Community Relations Manager

Community Relations Manager

Company:
Balfour Beatty plc

Location:

Grays, United Kingdom

Balfour Beatty has an exciting opportunity for a Community Relations Manager to join our Lower Thames Crossing project. Within this role you’ll be a key member of the Customer and Social Impact team and play a critical role in fostering positive relationships between our project teams and the communities in which we operate. You’ll support the Project Director and Customer & Communications Lead to embed a customer‑focused culture, meeting the expectations of the Development Consent Order (DCO) and Balfour Beatty’s commitment to responsible construction.

• Lead day‑to‑day customer and community engagement requirements for the Roads North contract.
• Work with the project team and National Highways counterparts to develop a robust Customer and Community Relations Plan which outlines how our works will consider the needs of all customers during its development and throughout delivery.
• Develop and/or manage delivery of the Customer Plan, Roadworks Customer Toolkit and Community Relations Plan.
• Develop and oversee delivery of tailored communications to keep communities, residents, businesses, and road users informed about construction activities and impacts, championing inclusive and accessible communication practices and acting as a visible point of contact.
• Lead the planning and delivery of community engagement events, public information/exhibition events, community liaison working groups and site visit programme to build trust with the local community.
• Work with National Highways’ Customer Contact Centre to ensure customer enquiries and correspondence are responded to in a prompt and professional manner.
• Develop and own delivery of processes that ensure effective and timely responses to customer complaints, public enquiries and information requests.
• Collaborate with the Traffic Management Lead to ensure delivery of timely communications and optimise customer experience in line with National Highways protocols and metrics.

• Strong community relations and stakeholder management experience.
• Ability to manage, engage and develop direct reports.
• Confident engaging with external customers and stakeholders.
• Excellent writing, storytelling and presentation skills.
• A self‑starter able to quickly build relationships through effective written and verbal communication.
• Ability to quickly source and interpret technical information from a variety of sources and translate into customer‑friendly written communications.
• Creativity through multi‑media communications to reach all audiences.
• Strong analysis and problem‑solving skills.
• Team player with ability to engage, influence and negotiate at all levels.
• Computer literate and competent in Microsoft Office applications.
• A willingness to travel as required along the route of the project.

• A bachelor’s degree or equivalent higher education/industry recognised qualification in marketing, public relations, communications, or a related field.
• Experience of working on construction/civil engineering infrastructure projects.
• Member of CIPR or other recognised industry body.
• Good understanding of the regulatory and political environment in construction.

• Smart working, giving you more flexibility such as staggered start and finish times, with up to 40% remote working, where roles allow.
• 25 days paid annual leave (pro rata).
• Family friendly policies which include 28 weeks full pay for maternity/adoption leave and four weeks full pay for paternity/partners leave.
• Pension, share incentive plan, volunteering leave, recognition schemes and much more.

Day in, day out, our teams deliver some of the UK’s most ambitious, exciting and meaningful projects; developing, building and maintaining the vital infrastructure that supports national economies and strengthens communities.

Balfour Beatty’s Highways business delivers major schemes including motorway upgrade programmes, complex national infrastructure projects and regional investment programme works for National Highways. We have a strong orderbook and…