Mace posts 45 senior roles in a week. 21 Sept 2026
Mace posted 45 new senior roles this week, over half of all new senior vacancies added across UK construction, mostly associate director grade.
Insights
Who is hiring at the top, and where demand goes next.
Who is hiring, where the roles are, and what the demand is telling you about your next move.
The live count
106 senior roles open across 29 contractors and programmes
Mace and HS2 hold 40% of every director, head-of and chief role on the list.
London and Manchester account for 52 of the 106.
9 new roles added since 17 September.
What the demand is telling us →The latest
Early contractor involvement de-risks the scheme. Who de-risks the room?
Balfour Beatty's regional civils MD says ECI is how you take risk out of infrastructure schemes. She is right. But the process only works if the right people are in the room on both sides, and nobody puts them on the risk register.
Read the news for the hiring it sets off
A fortnight of construction headlines, read the way a recruiter reads them, and an honest account of why I am publishing that reading for free instead of keeping it in the drawer.
The contractor that chose to stop contracting
Durkan Holdings has walked away from contracting entirely after fifty years, blaming regulatory risk rather than a lack of work. What that decision means for where the industry's compliance-savvy senior talent goes next, and what it should tell you about the risk you're paid to carry.
The ten non-negotiables: a spec template for senior hires
The one-page spec I agree with every client before a name goes out: ten things you can evidence, five you would like, and the questions that test them.
The experience we cannot afford to lose
Why retaining older workers, and passing on what they know, has become one of the most pressing questions in UK construction and infrastructure.
The supply chain event nobody is running
Five hospital schemes, five main contractors, one region. The Norwich supplier day will answer which firms can deliver the work. It cannot answer the harder question: which people will lead it.
Mace and Balfour Beatty hold 72 of 130 open senior roles. Week of 11 August 2026
130 senior construction vacancies are open right now, and 72 of them, well over half, sit with just two contractors: Mace and Balfour Beatty.
Who is hiring at the top. August 2026
The live count of open director and head-of level roles across UK contractors and programmes, and what it says about where the market is moving.
The Hard Hat and Graduation Gap
For the first time in a generation, a prime minister has said out loud what construction has been muttering for years. Andy Burnham's plan to put technical training on an equal footing with academic
The Great Water Reset: What Five New CEOs in Twelve Months Tells Us About Leadership in UK Water
Five UK water companies have changed chief executive inside a year. That is not coincidence, it is a sector resetting its leadership in the middle of AMP8.
The Ground Beneath Us: What a Land Value Tax Would Actually Do to Construction
Andy Burnham has backed a land value tax since 2010. He is now the likely next Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Burnham and the Built Environment: What a Place-Led Government Could Mean for UK Construction
Whether or not he reaches Number 10, the shift his rise represents has real consequences for how, where and what we build.
The money is there. The people aren't.
There has rarely been more money in UK construction, and rarely less capacity to deliver it. A market letter on the people problem holding the sector back.
When Megaprojects Pause
a senior professional on a UK construction megaprogramme that is in a difficult or uncertain period, the most important thing you can do is make your next decision consciously
The Generation Standing Outside the Gate
Alan Milburn called them an anxious generation this week. Not a soft one. Not snowflakes. Anxious. And the difference between those two words is the whole argument.
The Quiet Fear of Working the Hard Way
The work that keeps you safe is often the work that keeps you stuck. On running a business, the fear of not knowing what you don't know, and closing the gap.
Quiet Exodus Tier One
Senior commercial and operational leaders are quietly leaving Tier 1 UK contractors. The four reasons driving the exodus and what it means for 2026.
When to Leave: The Signals Senior Leaders Shouldn’t Ignore
Most senior professionals in UK construction stay in roles too long. Not always, but often enough that the pattern is worth talking about.
Interview Questions That Reveal Real Programme Leadership
One of the most expensive mistakes a senior professional can make in UK construction is joining a programme that turns out to be nothing like what was described at interview. It happens more often
From Tier One to Client Side: Making the Right Move
Every year, I have conversations with senior professionals working for Tier One contractors who are considering a move to the client side. Sometimes it is a major infrastructure client. Sometimes a
The Best Candidates Are Never on Job Boards
If you are hiring for a senior commercial or operational role in UK construction and you are relying on job boards to find candidates, you are fishing in a pond where the fish you want have never
CV Is Dead
If you are a senior professional in UK construction and you believe your CV is what gets you your next role, I need to break some news. It is not.
The Internal Promotion Dilemma
Every senior leader in UK construction eventually faces the same question. A critical role opens up. You have someone internal who is close to ready. Do you promote them, or do you run an external