders
• Develop a detailed understanding of customers' future programmes, challenges and investment priorities
• Identify, shape and pursue new IDB and flood resilience opportunities alongside our FCERM and regional business development teams
• Lead early contractor involvement and technical pre-construction discussions with customers and partners
• Develop opportunity strategies that improve our long-term positioning and conversion across the sector
• Act as a senior technical and pre-construction interface between customers, Regional Civils teams and our FCERM leadership
• Lead and coordinate technical, design, commercial, planning and estimating input into opportunities
• Provide technical leadership around pumping stations, civils infrastructure and the integration of MEICA solutions
• Ensure solutions are buildable, commercially viable and aligned with customer requirements
• Develop greater IDB capability across Regional Civils, sharing market knowledge and supporting local pre-construction and operational teams
• Maintain visibility of the IDB opportunity pipeline, helping prioritise where we invest our time and resources
• Support governance, assurance and investment decisions throughout the work winning lifecycle
• Represent Balfour Beatty at customer meetings, industry forums and relevant sector events
• Ensure strong integration between work winning, pre-construction and operational delivery teams
• Support the effective handover of successful opportunities into project delivery

We're interested in hearing from experienced professionals from a civil engineering, water, flood risk, drainage or pumping station background who have operated within pre-construction, technical leadership, project delivery, work winning or business development.

You may currently be working as a:

Head of Pre-Construction, Pre-Construction Director, Technical Director, Technical Manager, Work Winning Lead, Framework Manager, Project Director, Senior Project Manager or Business Development Lead within the water or civil engineering sector.

More important than your current job title is your understanding of the market and your ability to build relationships, technically influence opportunities and bring the…