Work with Us. Change the World.

At AECOM, we're delivering a better world. Whether improving your commute, keeping the lights on, providing access to clean water, or transforming skylines, our work helps people and communities thrive. We are the world's trusted infrastructure consulting firm, partnering with clients to solve the world’s most complex challenges and build legacies for future generations.

There has never been a better time to be at AECOM. With accelerating infrastructure investment worldwide, our
services are in great demand. We invite you to bring your bold ideas and big dreams and become part of a global team of nearly 50,000 planners, designers, engineers, scientists, digital innovators, program and construction managers and other professionals delivering projects that create a positive and tangible impact around the world.

We're one global team driven by our common purpose to deliver a better world. Join us.

Our Belfast-based Planning and Stakeholder Engagement team deliver projects across Northern Ireland, Ireland and the UK. We have a fantastic graduate opportunity available with an immediate start date. 

About our Team

AECOM’s Planning & Stakeholder Engagement team are involved in delivering some of the largest, most complex and high-profile infrastructure schemes and development and regeneration projects across the UK & Ireland, supporting both public and private sector clients. We are a dynamic team that works closely with colleagues across a broad range of complementary disciplines, including masterplanning, architecture, civil engineering, transportation, landscape architecture, environmental impact assessment (EIA), ecology, heritage, and project management

Projects

As a Graduate Town Planner at AECOM, you will have the opportunity to contribute to a diverse range of projects, primarily across Ireland and Northern Ireland. Our team is actively involved in key market sectors including energy, data centres, water defence and transportation, providing exposure to impactful infrastructure and development projects from day one.

You will also have the opportunity to support major infrastructure projects in the UK, including Development Consent Order (DCO) applications, offering valuable experience on Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.

Alongside this, the team are currently leading on planning applications for a diverse portfolio of projects, including electricity transmission and distribution, renewable energy generation, data centres, airport expansions, railways, city-scale heat networks and much more.  Many of these projects also involve supporting stakeholder engagement and consultation activities as part of the planning and consenting process.

Here's what you'll do: 

Joining AECOM offers excellent opportunities for career progression within a positive and collaborative culture where learning and professional development is actively supported and promoted.   

From the moment you join as a graduate, you will be paired with an experienced member of the team who will mentor and guide you through your initial period working on live projects. Beyond this, you will receive ongoing support and development from your line manager and the wider team, ensuring you are fully supported as you build your skills, confidence, and professional experience.

As a Graduate you will play a role in supporting a wide variety of projects, engaging directly with clients, communities and stakeholders to support consultation and secure successful planning outcomes. Work portfolios are managed to ensure that all staff have the opportunity to experience a breadth and depth of projects (including plan-making, development management and infrastructure projects).    

AECOM supports graduates working towards Chartered Membership of the RTPI / IPI and we provide structured, comprehensive training and mentorship to our graduates undertaking the Assessment of Professional Competence.

We provide regular in-house knowledge-sharing and technical development sessions, alongside opportunities to network with other planners and professionals at industry events, helping you to develop your skills and enable you to achieve your career ambitions.

The main duties of this role will be to: 

• Provide technical inputs to land use planning projects, working within multi-disciplinary teams of planners, environmental specialists, landscape architects and engineers to deliver a diverse range of multi-disciplinary projects including land development, infrastructure planning, policy planning and strategic development planning projects. 
• Supporting the preparation and coordination of planning applications across a range of projects, including infrastructure, large scale residential, leisure and mixed-use developments. This will for example include writing planning statements or policy appraisals and liaising with the client and other stakeholders to achieve successful planning outcomes. 
• Carry out planning research and due diligence analysis to assist with the identification of planning risk and opportunities.
• Support others in the team to identify and pursue business development opportunities and support the growth of the business through new and repeat clients. Contribute to proposals and qualification documents to secure new commissions. 
• Represent the organisation professionally, developing and managing relationships with clients, local authorities and other stakeholders through project work and attendance at conferences and other networking events.  
• Participate in the successful operation of the town planning team, including sharing technical knowledge and promoting best practice. 
• Support stakeholder engagement and consultation activities associated with planning and infrastructure projects, including preparing consultation materials, assisting with stakeholder mapping and helping to coordinate engagement events where required.
• Assist the management team as required. 

Enjoy the Perks

At AECOM, you'll enjoy a range of core and personalised benefits designed to support your future and well-being, customised to fit your lifestyle. Take advantage of career development opportunities, our flexible hybrid working model to ensure a work-life balance that suits your lifestyle, technical practice networks, AECOM University, and volunteering days.

Here is what you will get from us!

On the job support and learning

When a graduate starts at AECOM, we pair them with a senior member of the team who will guide and mentor them through their initial period working on live projects and business development tasks, to support with any technical queries. 

Graduate Development Programme

Our 2-year graduate ADVANCE programme is designed to help you build your career in AECOM. You will attend several instructor-led training sessions where you will meet and hear from people across the business and take part in a series of interactive activities to equip you with the knowledge and skills you need to succeed in your role.   Alongside the instructor-led elements of the ADVANCE programme, you will also engage with an online curriculum via AECOM University and can join the ADV ANCE webinar series.  We will provide you with all the support and tools you need to achieve your professional development ambitions, which may include Chartership with the relevant international professional institution.  

We have more than 750 graduates on our programmes across the UK and Ireland from more than 40 different disciplines, each making a tangible difference to the environment in which we live and work.

We will actively support you in progressing towards becoming a Chartered Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) and/or the Irish Planning Institute (IPI), providing the guidance, experience and professional development opportunities needed to achieve accreditation.

See our digital early careers e-brochure here

Ready to push the limits of what’s possible?

Here’s what we’re looking for:

About You

• A graduate with a degree or post graduate level qualification in Town Planning or a related discipline.
• A hard working and highly motivated individual with a strong interest in all aspects of Planning
• An understanding of Irish, Northern Irish and wider UK planning policy and legislative frameworks

Skills & Experience

• Excellent communication, presentation and report writing skills
• Able to work independently, use your own initiative and perform well under pressure
• Competent in the use of Microsoft Office including Excel, PowerPoint and Word. 
• Successfully manage time to meet project deadlines, demonstrating a strong commitment to delivering high-quality work
• Client focused with strong interpersonal skills and a collaborative approach
• Full current driving licence is preferred (although not essential) and access to a form of transport to travel to various sites to carry out the duties of the post.  Please indicate if you hold this within your application
• Ideally planning work experience beyond academic study (gained through industrial placement, vacation work or post-graduate employment)

We celebrate diversity, including neurodiversity, and believe it enriches our team. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and abilities. If you are an applicant with a disability that requires reasonable accommodation to complete the application process, please contact us at [email protected]

At AECOM, we value everyone's unique contributions and perspectives. If you meet some of the requirements above or have transferable skills you believe would benefit us, we would be delighted to hear from you!
 

Applicants are encouraged to apply as early as possible since CVs will be reviewed, and candidates selected on a rolling recruitment basis for either immediate or advanced offer start. 

Please include a covering letter with your application and provide all predicted and/or obtained academic grades as well as demonstrating why you are interested in this position and how your skills and education/qualifications support your application. 

You must have permanent right to work in the UK as we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this position.

At AECOM, we are committed to maintaining a secure and trustworthy recruitment process and take any fraudulent hiring activity seriously. To support this commitment, all newly hired employees are required to attend an in-person Day 1 onboarding at an AECOM office location as a condition of employment.

About AECOM

AECOM is the world’s trusted infrastructure consulting firm, delivering professional services throughout the project lifecycle – from advisory, planning, design and engineering to program and construction management. On projects spanning transportation, buildings, water, new energy and the environment, our public- and private-sector clients trust us to solve their most complex challenges. Our teams are driven by a common purpose to deliver a better world through our unrivaled technical and digital expertise, a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion, and a commitment to environmental, social and governance priorities. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm and its Professional Services business had revenue of $16.1 billion in fiscal year 2025. See how we are delivering sustainable legacies for generations to come at aecom.com and @AECOM.

Freedom to Grow in a World of Opportunity 

You will have the flexibility you need to do your best work with hybrid work options. Whether you’re working from an AECOM office, remote location or at a client site, you will be working in a dynamic environment where your integrity, entrepreneurial spirit and pioneering mindset are championed.

You will help us foster a safe and respectful workplace, where we invite everyone to bring their whole selves to work using their unique talents, backgrounds and expertise to create transformational outcomes for our clients.

AECOM provides a wide array of compensation, benefits and well-being programs to meet the diverse needs of our employees and their families. We’re the world’s trusted global infrastructure firm, and we’re in this together – your growth and success are ours too.

Join us, and you’ll get all the benefits of being a part of a global, publicly traded firm – access to industry-leading technology and thinking and transformational work with big impact and work flexibility. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we believe in each person’s potential, and we’ll help you reach yours.

We are a Disability Confident Employer and will offer an interview to applicants who have a disability or long-term condition, who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role. Please let us know using this email address [email protected]  if you would like to apply through the Disability Confident Interview Scheme.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.