Design Manager
Role Overview
Dedicated to Project Harker in Carlisle, managing, coordinating, and assuring design activities from end to end.
Ensure design outputs are delivered on time, to required quality, and in line with client specifications and Omexom governance.
Work closely with the Design Management Regional Lead and collaborate with project management, design, planning, commercial, and business leadership.
Key Skills for This Role
Full Job Posting
Role purpose
Dedicated to Project Harker in Carlisle, managing, coordinating, and assuring design activities from end to end.
Ensure design outputs are delivered on time, to required quality, and in line with client specifications and Omexom governance.
Work closely with the Design Management Regional Lead and collaborate with project management, design, planning, commercial, and business leadership.
Workplace and attendance
- Requires regular on-site presence at Harker, with at least three days per week on site for coordination, stakeholder engagement, reviews, and construction interfaces.
Programme, assurance, and commercial control
- Develop, maintain, and issue the design programme; monitor progress and implement recovery strategies.
- Coordinate programme interfaces with planning, procurement, and construction.
- Ensure design outputs meet NG, SSE, and Omexom specifications in line with LCDAE; manage assurance submissions, hold points, and gateway approvals.
- Oversee compliance with internal procedures, standards, and CDM.
- Maintain design change registers and logs; manage EWNs, CEs, and PMIs and follow contractual obligations.
- Assess design impacts on cost, programme, and risk, and support forecasting.
Coordination, risk, and tender support
- Lead design reviews and coordinate multidisciplinary design teams and stakeholders, including clients, OEMs, subcontractors, and delivery teams.
- Manage RFIs, TQs, and design communications.
- Identify temporary and permanent works design risks, document Principal Designer communications, and promote prevention and safety-by-design.
- Support tender development with technical input, design methodology, assumptions, and risk assessment; help ensure proposals are robust, compliant, and commercially defensible.
- Promote collaboration, innovation, lessons learned, and standardisation; support and mentor assistant design managers.
Essential experience and qualifications
- At least 8 years of related experience and relevant qualifications.
- Experience with HV substation projects, ideally in the UK transmission sector.
- Proven design project delivery ability and strong attention to detail.
- Internal and external stakeholder management experience and management-level project leadership.
- Experience delivering complex projects with multidisciplinary and multicultural teams.
- Familiarity with National Grid processes, standards, assurance pathways, or project delivery expectations.
Desired qualifications and experience
- A relevant degree in engineering, project management, construction management, or a similar discipline is desired.
- National Grid substation persons status, experience with energy transmission and distribution specifications, and UK energy or highly regulated industry experience are desired.
- Membership of a relevant professional institution is desired.
Key interfaces
Interfaces include BUGM/Head of Design, project managers, internal and external design teams, planning engineers, commercial and quantity surveying teams, Principal Designer, site delivery teams, and NG/SSE client representatives.
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