Leasing & Tender Director

Advert close date: 31st July 2026

Purpose of role: The Tender and Leasing Director is responsible for the design and delivery of all tender and leasing activity across Marine sectors, with particular focus on shaping and delivering the mechanisms through which The Crown Estate brings forward marine opportunities, including nationally significant offshore wind programmes that support the UK’s transition to net zero and create long-term value from the seabed.

Reporting to the Commercial Delivery and Programmes Senior Director, the role leads the end-to-end development and execution of complex tender and leasing programmes across the Marine sectors and leads our approach to bilateral leasing. The post holder will ensure commercial frameworks, tender strategies and leasing structures are robust, market-facing, operationally deliverable and aligned with The Crown Estate’s strategic objectives, value creation framework and enterprise priorities. The post holder will work closely with colleagues from across the Commercial Strategy, Delivery and Programmes teams to support a single, coherent commercial narrative.

The role is accountable for establishing and maintaining the commercial, governance and operational frameworks that underpin Marine leasing activity, including leading Marine’s bilateral leasing approach and overseeing key negotiations where appropriate. Working across a broad stakeholder landscape, the Tender and Leasing Director will align commercial, legal, technical, operational and strategic priorities to deliver successful outcomes and maximise value creation.

The Tender and Leasing Director will play a pivotal role in shaping market engagement strategies, developing innovative commercial approaches, influencing sector stakeholders and leading multidisciplinary teams to deliver successful outcomes. Through strong leadership, commercial judgement and disciplined execution, the role will help maximise value and enable the sustainable development of the UK’s marine resources.

Main accountabilities:

• Strategic Leadership

  • Lead and develop the Leasing and Tender Team, creating a high-performing, collaborative and commercially focused function that delivers leasing and tender activity across all Marine sectors, with a particular emphasis on Future Offshore Wind

  • Act as the senior subject matter expert for tendering and leasing, providing strategic leadership and influencing the future direction of Marine’s commercial delivery model

  • Contribute to the development and delivery of Marine’s strategic objectives, ensuring leasing and tender programmes maximise value creation and support long-term business outcomes

• Commercial Strategy and Market Design

  • Lead the development of market frameworks for future leasing opportunities, shaping how The Crown Estate allocates rights, creates value and supports strategic sector outcomes

  • Support development of innovative commercial approaches that optimise market participation, encourage investment and deliver sustainable value for The Crown Estate and its stakeholders

  • Provide strategic commercial leadership across the development of future offshore wind opportunities and wider Marine initiatives

• Tender Strategy and Delivery

  • Accountable for the successful end-to-end design and delivery of complex leasing rounds and tender processes, from market engagement and commercial strategy through to evaluation, award, contract mobilisation and implementation

  • Establish robust governance, assurance and decision-making frameworks that ensure transparency, consistency and effective risk management throughout programme delivery

  • Drive best practice in tender design and execution, ensuring commercial robustness, operational excellence and alignment with strategic objectives

• Commercial and Leasing Frameworks

  • Lead the commercial design of future leasing opportunities, working closely with commercial, legal, technical and future leasing teams to develop lease structures, developer payment mechanisms, risk allocation models and contractual frameworks

  • Ensure leasing structures appropriately balance commercial objectives, market attractiveness, risk allocation and strategic outcomes whilst taking account of wider industry considerations, including planning, grid and CfD programmes

  • Own and continually enhance Marine’s leasing framework and operating model, ensuring systems, controls, governance and delivery mechanisms support successful execution

• Bilateral Leasing & Prospect Evaluation Framework

  • Lead Marine’s bilateral leasing approach, setting commercial principles and governance frameworks to ensure consistency, efficiency and alignment with Marine’s strategic objectives

  • Accountable for the implementation, operation and continuous improvement of Marine’s Prospect Evaluation Framework (PEF), ensuring a high-quality and consistent service is provided across Marine portfolios

  • Work in partnership with the Strategy & Operations team to ensure effective implementation of the framework and support high-quality investment and leasing decisions

• Stakeholder Engagement:

  • Build and maintain strong relationships across internal and external stakeholder groups, influencing outcomes and ensuring alignment across commercial, legal, technical, operational and strategic priorities

  • Provide senior commercial and delivery advice to executive stakeholders and support key business decisions across the Marine portfolio

• Governance, Risk and Continuous Improvement

  • Establish and maintain high standards of quality, governance and operational excellence across all leasing and tender activities

  • Ensure all activities are compliant with vires, procurement requirements and organisational governance standards

  • Drive continuous improvement by embedding lessons learned, enhancing delivery processes and adopting industry best practice in commercial delivery, leasing and tender management

Knowledge, skills & experience

• Essential

  • Significant experience leading complex commercial transactions, competitive allocation processes, major tenders, leasing programmes or commercial negotiations within infrastructure, energy, real estate, transport, utilities or similarly regulated sectors

  • Proven track record of designing and delivering large-scale, commercially significant programmes involving multiple stakeholders and competing priorities

  • Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and developing high-performing functions and individuals

  • Strong commercial acumen with the ability to balance value creation, risk management and long-term strategic objectives

  • Excellent negotiation, influencing and stakeholder management skills, including experience operating at executive and board level

  • Strong understanding of commercial contracting principles, risk allocation and transaction structuring

  • Experience establishing governance frameworks and leading complex decision-making processes

  • Highly numerate with strong analytical capability and confidence interpreting commercial, financial and market information

  • Excellent communication skills, with the ability to challenge constructively, build consensus and influence outcomes in complex environments

  • Demonstrable experience driving operational excellence, continuous improvement and organisational change

• Desirable

  • Experience within the offshore wind, wider energy, infrastructure or marine sectors

  • Understanding of offshore wind leasing, consenting, transmission and grid considerations

  • Knowledge of the UK energy market and relevant regulatory frameworks, including the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, OFTO regime and related market arrangements

  • Experience of large-scale competitive allocation programmes, leasing rounds or public sector procurement processes

Our Offering / benefits:

As well as a competitive salary, pension and performance related bonus offering, we have a wealth of benefits available ranging from flexible working; market leading family policies and shopping discounts in the West End, to private healthcare; life and critical illness cover and 28 days holiday with the option to buy more. We value work life balance and your wellbeing highly, enabling you to be your best self to work.

Disability Disclaimer:

We are a proud disability confident employer and operate the offer of interview scheme Disability Confident employer scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

We are happy to offer alternative application methods or formats and can be flexible on our process to enable you to have the best opportunity.

If you have any questions about our recruitment process or would like to talk about adjustments, please contact us directly, or at careers@thecrownestate.co.uk

Please note that if we receive a high volume of applications, we may close this advert early. We encourage you to apply as soon as possible.