I run retained construction executive search for Birmingham and the West Midlands from a base two hours up the M6 in Lancashire. The region has the UK's largest single construction programme in HS2, a £3 billion public building framework that has just added three national contractors, and the regional offices of every Tier 1. Senior appointments in construction, from Commercial Director to Managing Director, mapped properly and handled personally.
Construction Executive Search in Birmingham
HS2 moving from civils to systems, a £3 billion framework, and the leaders both need.
What is being built
HS2 is changing phase. The last major viaduct into Curzon Street station has begun its launch, a job that runs to next summer, and Balfour Beatty VINCI has finished the concrete and steel on the three viaducts through Solihull, moving the West Midlands stretch from heavy civils into the systems and fit-out that follow. HS2 Ltd has opened the market on a ten-year systems delivery partner from 2027, and has reset its EKFB and Align civils contracts to reward efficient delivery rather than cost. Each of those shifts the leadership the programme needs, from the people who built the structures to the people who will finish the railway.
Away from the line, Kier, Vinci and Wates have won first-time places on Birmingham's £3 billion Constructing West Midlands framework, alongside £1.3 billion of major public building work, which means three more national contractors staffing up a West Midlands business. Against that, Glenigan's index shows construction starts in the region falling furthest in the country, so the housebuilders and the regional contractors are hiring for the work they have, not the work they expect.
The senior adverts bear that out. Since mid-September, a Tier 1 has advertised a Project Director for the West Midlands, Tarmac a Commercial Director for transport, a national housebuilder a Technical Director for its Midlands region in Solihull, a main contractor a New Business Director, and HS2 itself a safety and security director, a procurement director and a group finance director. The running count, by function and region, is on the Senior Hiring Index.
The programme is changing phase, and so are the seats
When a railway moves from heavy civils to systems and fit-out, the Project Directors who built the viaducts are not the ones who will finish the station.
The next twelve months in Birmingham are a change of leadership as much as a change of work.
Where the roles sit
Birmingham searches arrive from the rail and civil engineering joint ventures on HS2, from the regional divisions of the national contractors on the frameworks, from the housebuilders' Midlands regions, from the building services contractors on the city's commercial and residential schemes and from the client side at HS2, the council, the universities and the NHS trusts. The roles are the ones on every page of this site: Commercial Director, Managing Director, Project Director and Pre-Construction Director, with Operations Director and Head of Commercial alongside them.
Two hours down the M6, and in the office when it matters
I am based in Lancashire, two hours from the city, and Birmingham briefs are taken in person: on site, in the regional office or in Colmore Row. The search then runs the same five stages it runs everywhere, brief, market map, direct approach, assessment and a managed offer, with a map built from the contractors, the joint ventures and the client bodies on the city's programmes.
The wider region
Birmingham is the centre of the Midlands market, and most of the region's senior seats sit in the city, Solihull and Coventry, with the Stoke, Derby and Nottingham contractors and the East Midlands housebuilders around them. For searches elsewhere, see Manchester, Leeds, Bristol and London.
01Do you have an office in Birmingham?
No. I am based in Lancashire, two hours from the city, and I take every Birmingham brief in person. What matters is the network, and the contractors, joint ventures and client bodies on HS2 and the West Midlands frameworks are where it runs.
02Which Birmingham businesses do you recruit for?
The regional divisions of the Tier 1 contractors with Birmingham offices, the civils and rail joint ventures on HS2, the contractors on the Constructing West Midlands framework, the housebuilders' Midlands regions, the M&E and building services contractors on the city's commercial and residential schemes, and the client-side teams at HS2, the city council, the universities and the NHS trusts.
03Which roles are being hired in Birmingham now?
In the four weeks to mid-October 2026 the Midlands had ten director, head-of and chief seats open and six added, among them a West Midlands Project Director at a Tier 1, a transport Commercial Director, a technical director at a housebuilder's Midlands region, a new business director at a main contractor, and safety, procurement and commercial heads at HS2. The running count is on the Senior Hiring Index.
04Which roles do you place in Birmingham?
Commercial Director, Managing Director, Project Director, Pre-Construction Director and Operations Director for the regional businesses; Project Director, Senior Commercial Manager and Head of Commercial on the single programmes; and the Estimator, Planner and Managing Quantity Surveyor appointments beneath them when a client retains me for those too.
Start a conversation
If you are appointing senior leadership in Birmingham or the West Midlands, I am close enough to come and take the brief this week. No hard sell, no obligation.
