Bill Gifford spent more than 20 years at Balfour Beatty rising to regional managing director for civil engineering, before joining Morgan Sindall over four years ago.
In the new role, Gifford will help BAM Nuttall expand its highways business, building a stronger relationship with Highways England.
Since Nuttall set up its highways business it has tended to underperform its technical capability with only a handful of contract wins.
The biggest of these contracts with Highways England is a joint venture with Morgan Sindall to deliver Smart motorway upgrade between junctions 4 and 7 of the M27.
Work is due to start on this project this June.