Water Environment Specialist - Principal Consultant and client-facing lead

Johns Associates is seeking a Principal Water Environment Specialist to undertake and lead a range of technical work taking ownership of project management, delivery and client relationships across UK water environment projects and associated planning and permitting support.

You will lead all aspects of water-related projects, to include hydrological assessments; flood risk assessments and modelling; water and sediment quality, usage and resilience issues; and broader environmental permitting requirements. You will shape sustainable, biodiverse and safe consenting strategies, and provide confident, pragmatic advice to clients, planning authorities and regulators. The role draws directly on Johns Associates’ specialist strengths in water, ecology, landscape architecture and environmental risk & permitting. Our work directly supports design, construction and operational delivery across key sectors including water utilities, government agencies, sports operators, renewables, defence and charitable organisations, alongside wider development and infrastructure.

This role also includes the day-to-day management and growth of our in-house environment team, fully supported by the Managing Directors and the development and expansion of our water environment capabilities.

 

Key responsibilities:

Technical Focus

• As a Chartered water and environment specialist e.g. C.Wem or C.Eng you will lead, undertake and supervise a range of technical work encompassing field and office-based tasks. Primarily this will focus on hydrology-related aspects such as flood risk, water scarcity, sustainable drainage design but also needs to extend into other related themes such as water quality, hydro-morphology and river and wetland creation and design.
• You will design and be responsible for the delivery of a range of water data collection projects including flow, catchment processes, hydro-morphology and water quality and be able to use and apply relevant digital tools to utilise the data to support design, assessment and delivery solutions.
• Your water environment work will be multi-faceted, multi-sector and run throughout Johns Associates wider portfolio including ecology, landscape architecture, geospatial and environmental assessment.
• The role will also help shape the growth and delivery of water environment services through the wider Ecology Group – our parent company providing opportunities on a global stage.

 

Client leadership & project ownership

• Serve as the primary client contact on allocated projects from day one: setting direction, establishing scope, budget, programme and deliverables, and leading the client relationship.
• Lead project communications confidently: client calls, workshops, design meetings, pre-app discussions, and issue resolution.
• Understand client drivers (programme, cost, risk, reputation) and translate them into deliverable strategies that support planning outcomes.
• Provide clear and timely advice on consenting risks, trade-offs, and mitigation options—ensuring the client can make informed decisions quickly.

 

Project management & delivery

• Own end-to-end project delivery: scope, fee, programme, resources, risks, quality and profitability.
• Lead internal and external teams as required: coordinate water environment inputs to larger multi-disciplinary projects; manage sub-consultants; produce technical assessments and reports including FRA, Drainage Strategies, SUDS design, FRAP, WFD Assessments, ES chapters.
• Input to flood preparedness strategies for COMAH and sub-COMAH establishments.
• Maintain delivery discipline: action tracking, progress reporting, change control, and early warning of risks/opportunities.

 

Stakeholder & regulator engagement

• Lead engagement with LPAs and statutory consultees, including preparation of consultation materials, meeting briefs, and response strategies.
• Support negotiation of scope and mitigation with stakeholders, ensuring commitments are clear, deliverable, and costed where needed.
• Provide confident representation of Johns Associates at meetings and (where relevant) public-facing sessions.

 

Business development

• Identify and develop opportunities within active projects (extensions, follow-on work, new sites).
• Contribute to business development activities, fee proposals and tender responses; lead bids and grow key accounts.

 

Person specification:

• Chartered Status e.g. CWEM or C.Eng
• Post-graduate qualification in a relevant water-related subject
• Minimum of 10+ years relevant and proven experience in the UK water environment
• Experience of leading and growing a team, alongside supporting their on-going professional development.
• Business development and quoting experience
• Project, budget and technical quality management experience

 

This is a hands-on role for someone who enjoys being the person that clients and team members rely on — leading from the front and getting things done. You will be a trusted adviser, valued for sound judgement, clear communication and defensible environmental evidence.

 

Essential

• Strong track record of undertaking and the successful delivery of the hydrological/ flood risk elements of projects across a range of sectors with high-quality written outputs and excellent attention to detail.
• Proven and successful application of hydrological models (surface and fluvial).
• Proven ability to manage programme, budgets and multi-disciplinary inputs, and to lead teams under pressure.
• Strong judgement and proportionality — able to focus effort on what matters to decision-makers and consent risk.
• Demonstrable experience acting as a client-facing lead, able to run meetings, manage expectations, and provide clear, confident advice.

 

“What success looks like in the first 90 days”

• Undertake a range of technical work across flood risk, sustainable drainage design, data management and reporting.
• Take ownership of designated client relationships and lead delivery calls/ meetings independently.
• Assume PM/ technical lead responsibility on assigned commissions: confirm scope, programme, deliverables, interfaces and risks.
• Implement an agreed programme of team development and opportunities for growth.
• Produce and/ or direct priority outputs to Johns Associates standards.
• Identify at least 2–3 near-term opportunities within the current portfolio (scope extensions, follow-ons, or new work) and support conversion.

 

Part of the Ecology Group

Johns Associates became part of the Ecology Group https://www.ecologygroup.com in November 2025. Being part of this wider Group provides additional opportunities for our staff in terms of wider project involvement (including international), working from other offices across the UK, additional resources to draw on during busy periods, and a larger number of specialist colleagues to provide mentoring/ training opportunities across a range of species/ groups and habitats. It also means that we have access to further investment for state-of-the-art kit and systems, as well as the potential to work collaboratively to win larger/ landscape-scale projects and framework contracts.

Benefits

• Competitive salary (£44K - £58K, depending on experience)
• Annual profit-share bonus
• Employee Health Cashback scheme and Bupa Private Health Care
• 36 days annual leave (inclusive of bank holidays)
• Up to 5 days external CPD allowance per year, plus internal training/mentoring and work-shadowing opportunities
• Payment of annual professional membership to CIWEM/ other professional body
• Use of gym and wild swimming lake/ sauna as part of the benefits of working in our offices at the Glove Factory Studios