We’re looking for a Senior Legal Project Manager (DCO) to join our Legal Project Management (LPM) team, working closely with our market-leading Infrastructure Planning practice on complex Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs).
This role focuses on the end-to-end project management of the Development Consent Order (DCO) lifecycle, from pre-application through examination and, where required, post-examination activity. You’ll play a critical role in guiding clients and internal teams through the Planning Act 2008 regime, ensuring delivery is structured, compliant and well-governed throughout.
Please note, this is a 12 month fixed term contract with potential to becoming permanent in the future.
What You’ll Do
Project Coordination & Delivery
- Support the strategic planning and day-to-day coordination of DCO/NSIP matters, ensuring that timelines, examination deadlines, key activities and dependencies are accurately maintained and communicated
- Facilitate the delivery of all workstreams by organising inputs, monitoring progress, and ensuring legal teams and workstreams remain aligned to the agreed programme
- Maintain robust control, including project plans, action logs, risk and issue registers, and specifically designed DCO-reporting tools
- Track changes in project timelines, resource needs, risks and deliverables, escalating impacts to client
Governance, Meetings & Communication
- Arrange and manage governance forums including Kick-Off Meetings, Project Team Meetings and various Workshops as needed
- Prepare agendas and ensure actions are captured, assigned and followed through
- Provide clear, consistent communication across project teams, clients, Counsel, and external consultants —ensuring all parties understand what is required and by when
Stakeholder Management & Process Navigation
- Apply advanced stakeholder management skills to coordinate complex interactions across legal teams, planning specialists, environmental consultants, and client organisations
- Guide project teams through the procedural demands of the Planning Act 2008 and the DCO examination process, ensuring deadlines and statutory requirements remain front-of-mind
- Promote collaboration between all workstreams and support issue resolution through proactive engagement and cross?team communication
Risk, Issues & Programme Assurance
- Identify programme-level risks and issues, ensuring they are captured, assessed, monitored and escalated appropriately
- Contribute to post-project reviews and lessons learned exercises, feeding improvements back into the DCO PMO and wider LPM processes
Tools, Innovation & Continuous Improvement
- Support the development and enhancement of project templates, trackers, tools and standard operating procedures for DCO matters
- Promote lean working practices and process efficiencies to improve the consistency and quality of DCO project delivery
- Identify improvement opportunities and support ongoing innovation within the Infrastructure Planning team
Broader Team & Organisational Support
- Collaborate with pricing and legal teams by providing delivery insights needed to support client proposals and matter initiation
- Support large bids, and tenders where DCO project management expertise is required
- Mentor more junior project managers
- Provide general project management support across other teams/matters where required, while maintaining a primary focus on the DCO portfolio
About You
- Demonstrable experience delivering key stages of Development Consent Orders
- Experience coordinating complex, multi workstream and multi organisation projects]
- A strong understanding of the Planning Act 2008, the NSIP regime and DCO process
- A project management qualification (desirable)
- Excellent planning, coordination, communication and stakeholder management skills
- Strong attention to detail and the ability to manage competing priorities
- Confidence using Microsoft Office tools including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project, SharePoint and Copilot
- Commercial awareness, sound judgement and a proactive, problem solving mindset
- The ability to challenge constructively and question assumptions
- Resilience, flexibility and comfort working with limited supervision
- Sensitivity to cultural differences across project teams
What We Offer
- Agile working options, including home working
- Carers’ leave of up to five paid days
- 25 days’ annual leave, with the option to buy or carry over up to five additional days
- Contributory pension (up to 5%)
- Private healthcare and death in service cover (4x salary)
- Access to benefits including an electric car scheme, cycle to work scheme, and interest free loans for season tickets, gym membership, or rental deposits
