Associate Director or Director Consultancy

Since opening in October 2021, the Reading office has gone from strength to strength. We’re looking for an ambitious Associate Director, or Director to support the senior leadership of our Reading office. This would be an ideal opportunity for someone to progress in their career and help continue the growth and success of the office. We have ambitions to grow the office to 80 people over the next 2-3 years.


The Reading team has been built with a people-centric approach with a true multi-disciplinary office supporting this.

The location of the office is in the heart of Reading, next to the Station and the Station Hill development, a significant transformational project which we are directly involved in. Being in the centre of such a commutable town allows us to recruit talented people from the home counties, offering flexibility for those people wishing to work close to home on projects in and around London. It is based in our own space within the high quality Fora (serviced office) space with every amenity you could ever need.

Hoare Lea is an award-winning engineering consultancy with a creative team of engineers, designers and technical specialists. We provide innovative solutions to complex engineering and design challenges for buildings.
Irrespective of the scale or complexity of a project, we provide a full range of MEP, environmental and sustainability services, bringing buildings to life and ensuring that they perform in operation as well as they look.
Hoare Lea has joined Tetra Tech’s High-Performance Buildings Group, a global alliance of MEP firms.

You’ll be part of progressive and exciting projects, able to experience innovative schemes across all sectors.

We are looking for someone who can inspire, with strong leadership and communication skill to help drive the office forward, contribute to strategy and continue to build on the culture and sense of team created. As an Associate Director or Director, you will be responsible for helping run the office, leading by example and continuing to deliver excellence in your chosen discipline.You will work with an integrated team of engineers, specialists and support staff delivering a consistent high-quality service for clients, ensuring that repeat and new business opportunities are developed, and profitability is achieved. The role is instrumental in helping to continue to grow and develop an integrated team of high achievers, as well as seeking new opportunities to develop the business.

The role has three strands: project leadership, team leadership, and work winning. Team leadership may come immediately, although this is a role to grow into as someone settles in the office. Strengthening our leadership in these three areas is a key need in our succession plan and will lead to further career opportunities.

As a Director, you will be responsible for helping win, supporting and delivering designs for a range of project types and sizes. You will work within a team of engineers and support staff, delivering a consistent high-quality service for clients, ensuring that repeat and new business opportunities are developed and profitability is achieved. The role is instrumental in helping to continue to grow and develop a team of technically competent engineers within high-performing sectors and seeking new opportunities to develop the business.

You will be in a Client facing role, attending project meetings and disseminating the brief within the project team. You will lead the development of initial strategic concepts for projects ensuring solutions are appropriate for the brief and regulatory standards.
Providing a lead role in an integrated project design team with other construction professionals.
Taking responsibility for solid technical delivery in your work either alone or part of a team.
You will be financially astute and work with the team leader to help monitor fee expenditure, resource and work delivered.
Creating and maintaining a high reputation within the industry, and to ensure adherence to QM and risk control procedures is also a very important part of the role.

You should have a relevant degree in Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent qualification and must have, or ideally be working towards chartered status. You should have excellent technical knowledge in your primary discipline and a thorough understanding of Building Services Engineering and interdisciplinary design through all stages of the design process.

You should have an in-depth understanding of modern technical delivery methods, particularly in relation to BIM, and should be competent in ideally designing and reviewing information by others in such environments.
With excellent interpersonal and communication skills you will have proven ability in negotiating positive outcomes, resource planning, motivation and management.

With previous industry experience, you will appreciate the importance of complementary specialisms such as acoustics, fire engineering and computer modelling in the design of buildings and be adept at analysing and interpreting their impact on your work.

Suitably qualified Mechanical Engineering, Building Services Engineers degree or equivalent qualification preferable but not essential.
M&E Design & Specification, Surveying & Reporting and Project Management.
You will have experience working in a multi-disciplinary environment, with excellent communication skills both internal and external clients, and a team-based work approach, you will appreciate that holistic working is central to good design and you will have experience across a range of projects.

To reward your hard work and commitment we offer both core and flexible benefits, a competitive salary and industry-leading training and development to support you throughout your career.

Private medical scheme
~ Life Assurance
~ Electric Car salary sacrifice scheme
~ Travel Allowance – electric car scheme
~ Profit and performance-related bonus (Director)
~25 days annual leave, increasing to 30 with length of service
~ Contributory pension scheme
~ Employee Assistance Programme
~ Enhanced Paternity, Maternity & Shared Parental Leave
~ Season Ticket Loans
~ Flexible benefits

~Hybrid Working – activity-based approach
~ Employee stock purchase plan – a voluntary program which allows eligible employees to purchase Tetra Tech common stock at a 15% discount
~ Holiday buy & sell up to 5 days
~ Cycle to work scheme
~ Employee Referral Scheme
~ Sabbatical Leave
~ Other flexible benefits include gym and retail discounts, travel & dental insurance and GAYE (Give as you Earn)
~ Flexible working - We’re happy to discuss flexible working. Flexible working will be part of the discussion at offer stage


Diversity, equity and inclusion

We are committed to being a place where underrepresented individuals and communities are not just included, but where marginalised knowledge and experience is valued, amplified, and harnessed. So, we strongly encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds, including women, people of the Global Majority, LGBTQ+ individuals, disabled people, neurodivergent people, and those from all other underrepresented or marginalised groups. To learn more about our approach to diversity, equity and inclusion, see our DEI strategy.

Adjustments and accommodations

If there are adjustments or accommodations that we can put in place to ensure you can participate and give your best at any stage of the recruitment process (whether relating to disability, neurodivergence, or anything else) please let us know.

Flexible working

We are committed to enabling a healthy work-life balance for all employees. So, we welcome applications from candidates seeking flexible working arrangements to suit their particular needs and lifestyle, including part-time, term-time-only, and remote working.

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