Job Description
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Senior Pre-Construction & Scheme Development Manager
Up to £80,000 per annum | Central London (office-based) | Weekly site visits
The Situation
As the organisation moves toward nationalisation, the need for strong early-stage project development, robust governance and well-structured business cases is increasing rapidly. This role plays a pivotal part in shaping how future projects are planned, justified and delivered.
The Opportunity
The successful candidate will lead the early-stage development of station renewals and enhancements rail projects, turning asset needs and strategic requirements into clear, structured, and approval-ready business cases. You will sit at the centre of the organisation, coordinating between engineering, commercial, programme teams and external partners to ensure each scheme is feasible, technically sound, costed, risk-assessed, and aligned with rail infrastructure standards.This role suits someone with a strong grounding in construction management, station renewal, station enhancements, structures, or wider rail infrastructure, who understands how project-led work is conceived, shaped, validated and prepared for tender. You will be expected to ask the right questions, challenge assumptions, and bring clarity to complex, multi-million-pound programmes - particularly those involving structural assets, platforms and buildings.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop early-stage project requirements and shape them into structured business plans.
- Lead scheme development from concept through to procurement readiness.
- Produce and coordinate business cases for governance approval.
- Work across multiple disciplines
- Engage with internal teams, external consultants and stakeholders to gather accurate project information.
- Support the development of tender documentation and ensure projects are ready for market engagement.
- Manage competing priorities across multiple schemes at varying stages of development.
- Identify risks, gaps and missing information - and proactively seek answers.
- Work closely with estimators, QS teams and project controls to validate costs and assumptions.
- Build strong working relationships across engineering, commercial and programme teams.
Challenges in the First 12 Months
- Navigating tight resource constraints while maintaining quality of outputs.
- Extracting accurate detail from five major multi-million-pound tenders.
- Managing a high volume of schemes simultaneously.
- Establishing credibility quickly and asking the right questions to unlock information.
- Bringing structure and clarity to early-stage projects in a fast-moving environment.
Essential Criteria
- Degree in Construction Management, Infrastructure management, or a related discipline. OR 20+ years of relevant experience.
- Strong multi-disciplinary understanding of how projects are developed.
- Rail industry experience is essential (limited transferability from other sectors).
- Experience preparing business cases, feasibility studies or pre-construction documentation.
- Understanding of bids, tendering processes, estimators and QS functions.
- Background in pre-construction, project controls or early-stage project development.
- Confident communicator with strong stakeholder management skills.
- Ability to work across multiple projects at different stages.
- Charismatic, relationship-driven approach with the confidence to challenge and probe.
Location & Working Pattern
- Primarily office-based in Central London. xwzovoh
- London, Tilbury and Southend Route and occasional visits
- Hybrid working offered - flexibility is required for business needs
- Candidates should be commutable to London; Essex is an ideal base for accessing the route
About Ford & Stanley group
Ford & Stanley Talent Services Group are in the business of people and performance. Our mission is to create one million better workdays through facilitating great recruit