Design Manager

1. Job Purpose

The Design Manager is responsible for planning, managing, coordinating, and controlling the multidisciplinary design process across assigned projects, ensuring that architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing (MEP), and other engineering deliverables are aligned with client requirements, project objectives, technical standards, approved budgets, and agreed schedules.

The role serves as the central coordination point between design disciplines, project managers, clients, external consultants, and other stakeholders. The Design Manager ensures that design activities progress efficiently from concept development through detailed design, tender documentation, and construction-stage support, where included in the project scope.

The position requires strong technical understanding, multidisciplinary coordination capabilities, project management expertise, and the ability to identify and resolve design risks before they affect project delivery.

2. Key Responsibilities

A. Design Management and Planning

• Develop and maintain comprehensive design management plans aligned with overall project objectives, contractual requirements, and delivery milestones.
• Define design deliverables, submission schedules, review periods, approval milestones, and coordination requirements.
• Establish clear responsibilities and interfaces between architectural, structural, MEP, infrastructure, and specialist design disciplines.
• Coordinate design activities from project initiation and concept development through detailed design and tender documentation.
• Monitor design progress against approved schedules and identify potential delays or resource constraints.
• Coordinate with Project Managers to ensure design deliverables support procurement, construction, and overall project execution requirements.
• Establish design review procedures, approval workflows, and document control requirements.
• Ensure that design activities are properly planned, monitored, and reported throughout the project lifecycle.

B. Multidisciplinary Design Coordination

• Lead coordination between architectural, structural, MEP, civil, infrastructure, and specialist engineering teams.
• Ensure that design disciplines work from consistent project information, approved requirements, and coordinated assumptions.
• Identify and resolve design clashes, interface conflicts, spatial constraints, and technical inconsistencies.
• Organize and lead multidisciplinary design coordination meetings.
• Maintain coordination registers, action trackers, design issue logs, and decision records.
• Ensure that design comments and outstanding issues are assigned to the appropriate discipline and resolved within agreed timelines.
• Coordinate with BIM teams and discipline leads to support model coordination and clash detection where applicable.
• Verify that design interfaces are resolved before drawings and models are issued for formal review, tender, or construction.

C. Client and Stakeholder Management

• Act as the primary design coordination contact for clients and relevant project stakeholders.
• Organize design workshops, technical meetings, progress reviews, and design approval sessions.
• Ensure that client requirements, operational needs, and project constraints are communicated clearly to design teams.
• Coordinate the review and incorporation of client comments and consultant feedback.
• Monitor design approvals and follow up on outstanding decisions that may affect project progress.
• Communicate design risks, proposed solutions, scope changes, and technical constraints to management and clients.
• Manage expectations regarding design deliverables, review periods, and responsibilities.
• Maintain professional relationships with clients, consultants, contractors, and specialist service providers.

D. Design Quality Assurance and Technical Compliance

• Establish and implement design quality control procedures throughout the project lifecycle.
• Coordinate design reviews at key stages to verify completeness, accuracy, consistency, and compliance.
• Ensure that design deliverables align with the approved project brief, contractual scope, applicable regulations, and relevant technical standards.
• Verify that architectural and engineering outputs are coordinated before submission.
• Ensure that design comments, non-conformities, and technical discrepancies are documented and resolved.
• Monitor compliance with applicable building codes, accessibility requirements, fire and life-safety provisions, and other relevant regulations.
• Coordinate internal design audits and technical reviews where required.
• Promote consistent documentation standards, design review checklists, and lessons-learned practices.
• Escalate significant technical or regulatory issues that require specialist review or management decisions.

E. Design Budget and Resource Management

• Coordinate design resource planning with Project Managers, discipline leads, and management.
• Monitor design effort and resource utilization against approved project budgets and work plans.
• Identify potential overruns caused by design changes, repeated revisions, incomplete information, or coordination issues.
• Support the preparation of design fee estimates, resource forecasts, and delivery plans where required.
• Review proposed scope changes and assess their implications for design hours, costs, deliverables, and timelines.
• Coordinate with management regarding resource allocation, recruitment needs, specialist requirements, and workload distribution.
• Promote efficient design processes and reduce avoidable rework.
• Support commercial discussions concerning additional design services and variations, subject to the company's approval procedures.

F. Design Change and Risk Management

• Establish procedures for recording, assessing, reviewing, and approving design changes.
• Evaluate the impact of changes on project scope, cost, schedule, quality, constructability, and multidisciplinary interfaces.
• Maintain design risk registers and monitor mitigation actions.
• Identify risks arising from incomplete client requirements, delayed approvals, conflicting information, and late design changes.
• Ensure that approved changes are communicated to all affected disciplines and stakeholders.
• Monitor the status of design decisions, technical queries, assumptions, and outstanding information.
• Escalate critical issues that may affect contractual commitments, project milestones, or construction activities.
• Ensure that design changes are properly documented and incorporated into the relevant drawings, models, specifications, and schedules.

G. Design Development and Constructability

• Oversee the progression of design deliverables through concept, schematic, detailed design, and tender stages.
• Ensure that designs consider construction methods, sequencing, access, maintenance, safety, and operational requirements.
• Coordinate with construction and site teams to identify potential implementation challenges.
• Support value engineering exercises to improve cost efficiency without compromising essential quality or performance requirements.
• Review proposed materials, systems, and technical alternatives in coordination with relevant discipline leads.
• Promote practical, sustainable, and technically coordinated design solutions.
• Ensure that design outputs provide sufficient information for their intended purpose and stage of delivery.
• Coordinate with procurement and cost management teams where design choices affect lead times, specifications, or procurement strategy.

H. BIM and Digital Design Coordination

• Support the implementation of appropriate digital design coordination processes across assigned projects.
• Coordinate the use of BIM models, common data environments, and collaborative design tools where required.
• Ensure that design teams follow agreed model coordination, information exchange, naming, and revision procedures.
• Review coordination reports and monitor the closure of identified clashes.
• Work with BIM Coordinators and discipline leads to improve information consistency and coordination efficiency.
• Support the development and implementation of design management templates, digital workflows, and reporting standards.
• Promote effective use of project information to improve design quality, reduce rework, and support project delivery.

I. Team Leadership and Performance Management

• Coordinate the activities and priorities of architectural and engineering discipline leads.
• Establish clear expectations for design deliverables, review responsibilities, quality, and deadlines.
• Monitor the performance of design teams against approved project plans.
• Facilitate communication and collaboration between disciplines.
• Identify resource gaps, workload imbalances, and training needs.
• Provide guidance on design coordination issues and support resolution of cross-disciplinary conflicts.
• Contribute to performance reviews and professional development planning in coordination with department heads and HR.
• Encourage accountability, knowledge sharing, continuous improvement, and adherence to established design standards.

J. Reporting and Project Handover

• Prepare regular design progress reports for management and clients.
• Track design milestones, deliverables, approvals, risks, outstanding decisions, and coordination issues.
• Maintain accurate records of design reviews, meeting minutes, technical decisions, and approved changes.
• Ensure that design documentation is properly controlled and that current approved information is accessible to authorized stakeholders.
• Coordinate the completion and handover of design packages to tendering, construction, or other project teams.
• Ensure that outstanding design issues and relevant technical information are clearly documented at handover.
• Participate in project closeout reviews and document lessons learned for future projects.

3. Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Architecture, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or another relevant engineering discipline.
• A Master's degree in Engineering Management, Project Management, Construction Management, or a related field is an advantage.
• Typically, 10–15 years of relevant experience in engineering design, multidisciplinary consultancy, design coordination, or project delivery.
• Demonstrated experience coordinating multiple design disciplines on complex building or infrastructure projects.
• Previous experience managing design deliverables, schedules, technical reviews, client approvals, and multidisciplinary interfaces.
• Strong understanding of architectural, structural, and MEP design processes.
• Experience with design risk management, quality assurance, document control, and change management.
• Familiarity with construction methods, procurement interfaces, and value engineering.
• Experience working with BIM-based design coordination and collaborative project platforms is an advantage.
• Previous experience leading design teams or coordinating discipline leads.
• Professional registration or relevant professional membership is an advantage, subject to the requirements of the position and applicable regulations.
• Experience in international projects or multidisciplinary engineering consultancy environments is preferred.

4. Technical Skills

• Strong understanding of multidisciplinary building design and engineering coordination.
• Ability to review architectural, structural, MEP, and other relevant design deliverables.
• Proficiency in design planning, schedule monitoring, resource coordination, and reporting.
• Familiarity with BIM coordination, clash detection, and common data environments.
• Knowledge of design quality assurance, technical review processes, and document control.
• Understanding of applicable building regulations, technical standards, and construction requirements.
• Familiarity with project management tools such as Microsoft Project, Primavera P6, or equivalent platforms.
• Familiarity with Autodesk Revit, Navisworks, AutoCAD, and other relevant design review tools is an advantage.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Strong technical reporting, meeting facilitation, and presentation skills.

5. Required Competencies

Design and Technical Management

• Multidisciplinary design coordination.
• Technical review and quality assurance.
• Design planning and interface management.
• Constructability and value engineering.
• Design risk and change management.

Project and Commercial Management

• Schedule and resource management.
• Budget monitoring and cost awareness.
• Scope and deliverable control.
• Progress reporting and escalation.
• Understanding of contractual obligations.

Leadership and Communication

• Team coordination and leadership.
• Client and stakeholder management.
• Negotiation and conflict resolution.
• Decision-making and problem-solving.
• Clear communication across technical disciplines.

Personal Effectiveness

• Strong organizational skills.
• Attention to detail.
• Accountability and results orientation.
• Ability to manage competing priorities.
• Adaptability and continuous improvement.