Associate Director - Environmental Due Diligence
Arcadis · United Kingdom
Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets.
We are more than 34,000 people, in over 30 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.
Role description:
Lead and grow Environmental Due Diligence, acting as the senior technical authority for transaction-focused Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessments across single assets, portfolios and multi-jurisdictional corporate transactions. The role combines technical leadership, commission management, client advisory and commercial growth, translating environmental findings into proportionate, decision-useful advice for investors, lenders, insurers and corporate clients.
The successful candidate will have proven experience in this space and will broaden transaction outcomes through due diligence, including governance, and post-transaction support that reduces risk and creates value. They will connect Arcadis specialists across jurisdictions, maintain consistent quality and help develop a scalable, integrated transaction advisory offer.
This role is open to candidates across the UK, will be a hybrid role and will require site visits.
Key working relationships
- Clients: investment managers, private equity, lenders, insurers, developers, corporates, legal advisers and senior transaction stakeholders.
- Delivery: Global Investment Advisory, UK Technical Due Diligence and Commission Management, environmental and sustainability teams, and international Arcadis teams.
- Business: account, sector, service and value proposition leads, and bid teams.
- People: project teams, mentees and line reports, where applicable
Role accountabilities:
1. Phase 1 EDD and international ESA technical leadership
- Act as engagement lead and senior technical authority for transaction-focused Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessments and Environmental Due Diligence.
- Scope and direct desktop review, site reconnaissance, historical land-use assessment, regulatory and database review, conceptual site models, contaminated land risk evaluation and recommendations for further investigation.
- Deliver and oversee international ESAs, adapting the approach to local regulatory frameworks, market practice, transaction context and client risk appetite while maintaining a consistent Arcadis standard.
- Integrate environmental compliance, permitting, operational EHS, flood, climate and other material issues where relevant to scope.
- Translate findings into clear red flags, potential liabilities, cost and programme implications, decision points and proportionate mitigation.
- Provide senior review and sign-off of reports, risk registers, portfolio summaries and executive outputs.
2. Transaction execution and risk advice
- Lead single-asset, portfolio and multi-jurisdictional commissions from opportunity through mobilisation, delivery and close-out.
- Coordinate Arcadis teams and external specialists across geographies, establishing scope, programme, responsibilities, quality controls and escalation routes.
- Advise on data-room gaps, reliance, vendor and purchaser positions, SPA wording, indemnities, conditions precedent and W&I insurance considerations, working with legal advisers as appropriate.
- Balance technical robustness with materiality, commercial context and fast-track transaction deadlines.
- Maintain project controls covering scope, change, budget, margin, programme, risk and quality.
4. Post-transaction value creation and risk reduction
- Convert findings into practical 100-day and longer-term action plans, prioritised by risk, value, cost, ownership and timing.
- Support integration, remediation, compliance improvement, ESG governance enhancement, KPI and reporting design, and portfolio implementation.
- Help clients track closure of material findings, validate progress and embed controls that protect value and improve performance.
- Identify follow-on technical, sustainability, asset, programme and investment advisory opportunities.
5. Clients, commercial growth and capability
- Build trusted-advisor relationships with senior clients, understand investment and risk drivers, and shape proportionate solutions.
- Lead technical and commercial proposals, tenders and presentations, with clear scope, assumptions, pricing, resourcing and risk management.
- Identify, qualify and convert sell-on and cross-service opportunities, supporting account growth and repeat business.
- Improve methodologies, templates, digital tools, quality processes and knowledge sharing
- Coach and mentor team members, delegate effectively and contribute to resourcing and capability development.
- Represent Arcadis through client briefings, market insight and relevant thought leadership.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent in environmental science, geology, hydrogeology, environmental engineering, sustainability or a related discipline.
- Relevant professional accreditation or chartership is desirable.
- Relevant Phase 1 ESA / EDD training and familiarity with recognised international good practice and jurisdiction-specific requirements.
- Health and safety competence appropriate to site-based and international work.
Experience
- Substantial relevant experience in environmental consultancy and transaction advisory, with a strong record leading Phase 1 ESA / EDD for property, infrastructure, industrial or corporate transactions.
- Demonstrable experience managing multi-site, portfolio and multi-jurisdictional assignments, including international team coordination and review of locally prepared outputs.
- Strong contaminated land and environmental liability expertise, with sound judgement on materiality, uncertainty, further investigation and mitigation.
- Experience advising investors, lenders, insurers, corporates and/or legal advisers in transaction settings.
- Strong due diligence experience, including governance structures, policies, controls, accountability, risk oversight and management systems.
- Experience designing or delivering post-transaction action plans, integration, remediation, risk reduction or value-creation programmes.
- Commercial experience in opportunity shaping, proposals, pricing, negotiation, project financial management and account development.
- Ability to sign off complex technical work, communicate to senior non-technical audiences and defend recommendations under scrutiny.
- Experience leading, coaching and developing multidisciplinary teams in high-pressure environments.
- Competence in Microsoft 365, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams and SharePoint.
Useful additional experience
The following experience would be beneficial but is not required for the role:
- Exposure to ESG due diligence in an investment, transaction or lender context, including an understanding of how material ESG risks and opportunities may influence investment decisions and post-transaction priorities.
- Familiarity with environmental and social due diligence requirements and recognised international frameworks, such as the IFC Performance Standards, Equator Principles and Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) processes.
- Experience working with sustainability and other technical specialists to identify where additional ESG, climate, social, human rights, nature or other specialist input may be required as part of a wider transaction.
- An interest in developing broader ESG due diligence capability and supporting integrated EDD and ESG transaction advisory services.
Why Arcadis?
We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It’s why we are pioneering a skills-based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.
You’ll do meaningful work, and no matter what role, you’ll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark, on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.
Together, we can create a lasting legacy.
Join Arcadis. Create a Legacy.
Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We believe that by working together diverse people with different experiences develop the most innovative ideas. Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of how we improve quality of life and we work closely with our people across six ED&I Workstreams: Age, Disability, Faith, Gender, LGBT+ and Race. A diverse and skilled workforce is essential to our success.