Design Manager

Job Title: Design Manager - 3 Days a week on site - 2 days WFH

Reporting to: Design Management Regional Lead

Role Purpose:

The Design Manager is a key member of the Design Management team and will be fully dedicated to Project Harker (Carlisle, UK).

The role is responsible for the end-to-end management, coordination, and assurance of all design activities across the project, ensuring that design deliverables are completed on time, meet the required quality standards, and comply with client specifications and company governance requirements.

The role requires a regular on-site presence at Harker, with a minimum of three days per week on site to support design coordination, stakeholder engagement, design reviews, and construction interface activities.

Working closely with the Design Management Regional Lead for England, the Design Manager will oversee the design programme, design deliverables, technical assurance processes, and design-related coordination.

The role will involve close collaboration with PMs, Designers, Planning, Commercial, and Business Unit leadership.

The Design Manager will promote effective communication, proactive issue resolution, and value-driven design approaches throughout the project lifecycle.

Responsibilities & Duties
Including, but not limited to, the following:
Design Programme Ownership

• Develop, maintain, and issue the design programme for all project schemes.
• Proactively monitor progress, identify deviations, and implement appropriate recovery strategies.
• Coordinate programme interfaces with Planning, Procurement, and Construction.

Design Quality & Technical Assurance

• Ensure all design outputs comply with NG, SSE, and company specifications, in line with the LCDAE.
• Manage the design assurance submission process, including hold-point reviews and gateway approvals.
• Provide oversight to ensure compliance with internal procedures, standards, and CDM requirements.

Commercial & Change Control — NEC Focus

• Act as the custodian of design change, maintaining accurate registers and logs.
• Manage EWNs, CEs, and PMIs, ensuring that all contractual obligations are appropriately addressed.
• Identify the impact of design changes on cost, programme, and risk, and support forecasting activities.
• Support cost forecasting by clearly linking design activities and changes to their commercial impacts.

Design Coordination & Stakeholder Management

• Lead design review meetings and coordinate multidisciplinary design teams.
• Manage interfaces with clients, OEMs, subcontractors, internal and external design teams, and delivery teams.
• Manage RFIs, TQs, and the overall flow of design communications.

Risk, Safety & CDM

• Identify, assess and manage design risks, including those associated with temporary and permanent works.
• Ensure effective communication and documentation between Principal Designers and relevant stakeholders.
• Promote and embed the principles of prevention and safety-by-design throughout the project lifecycle.

Tender & Pre-Construction Input

• Support the BUGM and Bid Manager with technical expertise, design methodologies, assumptions and risk assessments during tender development.
• Ensure tender designs and proposals are robust, compliant and commercially defensible.

Team Leadership & Continuous Improvement

• Promote collaboration, innovation and efficient, high-quality design delivery.
• Drive the capture and application of lessons learned and standardisation across multiple projects.
• pport the development, coaching and mentoring of Assistant Design Managers.

Key Interfaces

The role will involve developing and maintaining effective relationships with key stakeholders, including:

• BUGM / Head of Design
• Project Managers
• Internal and external Design Teams
• Planning Engineers
• Commercial and Quantity Surveying Teams
• Principal Designer
• Site Delivery Teams
• Client Representatives (NG / SSE)

Person Specification

Qualifications & Experience

The successful candidate will possess the following:

Essential

• At least 8 years’ experience in a relevant role, together with appropriate professional qualifications.
• Experience working on HV substation projects, ideally within the UK transmission sector.
• A proven track record of delivering design-related projects with a strong focus on quality and attention to detail.
• A strong commitment to developing people and building effective teams capable of delivering programmes safely, on time, within budget and to a high standard.
• Demonstrable experience managing both internal and external stakeholders.
• Project leadership experience at management level, with responsibility for delivering projects of varying complexity across multidisciplinary and multicultural teams.
• Familiarity with National Grid processes, standards, assurance pathways and project delivery requirements.

Preferred Qualifications & Experience

The ideal candidate will possess a combination of technical expertise, industry knowledge, and a proactive approach to project delivery, including:

• Degree qualification in Engineering, Project Management, Construction Management, or a related discipline.
• National Grid Persons accreditation (Substations).
• Proven experience working within energy transmission and distribution environments, including compliance with relevant specifications, processes, and procedures.
• Experience in the UK energy sector or other highly regulated industries.
• Membership of a relevant professional institution or working towards professional accreditation.

Safety, Health, Environment & Quality (SHEQ)
Safety and quality are at the heart of everything they do.
All employees are expected to comply with Company SHEQ policies and procedures at all times.