UK Social Value Lead - #2103885

Dedicated to sustainable development, Arup is a collective of designers, consultants and experts working globally.
At Arup you will have the opportunity to collaborate on ambitious projects - delivering remarkable outcomes for clients and communities, and to do socially useful work that has meaning.
Arup's purpose, shared values and collaborative approach has set it apart for over 75 years, and now is your opportunity to join.

Job description - the role

AMS is a global workforce solutions partner committed to creating inclusive, dynamic, and future-ready workplaces. We help organisations adapt, grow, and thrive in an ever-evolving world by building, shaping, and optimising diverse talent strategies.
We partner with Arup to support their contingent recruitment processes. Acting as an extension of their recruitment teams, we connect them with skilled interim and temporary professionals, fostering workplaces where everyone can contribute and succeed.
On Behalf of Arup, we are looking for a UK Social Value Lead for an initial 12 month contract based in London or from another UK Arup office on a hybrid working pattern of 3 days in the office and 2 from home.

Purpose of the role:

Social value has become a critical part of public procurement and client decision-making. Organisations are expected not only to make strong commitments, but to deliver them credibly, measure them consistently, and show the difference they make. In this role, you will help ensure our approach is commercially strong, operationally robust, and aligned with evolving UK procurement expectations, including the Social Value Act.

What you'll do:

We are looking for an experienced UK Social Value Delivery Leader to shape and lead our social value approach across the UK. This is a senior leadership role for someone who can turn ambition into delivery-building a clear regional strategy, strengthening work-winning, creating scalable programmes and partnerships, and improving how we measure and evidence impact.

You will lead a small central hub and work through a distributed network across the business, partnering with senior leaders, bid teams, project teams, and external partners. Success will depend on your ability to influence at senior level, create practical delivery models, and connect social value strategy to client outcomes, community benefit, and business performance by enabling the myriad of diverse projects in Arup to meet their social value commitments.

This is an opportunity to build a distinctive, high-impact social value capability in a major built environment and professional services context-one that improves bid quality, supports consistent delivery, and creates a credible evidence base for impact at project, geography, and UK level.

This is a rare opportunity to shape a regional social value capability in a business with significant influence across the built environment. You will have the platform to work with senior leaders, support major pursuits and projects, and create an approach that is both commercially effective and genuinely impactful for communities. If you are excited by building capability, influencing at senior level and turning social value commitments into credible delivery, we would love to hear from you.

The skills you'll need:

• • Senior experience leading social value, social impact, ESG or related programmes in a complex organisation.
  • Strong understanding of how social value is evaluated, delivered and reported through the procurement lifecycle. Experience shaping bids, influencing clients and working with senior stakeholders in a commercial environment.
  • Experience designing practical frameworks, delivery models, measurement approaches and reporting processes. Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to lead through influence across a distributed network.
  • Experience in the built environment, infrastructure or professional services sector (Desirable).

About the client

About the client
Arup is an equal opportunity employer that actively promotes and nurtures a diverse and inclusive workforce. Guided by its values and alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Arup creates and contributes to equitable spaces and systems, while cultivating a sense of belonging for all. Arup's internal employee networks support their inclusive culture: from race, ethnicity and cross-cultural working to gender equity and LGBTQ+ and disability inclusion - creating a space for everyone to express themselves and make a positive difference.
If you are interested in applying for this position and meet the criteria outlined above, please click the link to apply and speak to one of our Sourcing Specialists.
AMS are committed to providing all our candidates with the opportunity to perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. Please let us know if you require any additional support or reasonable adjustments during the screening process and we will work with you and Arup to identify the best solution to meet your requirements.
AMS, a Recruitment Process Outsourcing Company, may in the delivery of some of its services be deemed to operate as an Employment Agency or an Employment Business.