Senior Project Manager (Preconstruction)
Join one of Willmott Dixon’s highest-performing work-winning teams as a Senior Project Manager (Preconstruction) and help secure major education projects across England.
Our Hybrid Bid Service brings together expertise from our five regional construction businesses to pursue opportunities through the Department for Education’s Construction Framework. Having helped secure more than £500m of DfE work in 2025, we’re strengthening our team to build on that success.
You can be based anywhere, provided you’re able to travel nationally. Much of your time can be spent working from home, with the team typically meeting in Central London one or two days a week, alongside visits to customers, projects and regional offices.
This is an opportunity for someone seeking greater influence, autonomy and national exposure. Direct DfE experience is welcome, but your ability to lead complex, competitive stage one bids and inspire multidisciplinary teams matters most.
Key Responsibilities
You’ll lead major opportunities from early customer engagement through tender and early preconstruction, before handing over to our regional delivery teams.
Your role will include:
- Developing the win strategy and understanding what matters most to the customer.
- Bringing together design, commercial, planning, sustainability, procurement and operational expertise.
- Challenging solutions, programmes and commercial assumptions to manage risk and strengthen our proposals.
- Building trusted relationships with customers, consultants and partners.
We’re looking for someone who combines strategic thinking with sound judgement, confident leadership and a collaborative approach.
Working with senior leaders across all five regional businesses, you’ll build a strong national network and bring fresh ideas into our approach.
You’ll help improve our methods, champion innovation and influence our AI-enabled work-winning infrastructure, using technology, data and shared knowledge to strengthen performance.
Essential and Desirable Criteria
Essential Criteria
- Proven experience working in preconstruction in a contractor environment
- Strong background in either commercial management, design management, project management or a related discipline.
- Proven ability to coordinate multi-disciplinary teams.
- Confident communicator with experience handling challenging client conversations.
Desirable Criteria
- Degree qualification preferred.
- Accreditation with APM or PRINCE is advantageous.
Additional Information
There is a clear pathway from Senior Project Manager to Principal and ultimately Preconstruction Manager, with increasing responsibility for the national service. Progression is earned through performance, credibility and the trust you build with colleagues and customers.
You’ll join a team that values collaboration, constructive challenge and fresh thinking—where people are trusted to take ownership and supported to succeed.
Ready to bring your preconstruction experience to a role with greater scope and influence? We’d like to hear from you.
About Us
With over 170 years of rich history, Willmott Dixon’s purpose is beyond profit; delivering brilliant buildings, transforming lives, strengthening communities and enhancing the environment so our world is fit for future generations. Ensuring that we add lasting value to the neighbourhoods we work in; our values, people, innovation, partnerships and focus on sustainability has allowed us to build a successful and solid privately owned business where our people can thrive.
Willmott Dixon was recognised by The Sunday Times as one of the Top 10 "Big" Companies to Work For in 2025, named among the Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality in 2024, and ranked in the Top Five of Europe’s 1,000 best workplaces by the Financial Times in 2025.
Willmott Dixon is also the first major contractor and developer to win a King's Award for Enterprise in the category of sustainable development.
