She will take over from Joe Incutti, Kier Highways finance director, who was acting as interim managing director following the retirement of Dave Wright five months ago.

Hindle joins Kier in May from Amey where she has spent the last 15 years, most recently as managing director of its Rail and Consulting business.

In this role she oversaw the delivery of critical schemes including work on the Old Oak to Paddington station approaches for Crossrail, running the Wales and Borders rail network and South Wales Metro and electrifying the strategic railway network around Manchester.

A passionate advocate of diversity and inclusion, Hindle has championed a diversity campaign which includes gender neutral recruiting and the introduction of an engineering badge with the Guiding Association. 

At Kier, she will be responsible for maintenance and capital projects across a range of highaway contracts including Area’s 3, 9 and 13 as well as the design and construction of the A585 Windy Harbour to Skipool and the A5036 Port of Liverpool schemes delivered through the Highways England Regional Delivery Partnership.

Kier is also supporting local authorities including Suffolk, Surrey and Shropshire to maintain their local network.

Andrew Davies, Kier chief executive said: “Nicola brings with her a strong focus on safety and quality delivery for clients and I look forward to her working closely with our senior leadership team and key clients to continue to drive growth for our Highways business.”