Non-Executive Board member for National Highways x2

National Highways is seeking two Non-Executive Board members to join its Board. The successful candidates, through their membership of the Board, will provide challenge and support to a wide variety of management and operational issues and contribute to the effective strategic and operational leadership of National Highways.

The successful candidates will possess a good appreciation of the role of a Non-executive Director and understand and be committed to the pivotal role that the Board plays in the effective and efficient delivery of National Highways’ services. They will clearly demonstrate independence of judgement and an ability to communicate with impact to provide constructive support and challenge.

• Providing sound advice to the Chair and Chief Executive.
• Preparing for and making an effective contribution to the National Highways Board and executive/ NED meetings.
• Dedicating time to specific projects within National Highways, providing valuable input and advice to the executive team.
• Maintaining appropriate links to the Department for Transport, and broader stakeholder groups to help manage the organisations reputation.
• Effectively discharging the duties and responsibilities of a NED and committee Chair.
• Providing strong and constructive challenges to the executive team to ensure that it delivers the approved strategy, and support the executive team in discharging their leadership responsibilities to National Highways.
• Collectively ensuring that decisions made by the Board follow proper procedures and are supported by sufficient high-quality information; and
• Ensuring that National Highways is run effectively, in line with best practice for non-departmental public bodies and Managing Public Money requirements. Managing Public Money May 2023 (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Welcome Note from Mark Harper, Secretary of State for Transport

Dear Applicant,

Thank you for your interest in the Non-Executive Director roles on the Board of National Highways.

This is an important time for the Department for Transport. We are investing heavily in infrastructure and public transport to improve journeys, boost connections, level up the country and support economic growth. Central to our mission is delivering transport that works for everyone in our society.

We are recruiting for two Non-Executive Directors to join our team on the Board of National Highways. National Highways is a government body which plans, designs, builds, operates, and maintains England’s motorways and major A roads.

On 11 March 2020, the chancellor announced the second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) to run from 2020 and 2025 that is valued at £24bn. The focus for National Highways will be safer roads, addressing environmental issues, delivering efficiency, and maintaining efficient supply chains.

The successful candidates must be familiar with operating at Board level, demonstrate strategic and analytic thinking and possess strong interpersonal skills. The successful candidates will provide challenge and support to a wide variety of management and operational issues and contribute to the effective strategic and operational leadership of National Highways.

We strongly welcome applications from all backgrounds. As part of the Department’s commitment to diversity, we believe our public appointments should reflect our customers – the travelling public – who come from all walks of life and have different experiences. We very much welcome fresh talent, expertise, and perspectives, to help us better understand the needs of the communities we serve and support better decision making for all. This includes people who may have never applied for a public appointment – but could bring new ideas, insights and energy.

If you are interested in the role and work of National Highways, I would like to encourage you to apply.

Essential criteria (Role 1 – NED and Chair of Board Safety Committee):

• Experience of leading on Health, Safety and Wellbeing at Board level.
• Experience of leading teams in a large-scale operational environment.

• A senior leader in a large complex organisation with responsibility for leading a large team.
• Experience of remuneration committees.

In order to fill out the skills of the Board as a whole, candidates looking to apply for the above roles must also contribute at least one of the following skills in addition to the above:

• Large scale asset management, or,
• Motor Industry / Distribution / Logistics background
• Construction sector
• Leadership in organisations with a well-developed customer service focus.

Candidate’s suitability for the role will be assessed against criteria described above.