Managing Partner – Growth Advisory — Project-Development Pipeline

The mandate

A UK infrastructure advisory practice has built a respected project-development franchise around a small number of anchor clients. Several of those relationships are entering concession-renewal decisions, and the same partners remain central to origination, delivery and account stewardship. The regional council wants a second growth engine that draws on the firm's development insight without depending on personal billing or weakening independence around live client choices.

The client-value perimeter is approximately £23,300 million across project and operating assets, supported by 825 employees and material partners. The Managing Partner will lead growth strategy, priority accounts, propositions, alliances, pipeline quality, partner deployment and commercial governance. Engagement partners own accepted work and professional conclusions. This leader owns whether the practice creates diverse, repeatable demand and converts it through a healthy partnership rather than a handful of rainmakers.

Project development offers many reasons to advise—market entry, commercial model, funding, procurement, delivery strategy, renewal and transaction—but clients do not buy a service catalogue. They buy confidence at a difficult decision. The growth system must begin with board-level problems, determine when the practice has distinctive evidence, and assemble the right disciplines without overselling capability.

Concession renewals create opportunity and conflict. Advice to an incumbent operator, authority, investor, lender or bidder may constrain another relationship. The Managing Partner will insist that conflicts, information barriers and public-interest duties shape account choices at the beginning. Revenue targets do not justify ambiguous independence.

Why this seat is open

This is a planned replacement. The current partner remains during an agreed succession period and will transfer account history, team responsibilities and council duties over four to six months. The timetable permits careful referencing and conflict review while client continuity is protected. The transition is confidential until messages can be coordinated with partners, colleagues and priority clients.

What you will own

• Define priority client problems and propositions across project development.
• Diversify origination beyond the current anchor-client concentration.
• Govern account ownership, conflicts, pipeline evidence and bid investment.
• Create partner leverage rather than dependence on individual billings.
• Build alliances that extend capability without obscuring accountability.
• Develop partners and successors with portable institutional relationships.

The practice will segment relationships by client agenda and right to serve. Asset owners facing renewal, sponsors assembling a pipeline, public bodies reforming procurement and investors entering development need different evidence and buying routes. Account plans will identify a board issue, relationship coverage, relevant intellectual property, conflict position and next useful intervention. Hospitality, introductions and undifferentiated thought leadership will not be counted as qualified origination.

Propositions will be built from repeatable decision assets. These may include renewal option models, development-stage gates, commercial risk allocation, programme assurance or capital-partner selection. Each proposition must state the decision improved, evidence required, disciplines involved and boundary of professional responsibility. Engagement learning will be captured without exposing client information. The leader will stop offers that remain bespoke collections of senior time and cannot produce consistent value.

Pipeline governance will separate curiosity, qualified need, funded pursuit and probable award. Opportunity value, decision date, buyer access, competitive position, delivery capacity and conflict clearance will be visible. Bid investment will have an owner and a maximum exposure. Partners may advocate for a pursuit, but probability cannot be raised to protect a forecast or justify deployed staff.

Partner economics must reward institution building. Origination credit will recognise collaboration and durable client transfer, while delivery credit will reflect quality, margin and talent development. The Managing Partner will review whether senior people are attached to work because they add decision value or because historic credit rules encourage it. Junior leverage will never place inexperienced teams beyond the supervision needed for complex infrastructure choices.

The second growth engine may come from a new client segment, recurring portfolio service or alliance-enabled capability; the answer is intentionally open. The Managing Partner will run bounded tests with named hypotheses, investment caps and scale-or-stop dates. A partnership launch will not be declared successful on press coverage or an unsigned pipeline. Evidence must include paid client adoption, contribution and a route independent of one sponsor.

The first 12 months

Within 90 days, the appointee will review the 25 largest opportunities, map concentration and conflict exposure, and assess partner coverage. The regional council will receive a retain, reshape or stop view of pursuits and two testable routes for a second growth engine.

By month eight, five priority accounts should have multi-partner coverage, one new proposition should reach paid adoption across at least three unrelated clients, and low-evidence pipeline value should fall materially. Partner measures and origination credit should support transfer rather than personal ownership.

At year-end, no single anchor client should represent more than the council-approved concentration threshold, qualified pipeline coverage should exceed 2.5 times the following year's revenue plan and forecast conversion remain within 10 percentage points of outcome. The new engine should produce contracted work with positive contribution, while 70% of priority relationships have a credible successor partner.

What the board will measure

• Diversified, decision-led origination supported by buyer evidence.
• A second growth route proven through paid, profitable adoption.
• Professional independence protected around concession choices.
• Partner economics that reward collaboration, quality and succession.
• Growth capability that belongs to the firm, not one rainmaker.

The person

You are a Managing Partner, growth practice head or senior infrastructure partner with more than 28 years of experience. You have carried client-value accountability across at least £13,500 million of assets and led 575 or more people. Your record includes building advisory demand beyond a personal book while maintaining partner economics, delivery quality and conflicts discipline.

The council will examine a proposition you scaled across unrelated clients, a pursuit you stopped despite revenue pressure and a major relationship transferred successfully to another partner. You should bring trusted board relationships, but must show how those relationships became institutional. References will test realised contribution and team development rather than announcement value.

This hybrid London role involves frequent client, project and regional travel. A structured conflict and relationship transition is expected for an external appointee.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is £400,000–575,000 plus annual incentive and LTI. Measures include diversified revenue, qualified pipeline, contribution, client quality, partner leverage and succession. Participation follows partnership governance and confirmed scope; up to six months may be allowed for conflict and client transition.

Confidentiality

The advisory firm, partners, clients, concessions and pipeline are confidential. Identity and account detail follow reciprocal interest and an undertaking. The description uses composite client situations so it cannot be decoded into a named practice.