Practice Director - Systems Engineering and Safety Assurance & Engineering Management

Job Description

Start here. Grow here.

AECOM is seeking a highly experienced and dynamic Practice Director, Systems Engineering and Safety Assurance (SESA) & Engineering Management (EM) to support the growth and delivery of our Transportation business. Working closely with the Transportation Systems Practice Director, you will lead capability development, drive project delivery excellence, and play a key role in securing and delivering work across frameworks and standalone opportunities.

This is a strategic leadership position, combining work winning, operational leadership, and people development, with a strong focus on collaboration across regions and Enterprise Capability (EC) teams. The Practice Director will be focused on delivering our existing diverse portfolio of Rail projects as well growing to meet the demands of high growth sectors for the integration and coordination of multi-disciplinary, complex infrastructure projects. 

Here’s what you’ll do:

Project & Client Leadership

• Support client relationships for the Practice
• Ensure successful project delivery – meeting schedule, cost, and quality targets
• Lead continuous improvement through client feedback and delivery performance
• Implement and uphold AECOM project governance standards
• Build and lead effective supply chain and partner relationships

Leadership & People Development

• Lead the SESA and EM community, including a national team of professionals across varying levels of experience
• Grow capability and capacity within the practice regionally and through EC collaboration
• Drive utilisation performance and align resource planning at a national level
• Mentor, develop, and retain high-performing teams, fostering a strong and inclusive culture

Operational Excellence & Performance

• Support operational performance across the Transportation Systems Practice, including cost, schedule, and quality
• Drive quality and innovation to differentiate AECOM from peers
• Drive performance against key business KPIs and growth targets
• Coordinate national workshare and resource planning aligned to practice objectives
• Promote and lead Safety, Health, Environment (SHE) and Wellbeing initiatives across projects and teams
• Act as a visible safety leader, embedding best practices at both project and operational levels
• Monitor and improve both leading and lagging sustainability and safety metrics

Collaboration & Strategy

• Work closely with Transportation, other Business Lines, and global geographies
• Support multi-disciplinary project delivery across sectors
• Share knowledge, best practices, and technical expertise across the organisation
• Strengthen collaboration with EC teams to enhance delivery capability and efficiency

Business Development & Work Winning

• Deliver the existing Transportation framework portfolio while helping to secure repeat business and new opportunities
• Support the end-to-end sales cycle for projects
• Provide capability, expertise, and resources to support bids led at sector level
• Support and embed the Enterprise Capability (EC) vs. home country delivery model for bids
• Develop discipline-specific EC strategies and relationships to maximise global delivery capability
• Contribute to Transportation growth across Europe and India through knowledge sharing and collaboration
• Support the Practice’s engagement in cross-sector growth opportunities

Qualifications

Ready to push the limits of what’s possible?

Here’s what we’re looking for:

• Proven experience leading Systems Engineering & Safety Assurance (SESA), Engineering Management or multi-disciplinary infrastructure teams
• Strong track record in supporting work winning, delivering projects, and successful client relationship management
• Demonstrated success delivering complex, multi-disciplinary infrastructure projects
• Experience working across regions, sectors, and business lines
• Strong leadership capability with experience managing large, diverse teams
• Commercially astute with the ability to deliver profitable, high-quality outcomes
• Passionate about developing people, improving performance, and driving quality and innovation
• Committed to safety leadership and wellbeing

Come grow with us.

We celebrate diversity, including neurodiversity, and believe it enriches our team. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and abilities. If you are an applicant with a disability that requires reasonable accommodation to complete the application process, please contact us at [email protected]. At AECOM, we value everyone's unique contributions and perspectives.

If you meet some of the requirements above or have transferable skills you believe would benefit us, we would be delighted to hear from you!

Additional Information

Interested in the role or curious about life at AECOM? Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to explore our AECOM voices, employee stories, latest projects, and much more!

For further information about the role, reach out to the recruiter on LinkedIn (Jean Jones).

At AECOM, we are committed to maintaining a secure and trustworthy recruitment process and take any fraudulent hiring activity seriously. To support this commitment, all newly hired employees are required to attend an in-person Day 1 onboarding at an AECOM office location as a condition of employment.

About AECOM

AECOM is the world’s trusted infrastructure consulting firm, delivering professional services throughout the project lifecycle – from advisory, planning, design and engineering to program and construction management. On projects spanning transportation, buildings, water, new energy and the environment, our public- and private-sector clients trust us to solve their most complex challenges. Our teams are driven by a common purpose to deliver a better world through our unrivaled technical and digital expertise, a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion, and a commitment to environmental, social and governance priorities. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm and its Professional Services business had revenue of $16.1 billion in fiscal year 2025. See how we are delivering sustainable legacies for generations to come at aecom.com and @AECOM.

Freedom to Grow in a World of Opportunity 

You will have the flexibility you need to do your best work with hybrid work options. Whether you’re working from an AECOM office, remote location or at a client site, you will be working in a dynamic environment where your integrity, entrepreneurial spirit and pioneering mindset are championed.

You will help us foster a safe and respectful workplace, where we invite everyone to bring their whole selves to work using their unique talents, backgrounds and expertise to create transformational outcomes for our clients.

AECOM provides a wide array of compensation, benefits and well-being programs to meet the diverse needs of our employees and their families. We’re the world’s trusted global infrastructure firm, and we’re in this together – your growth and success are ours too.

Join us, and you’ll get all the benefits of being a part of a global, publicly traded firm – access to industry-leading technology and thinking and transformational work with big impact and work flexibility. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we believe in each person’s potential, and we’ll help you reach yours.

We are a Disability Confident Employer and will offer an interview to applicants who have a disability or long-term condition, who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role. Please let us know using this email address [email protected]  if you would like to apply through the Disability Confident Interview Scheme.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.