Role: Associate Director – Strategic Planning

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Role ID: 2022-1686

Our vision is to create a safe and sustainable world

Ricardo plc is a global strategic, environmental, and engineering consulting company, listed on the London Stock Exchange. With over 100 years of engineering excellence and employing close to 3,000 employees in more than 20 countries, we provide exceptional levels of expertise in delivering leading-edge and innovative cross-sector sustainable products and solutions. Every day, we enable our customers to solve the most complex and dynamic challenges to help achieve a safe and sustainable world.

Energy & Environment, one of Ricardo plc’s five operating business units, is a leader in sustainability consultancy, solving complex environmental challenges through industry-leading analysis, advice and data. With more than 40 years of heritage in addressing air quality, environmental and sustainability issues, our customers value us for our deep understanding and breadth of services covering the entire value chain from evidence, policy & strategy to implementation.

We are currently looking for an Associate Director – Strategic Planning to join our busy Statutory, Strategic and Environmental team in Melbourne focusing on client management, and project management and delivery of a wide range or Strategic Planning projects.

Key responsibilities

• Secure new and repeat consultancy work through own business development activities.
• Lead proposals, client presentations, and complex consultancy projects.
• Complete reports for all stages of the project from conception to completion.
• Develop and implement Practice strategy and business development initiatives with support from the Managing Director and the Director of Planning.
• Lead a small team of consultants, providing support and oversight on projects.
• Attend meetings with clients to manage projects according to Ricardo’s scope of services.
• Provide technical guidance and mentoring to junior staff and share knowledge with the broader team.
• Preparation of reports, written advice and correspondence in both statutory and strategic planning projects, including structure plans, strategy plans, master plans and development applications.

Key competencies and experience

• Tertiary qualification in Planning.
• Minimum 10 years of strategic planning experience within Victoria.
• Extensive consultancy experience within the Strategic Planning sector.
• Strong commercial and business development skills, coupled with a track record of identifying and securing new consultancy work.
• Possession of a strong network of contacts/clients across Australia at a management and/or operational level.
• Comprehensive experience collaborating with diverse stakeholders/audiences and facilitating agreement between conflicting parties.
• Experience managing multiple projects with competing demands.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office 365 programs.

Skills and behaviours 

• Exceptional organisational skill with outstanding attention to detail and ability to work methodicaly and thoroughly.
• Desire to continually improve technical knowledge and capabilities.
• Comfortable working on a variety of tasks in a sometimes fast-paced operational environment.
• Develop sufficient knowledge of the processes within customer service and operational delivery to be able to propose changes and improvements.
• Team player who is willing to get involved, supporting colleagues to resolve issues and facilitate solutions.
• Mentoring capability to assist in development of junior members of the team.
• Embrace Ricardo's values of Create Together, Be Innovative, Aim High, Be Mindful and aim to lead others towards high standards of behaviour and performance. 

Working here

Ricardo is an exciting and rewarding place to work and you have the opportunity to make a difference. You will work with teams of talented, dedicated, and supportive individuals. Alongside having a fantastic opportunity to develop your career with us through our broad range of projects, mentoring opportunities and a personalised approach to your learning and development. We are always keen to hear from people who have drive, ambition and a flair for innovative thinking.

Wellbeing and work life balance

Wellbeing is at the core to our culture, allowing employees to flourish and to achieve their full potential. Our People are important to us, and we take pride in our wellbeing programs and policies that support individuals including flexible working, carers policy, mental health first aiders and readily available support through our extensive Employee Assistance program.

Diversity, Equality and Inclusion statement

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, we believe in each person's potential, and we'll help you reach yours. We have an ambitious diversity, equality, and inclusion approach as explained here. We value diversity; recognising that a more diverse workforce creates a richer and more varied working environment. Diversity also drives innovation, by allowing us to offer our clients the best consultancy service that we can. As part of our commitment to engage positively and pro-actively with all our employees and ensure a culture of inclusivity, we are a recognised as a 'disability confident' employer.

Once you have submitted your application a member of our Recruitment Team will be in touch. Please be aware that the timing can vary dependent on the volume of applications that we receive for each role and in some cases, we may start to review applications prior to the closing date.