Member Story: Sarah Marshall, Senior Principal Consultant, Social Impact, Mott MacDonald

1. How did you get into CR&S, and why did you choose this profession?

I didn’t set out to work in CR&S in a very direct way. I came at it through urban planning and an interest in how places shape people’s lives, especially who benefits and who doesn’t.

That led me into social impact consultancy. What’s kept me here is the chance to connect strategy with real outcomes. You’re working with organisations to shape decisions that people feel in their day-to-day lives.

2.    What makes your sector unique from a CRS perspective?

In infrastructure, the decisions you influence tend to last a long time. A transport system or a public space can shape how people live, move and connect for decades.

From a CR&S perspective, that raises the stakes. You need to get it right early and work across a lot of different priorities. It’s less about adding something on later and more about building social outcomes into the core of a project.

3.    What do you need to do your job brilliantly?

Listening is probably the most important part. A lot of the value comes from understanding different perspectives and helping turn them into something practical.

You also need a strong evidence base. Bringing together data and lived experience helps build trust and supports better decisions. And collaboration is key. The best outcomes come from people working across disciplines and being open to different ways of doing things.

4.    What advice would you give to others on getting into CR&S?

Start with the issues you genuinely care about rather than the job title. There isn’t one route into CR&S and that’s part of what makes it interesting.

It also helps to understand how decisions get made in organisations. The closer you are to that process, the more impact you can have. And try to keep things grounded. The work matters most when it leads to real change.