HS2 is the high-speed railway between London and the West Midlands, and in 2026 it is being reset: a new cost, a new timetable and new contracts with the businesses building it. This page sets out what it is, where it stands, who is building it, and what the hiring around it looks like today, with live figures from the weekly careers sweep, the senior moves reported in the trade press and published contract notices.
HS2
The programme, the people building it and the leadership seats it creates.
What HS2 is
A new high-speed railway between London and the West Midlands: from London Euston through Old Oak Common in west London, then north through the Chilterns and Warwickshire to Birmingham Curzon Street and Interchange in Solihull, joining the existing network at Handsacre Junction. Phase 2, north of the West Midlands, has been cancelled, so this is the railway now being built.
The client is HS2 Ltd, a public body sponsored by the Department for Transport. Mark Wild is chief executive and Mike Brown is chair. Euston is handled separately: a Euston Delivery Company is being set up to lead the station's design and the wider campus, with private finance explored for the station and Lendlease as master development partner, while HS2 Ltd builds the route up to the station boundary.
Where it stands, November 2026
On 19 May 2026 the Transport Secretary put the cost of completing HS2 at between £87.7bn and £102.7bn. The first services, between Old Oak Common and Birmingham Curzon Street, are now expected between May 2036 and October 2039, and the full route from Euston between May 2040 and December 2043. The maximum line speed comes down to 320 kph, which the government expects to save up to £2.5bn and at least a year. The National Audit Office reported on 29 June 2026 that £46.8bn had been spent by the end of March 2026, including on the cancelled Phase 2.
The reset runs on into 2027. The National Audit Office expects it to complete in spring 2027, when a new baseline for cost and schedule is set. Part of it is commercial: the civils contracts are being renegotiated to reward cost control and efficient delivery. New contracts with EKFB and Align were signed on 31 July 2026. The talks with Balfour Beatty VINCI and Skanska Costain STRABAG were still open when Mark Wild gave evidence to the Public Accounts Committee on 14 September 2026, and he expected them to conclude within two months.
On the ground, all the tunnelling between Old Oak Common and Curzon Street is complete, and the work has moved on to viaducts, stations and the structures that follow.
A reset, not a pause
A reset, not a pause The tunnels are dug and the viaducts are going up. What is being rewritten is the cost, the timetable and the contracts.
That puts a premium on leaders who can deliver to a new baseline and be seen to.
Who is building it
The civils joint ventures. Four joint ventures hold the main civils works between London and the West Midlands:
- Skanska Costain STRABAG: the 21km of London tunnels from West Ruislip to Euston.
- Align (Bouygues Travaux Publics, Sir Robert McAlpine and VolkerFitzpatrick): 24km in outer London and south Buckinghamshire, including the Colne Valley Viaduct and the Chiltern Tunnel.
- EKFB (Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and BAM Nuttall): 80km from the north portal of the Chiltern Tunnel to Long Itchington Wood in Warwickshire.
- Balfour Beatty VINCI: 90km through the West Midlands.
The stations. Balfour Beatty VINCI, with SYSTRA and Mott MacDonald, is the station construction partner at Old Oak Common. A Mace Dragados joint venture is building Birmingham Curzon Street, and Laing O'Rourke is building Interchange in Solihull.
The depot. In May 2026 a Taylor Woodrow and Aureos Rail joint venture was awarded the £856m contract for the rolling stock depot and control centre at Washwood Heath in Birmingham.
The live picture
Read on 1 November 2026 from three public sources: the careers pages behind the Senior Hiring Index, the appointments the trade press reports, and the contract notices government buyers publish.
Leadership roles open at the main contractors
9 leadership roles are advertised today across HS2 Ltd, EKFB and Balfour Beatty VINCI. Each of these employers works on HS2 alone, so every seat below is a seat on the programme.
| Function | Open now | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| Other leadership | 3 | Head of Disciplines; Head of Risk - Enterprise |
| Safety, quality and sustainability | 2 | Head of Natural Environment; Health & Safety and Security Director |
| Commercial | 1 | Corporate Procurement Director |
| Operations and delivery | 1 | Head of Delivery |
| Planning | 1 | Head of Planning |
| Finance | 1 | Group Finance Director |
| Employer | Open now |
|---|---|
| HS2 Ltd | 8 |
| EKFB | 1 |
| Balfour Beatty VINCI | 0 |
Skanska Costain STRABAG, Align and Mace Dragados are not on the careers sweep yet, so their openings are not counted here.
Senior moves, last six months
Director and board-level appointments into or out of the programme's client body and main firms, as reported in the trade press. Each links to the article.
- Rohan O'Grady, 30 September 2026: Costain appoints new Managing Director for SCS JV. Rail Business Daily
- Neil Holm, 2 September 2026: HS2 Appoints Neil Holm as Chief Programme Officer to Drive Project Reset and Delivery. infrastructure-now.co.uk
Contract awards, last twelve months
No contract award naming HS2 has been published on Find a Tender or Contracts Finder in the last twelve months. Much of the programme's spend is let through its own contractors and supply chain, which does not always reach the public notices.
The leadership seats it creates
Client side. HS2 Ltd is rebuilding its leadership around the reset: programme and delivery direction, commercial and cost control, planning and risk, and safety and assurance, all now answering to a new baseline and to a government that has said in public what went wrong before.
The joint ventures. Each joint venture needs a project director and a construction director for each section, and commercial leaders who can run a contract that has just been rewritten to reward cost control. As the civils finish, the weight moves to the leaders who hand the railway over cleanly to the systems and commissioning teams.
Stations, systems and depots. Each station, the depot and the railway systems that follow the civils bring their own leadership seats, often in different businesses from the civils, and on a later timetable.
How a search for this programme runs
The leaders who have run a section of HS2, or a programme like it, are a short list, and most of them sit inside the client or one of the joint ventures. A retained search maps all of them, approaches the people who are not looking, and assesses them properly before a shortlist is put in front of anyone. The process is set out stage by stage on the method page.
What this means if you are weighing a move
If you have delivered on HS2, the reset is the point at which your record is worth most. The client and the joint ventures need leaders who can show what they delivered to cost and to time, and the renegotiated contracts reward exactly that. The station, systems and depot work is still ahead, and it will need leaders a year or two before it reaches site.
If you have not, the door is open wider than it looks. A programme in reset values leaders from other large, scrutinised programmes, in rail and outside it, who have brought a project back to a baseline and held it there. Expect to be asked for the numbers, not the story.
What this means if you are hiring
The leaders who know this programme are mostly inside it, and the reset has made the good ones more visible and more valuable. Few of them are reading adverts. I would plan the senior appointments for each new phase well before it mobilises, and approach people in post rather than wait for applications.
The brief has changed as well. A leader who has delivered under public scrutiny, against a cost that is reported to Parliament, is worth more here than an equally able one who has not. I would make that experience a requirement rather than a preference.
01What is HS2?
A new high-speed railway between London and the West Midlands, from Euston through Old Oak Common to Birmingham Curzon Street and on to Handsacre Junction. It is built by HS2 Ltd, a public body sponsored by the Department for Transport.
02How much will HS2 cost and when will it open?
On 19 May 2026 the Transport Secretary put the cost of completing HS2 at between £87.7bn and £102.7bn. The first services, between Old Oak Common and Birmingham Curzon Street, are expected between May 2036 and October 2039, and the full route from Euston between May 2040 and December 2043.
03Who are the main contractors on HS2?
Four civils joint ventures: Skanska Costain STRABAG for the London tunnels, Align for the Chiltern Tunnel and the Colne Valley Viaduct, EKFB for the 80km central section, and Balfour Beatty VINCI for the West Midlands. The stations are built by Balfour Beatty VINCI at Old Oak Common, Mace Dragados at Curzon Street and Laing O'Rourke at Interchange.
04What leadership roles does HS2 create?
At HS2 Ltd, programme, commercial, cost, planning, risk and safety leadership, now working to a new baseline. In each joint venture, project and construction directors for each section and commercial leaders who can run the renegotiated contracts. Around them, the station, systems and depot teams, and the supply chain behind all of it.
05Where do the live figures on this page come from?
The leadership roles come from the weekly careers-page sweep behind the Senior Hiring Index, which runs early every Monday, the moves from appointments reported in the trade press, and the awards from public notices on Find a Tender and Contracts Finder. The page re-reads them every few hours, so it is never more than a few hours behind them.
Start a conversation
If you are hiring into HS2, or weighing a seat on it, I would welcome the chance to talk. No hard sell, no obligation.
The wider picture is on the rail sector page and the Senior Hiring Index.
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