Quantity Surveyor & Projects Manager

Job summary

Can you lead complex capital projects from concept through to successful delivery, ensuring quality, value for money, and stakeholder satisfaction?

Have you managed large-scale estates, engineering, or lifecycle replacement projects while balancing competing priorities, budgets, and timescales?

Are you confident working with contractors, consultants, and suppliers to deliver high-quality project outcomes and drive continuous improvement?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

The Estates Management Group (EMG) plays a key role in ensuring the Agency’s estate remains safe, sustainable, and fit for the future. Working across a diverse property portfolio, the team delivers strategic infrastructure improvements, modernisation programmes, and operational support that enable business continuity. Through collaboration with internal and external partners, the team drives innovation, efficiency, and long-term estate performance while supporting the Agency’s wider goals and ambitions.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King’s birthday
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at DVLA .

Job description

Join us in a key leadership role where you will shape and oversee the delivery of capital projects and lifecycle replacement programmes across a diverse estate. You will lead projects from concept to completion, ensuring robust governance, effective supplier performance, and value for money. Working with a wide range of stakeholders, you will help maintain safe, efficient, and sustainable facilities while driving continuous improvement and supporting the Agency’s long-term strategic objectives.

Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:

• Preparation of Specifications to advise and inform commercial procurement of services and project delivery via the Hard Services Contract and other available Commercial Frameworks. Undertake the technical evaluation of tenders, ensuring compliance with specifications and organisational requirements.
• Provide effective management relating to the estate projects and life cycle replacement works affecting the efficient running of the Agency’s sites. Responsible for reporting of regular and timely information to the G7 Head of hard services and/or G6 Head of Estates.
• Manage the supplier’s undertaking all large scale or complex projects and life-cycle replacement. Initial point of contact for complaints and issues in relation to project services.
• Provide capital projects and lifecycle replacement knowledge to EMG SMT with a pipeline of projects and major works including decarbonisation and environmental improvements to help Develop future Estates Strategy.
• Reporting against Capital Projects and Lifecycle replacement budget, performance, risks, dependencies, and mitigating actions. Act as a liaison point for the contract provider and professional advisors on new projects when raising commissions / feasibility studies.
• Liaising with key stakeholders to identify and manage potential issues associated with planned projects and lifecycle replacement work, to ensure that all areas of the estate are always available to the business.
• Management of direct reports to deliver capital projects and lifecycle replacement work across all Agency sites. Providing guidance, knowledge, thought leadership and mentoring to direct reports and wider members of the hard services team.
• Financial management, financial evaluation of tenders and proposals, to ensure VFM. Managing final accounts and variations.

The role requires participation in the Hard Services team's on-call rota to provide operational support. A non-pensionable Recruitment and Retention Allowance of £3,000 per annum is currently payable for this requirement. Please note that the allowance is subject to review and may change over time.

Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills set out in the Civil Service Line Management Standards .

For further information on the role, please read the role profile . Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

Person specification

You will be required to provide evidence that you hold any essential qualifications/licenses at some point during the recruitment process. If you cannot provide evidence, your application will be withdrawn.

To be successful in this role you will need to have the following experience:

• Lead the planning, procurement, and delivery of estate capital projects and lifecycle replacement works, including preparing specifications, evaluating tenders, managing suppliers, and ensuring value for money.
• Oversee project performance, budgets, risks, compliance, and stakeholder engagement, ensuring projects are delivered safely, efficiently, and with minimal disruption to business operations.
• Drive continuous improvement across the estate by supporting sustainability and decarbonisation initiatives, shaping future estates strategy, maintaining asset plans, and providing leadership, guidance, and development to the wider team.

Professional Skills

Essential:

• Quantity Surveying - Degree, Level 7 Diploma

Essential or willing to work towards:

• Facilities Management - Degree, Level 7 Diploma
• NEBOSH - National General Certificate in Occupational Health & Safety
• Working knowledge of BS7671 Electrical wiring regulations, BS 5266 Emergency Lighting and BS 5839 Fire Alarms. Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000 (PSSR), Pressure Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016, Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER) 1998, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (2002).
• Working knowledge of CIBSE Guide M – Maintenance engineering and management (2023) – to enable holistic, informed decision making and performance review.

Qualifications and professional memberships:

Essential:

• Candidates must hold a Full UK Driving Licence

Essential or willing to work towards:

• Good IT Skills (Word / Excel / PowerPoint) etc.
• Membership of professional body - Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, or demonstrable experience at a similar level, or willing to work towards.

Additional Information

We welcome applications from candidates who can speak Welsh and English. Welsh language skills would be useful in this role, but it is not an assessment criterion, so it won't put you at any disadvantage during recruitment if you aren't a Welsh speaker. Please note that the assessment process will be held in English.

Working hours, office attendance and travel requirements

Full time roles consist of 37 hours per week.

Whilst we welcome applications from those looking to work with us on a part time basis, there is a business requirement for the successful candidate to be able to work at least 35 hours per week.

This role is not suitable for hybrid working and will require the successful candidate to work solely from their designated workplace (one of the locations cited in the advert) or, when required for business reasons, from other offices/work locations/visiting stakeholders.

Occasional travel to other offices will be required, which may involve overnight stays.

If you have a question about hybrid working, part time/job share hours, flexible working, travelling for work, or require a reasonable adjustment, please contact the Vacancy Holder during the recruitment process to avoid possible disappointment later in the process should your working arrangements not be compatible with the requirements of the role (see below for contact details).

Visa Sponsorship

Please note that we do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker Licence sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship. Candidates must ensure they have the appropriate rights to work in the UK before application.

Licences

Full UK Driving Licence

Qualifications

Quantity Surveying - Degree, Level 7 Diploma

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Seeing the Big Picture

Benefits

Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave).
• 8 Bank Holidays plus an additional Privilege Day to mark the King’s birthday.
• Access to the staff discount portal.
• Excellent career development opportunities and the potential to undertake professional qualifications relevant to your role paid for by the department, such as CIPD, Prince2, apprenticeships, etc.
• Joining a diverse and inclusive workforce with a range of staff communities to support all our colleagues.
• 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme providing free confidential help and advice for staff.
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Find out more about the benefits of working at DfT and its agencies (opens in a new window).

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

How to apply:

Our selection process ensures a comprehensive assessment of each applicant's qualifications, skills, and potential fit within our organisation.

The selection process for this role will be:

Stage 1: Sift of CV and personal statement

Stage 2: Interview

You must be successful at each stage to progress to the next stage.

Stage 1: Sift

At sift, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Experience – you will be asked to provide a CV (unlimited wordcount) and personal statement (1000-word count). Please provide evidence of your Experience of the following: • Experience in leading the successful delivery of projects and major estates programmes from specification through to completion.
• Experience in developing specifications, evaluating tenders, and managing supplier performance to ensure compliance, quality, and value for money.
• Experience in maintaining professional expertise and providing leadership to drive continuous improvement, innovation, and best practice across the estates function
• Experience managing contractors, audit programmes, and direct reports to ensure compliance with organisational, statutory, and health & safety requirements, while delivering safe and effective estates services.

The sift will take place week commencing 12th October 2026.

Stage 2: Interview

At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Behaviours – Making Effective Decisions and Seeing the Big Picture
• Exper