Strategic Growth & Estimating Director – Transportation

2fawcett Infrastructure are exclusively partnering with a leading Transportation contractor, spanning the Rail, Highways & Local Government, Water and Nuclear sectors. We are seeking an experienced senior leader to operate across various functions including Estimating and with responsibility for shaping and delivering strategic growth, work-winning performance and estimating excellence across the Infrastructure portfolio.  This is a high-profile leadership opportunity requiring a commercially astute and technically credible individual capable of operating across a matrix reporting structure. The successful candidate will report into the Managing Director and combine sector development, estimating governance, client engagement, strategic sales management, to strengthen market position, improve win rates and support sustainable business growth across the Transportation market.

Estimating & Commercial Leadership

• Lead and manage a national estimating team, fostering a high-performance culture focused on accuracy, accountability and continuous improvement.
• Oversee preparation, validation and submission of accurate estimates, competitive bids and commercially robust cost plans.
• Review tender documentation, pricing assumptions and commercial risks to ensure completeness, compliance and competitiveness.
• Independently challenge and verify pricing strategies, identifying value engineering and margin improvement opportunities.
• Drive consistency and governance across estimating tools, templates, cost libraries and commercial reporting systems.

Strategic Growth & Market Development

• Lead the identification, prioritisation and capture of strategic and complex opportunities across infrastructure end markets.
• Lead the development, refinement and implementation of infrastructure growth strategies aligned with Business Unit priorities and long-term market opportunities.
• Identify and interpret market, regulatory and policy trends influencing infrastructure resilience, asset management and decarbonisation agendas.
• Champion market-facing thought leadership and integrated client propositions across the Transportation business..
• Build and maintain strategic client relationships in strengthening long-term client positioning.
• Act as bid lead, sponsor or strategic advisor for major bids, frameworks and tender opportunities.
• Shape capture strategies, early contractor positioning, market intelligence and partnership approaches.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary bid activity from opportunity identification through to contract award and project handover.
• Work collaboratively with operational, procurement, commercial and technical teams to secure competitive supply-chain solutions.
• Support contract negotiations and contribute to commercial risk mitigation strategies.
• Lead post-bid reviews, lessons learned processes and continuous improvement initiatives to enhance bid performance and win rates.

Stakeholder & Team Leadership

• Operate effectively within a matrix organisation, influencing senior internal and external stakeholders across multiple business units and sectors.
• Provide direct and virtual leadership to sector growth leads, estimators and bid professionals, supporting performance, development and succession planning.
• Build strong collaborative relationships with clients, consultants, subcontractors and supply-chain partners.
• Promote a culture of innovation, collaboration, safety and operational excellence.

What We Are Looking For

• Proven experience in a senior strategic growth, estimating, preconstruction or commercial leadership role within Infrastructure, Utilities or other Regulated sector.
• Strong understanding of UK Transportation markets including Water, Rail, Highways, Nuclear and Local Government.
• Demonstrable success leading major bids, frameworks and multidisciplinary infrastructure tenders from conception through to award.
• Experience operating within complex matrix organisations and influencing senior stakeholders.
• Strong commercial acumen with expertise in estimating, cost planning, bid strategy and risk management.
• Experience managing and developing high-performing national teams.
• Knowledge of infrastructure delivery models.
• Proficiency in estimating software (ideally Candy), cost planning tools and Microsoft Office Suite.
• Experience supporting long-term framework contracts and large-scale infrastructure programmes.
• Excellent organisational, communication and stakeholder management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities across sectors and disciplines.