National Grid is a leading energy infrastructure company, focused on delivering energy safely, reliably and efficiently across the UK and northeastern United States.
National Grid is a leading energy infrastructure company, focused on delivering energy safely, reliably and efficiently across the UK and northeastern United States. In the UK, National Grid is responsible for the electricity transmission system, ensuring energy flows from power generators to homes and businesses. As a leader in the clean energy transition, National Grid is playing a pivotal role in driving forward infrastructure projects aligned with net-zero goals.
Due to major infrastructure investment and the increasing complexity of energy transition projects, National Grid retained our services to appoint a Delivery Director to oversee a complex portfolio of projects within the Great Grid Upgrade (GGU).
This leadership role required end-to-end responsibility for delivering a high-profile, multi-billion-pound portfolio of capital projects, focused on reinforcing the electricity transmission network. The role would lead four cross-functional project teams each delivering specific contracts and manage interface with stakeholders across regulatory bodies, local government, engineering consultancies, and construction contractors.
The successful candidate needed significant experience in large-scale infrastructure project delivery, ideally within linear infrastructure or regulated environments such as energy, utilities, or transport. Key competencies included strategic leadership, contract management (including NEC3/4), stakeholder engagement, and a deep understanding of safety, quality, cost, and schedule controls within major programmes.
The focus for this search was to identify candidates with a breadth of experience across major infrastructure programmes in the UK, with a particular focus on linear infrastructure.
To do this, we developed a target list of contractors, client organisations and project management consultancies involved in the delivery of large-scale capital programmes. We focused on organisations delivering energy, utilities, transport and other linear infrastructure schemes, and conducted in-depth research to identify individuals who had successfully led projects through the construction delivery phase.
We developed an extensive Boolean search string focused on major programme and project delivery terms to help us identify candidates with the required technical experience. This was combined with targeted searches across industry news outlets, professional institutions, conferences and events, relevant associations, and social media platforms.
We approached and engaged individuals using a variety of methods including personalised outreach emails, LinkedIn InMails and messages. Our existing network of contacts was engaged to provide recommendations of suitable candidates. Interested candidates were assessed using competency-based interviews, and we provided National Grid with a detailed analysis of each candidate’s career history, leadership style, motivation and fit for the role.
Aside from the highly specialised nature of this role, the main challenge we faced in the delivery of this assignment was remuneration. While the salary range enabled us to develop a strong shortlist, there were a few candidates whose current fixed earnings exceeded this range. However, we overcame this by clearly communicating the broader reward package and long-term opportunities offered by National Grid. It was also important that our consultants highlighted the unique scale, ambition and national importance of the Great Grid Upgrade as a compelling reason to join.
From a longlist of 129, we presented a shortlist of 6 candidates. The shortlist provided was diverse in background, with the successful candidate coming from a project management consultancy where he was Programme Director and he had previously held senior project positions within a utility asset owner. He had over 20 years of experience across project management, construction delivery, engineering, project controls and commissioning in rail, water and defence, among other sectors.
