Design Manager mCUP

Johnson Controls; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 360,000 - 600,000; Full time

Job summary

Johnson Controls in Abu Dhabi seeks a Mechanical Design Manager for mCUP projects. You will lead mechanical design across packaged chiller plants, pumping and cooling systems, and plant infrastructure, coordinating across Sales, Estimation, QA, and Site teams.

You will convert tender requirements into production-ready designs, review P&IDs and layouts, and ensure alignment with manufacturing and site needs. Strong technical leadership and cross-discipline collaboration are essential.

Qualifications

• Diploma or Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related discipline.
• Substantial experience with district cooling plants, packaged chiller plants, modular central utility plants, or similar industrial mechanical systems.
• Experience across concept design, detailed engineering, customer approval, BIM coordination, and fabrication support.
• Hands-on experience preparing and reviewing P&IDs, plant layouts, mechanical calculations, submittals, and installation docs.
• Experience coordinating engineering deliverables with multiple manufacturing facilities or distributed teams.
• Knowledge of mechanical, piping, fabrication, safety standards relevant to modular plant projects.

Responsibilities

• Lead mechanical design activities for mCUP systems and related infrastructure across multiple facilities.
• Review tender documents and translate requirements into compliant design concepts and layouts.
• Develop and maintain P&IDs, mechanical layouts, and design documentation.
• Perform hydraulic calculations, pipe sizing, and equipment sizing as part of design validation.
• Coordinate BIM coordination and multi-discipline interfaces to ensure design integrity.
• Provide engineering support during installation, testing and commissioning.

Skills

P&IDs

BIM coordination

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering

Job description

Job description

What you will do

The Mechanical Design Manager - mCUP is responsible for managing and coordinating the mechanical design and engineering activities for Modular Central Utility Plant projects, including packaged chiller plants, pumping systems, cooling tower systems, utility and chiller skids, piping modules, and associated plant infrastructure. The role covers the full design lifecycle from review of customer tender documents and concept development through detailed engineering, customer approval, manufacturing and fabrication documentation, production support, installation, testing, and commissioning support.

The position converts customer P&IDs, layouts, specifications, and project requirements into compliant, constructible, cost-effective, and production-ready engineering deliverables. The role coordinates mechanical design activities across multiple manufacturing facilities and works closely with Sales, Application Engineering, Estimation, Controls, Electrical, Structural, Procurement, Quality, Manufacturing, Project Management, and Site teams. The role is expected to provide strong technical and coordination capability while remaining focused on delivery responsibilities appropriate to a Mechanical Design Manager position.

How you will do it

• Lead and coordinate mechanical design activities for mCUP systems, packaged chiller plants, utility skids, cooling tower systems, pumping systems, piping modules, and related mechanical infrastructure.
• Review and understand customer tender documents, including P&IDs, plant layouts, technical specifications, equipment schedules, scope documents, and project-specific requirements.
• Translate tender information and customer requirements into design concepts, equipment arrangements, plant layouts, piping layouts, module configurations, and detailed engineering deliverables.
• Develop, review, and maintain project P&IDs, mechanical layouts, general arrangement drawings, piping drawings, equipment interfaces, and design documentation.
• Perform and review hydraulic calculations, pipe sizing, flow and velocity checks, pressure-drop calculations, pump-head calculations, equipment sizing inputs, and other mechanical calculations required for design validation and customer approval.

Customer Submittals and Design Approval

• Prepare and review drawings, calculations, technical data, and design documents required for customer or consultant submission and approval.
• Address customer and consultant review comments, maintain comment-resolution records, and update design deliverables in line with approved technical decisions.
• Participate in customer design reviews and technical discussions to explain the proposed mechanical design, resolve interfaces, and support timely approval.
• Maintain alignment between approved customer documents and production drawings through controlled engineering revisions.

Manufacturing and Fabrication Drawings

• Create and review manufacturing, fabrication, assembly, spool, module, and installation drawings required for production of mCUP equipment and systems.
• Ensure manufacturing and fabrication drawings contain sufficient dimensions, material information, connection details, tolerances, support details, interfaces, and references for accurate production and quality inspection.
• Incorporate approved production changes into drawings and related engineering documentation through the established change‑control process.

Multiple Manufacturing Facility Coordination

• Coordinate mechanical design and production engineering requirements across multiple manufacturing facilities supporting mCUP projects.
• Establish consistent drawing standards, design assumptions, interface definitions, and engineering deliverable expectations across facilities.
• Work with manufacturing, quality, procurement, and project teams to align design release dates with material procurement, production, assembly, and shipment requirements.
• Capture manufacturing feedback and apply lessons learned to improve repeatability, constructability, quality, and future mCUP designs.

BIM and Multidiscipline Coordination

• Lead mechanical BIM coordination, model reviews, and clash‑detection activities for modular plant projects.
• Coordinate mechanical interfaces with electrical, controls, structural, architectural, fire and life safety, and other relevant disciplines.
• Review models and drawings for accessibility, installation sequence, maintenance requirements, fabrication feasibility, and module‑to‑module or site interfaces.
• Ensure consistency among P&IDs, layouts, models, fabrication drawings, customer‑approved documents, and bills of materials.

Installation, Testing, and Commissioning Support

• Provide engineering support for installation, testing, and commissioning by issuing design clarifications, responding to technical queries, reviewing site conditions, and resolving design‑related field issues.
• Update layouts, fabrication drawings, installation drawings, P&IDs, and other engineering documents to reflect approved site changes and final installed conditions.
• Coordinate feedback from site and commissioning teams with manufacturing and engineering stakeholders to protect design intent and improve subsequent projects.

Commercial and Project Delivery Support

• Support Sales, Application Engineering, Estimation, and Project teams with technical solutions, design concepts, preliminary layouts, engineering inputs, and proposal documentation.
• Provide mechanical design inputs for costing, material quantities, fabrication complexity, engineering effort, and project schedule development.
• Identify design risks, interfaces, assumptions, deviations, and technical dependencies early and communicate them to the project team.
• Support procurement through technical review of vendor documents, equipment drawings, and supplier interfaces relevant to the mechanical design.

Design Quality and Team Coordination

• Plan and prioritize mechanical design deliverables in accordance with project milestones, customer approval needs, and manufacturing schedules.
• Conduct design reviews and drawing checks to ensure technical completeness, accuracy, consistency, and production readiness.
• Coordinate work among designers, BIM resources, engineers, manufacturing personnel, and external engineering partners as applicable.
• Promote standardization, reusable design practices, lessons learned, and continuous improvement across the mCUP mechanical design process.

What we look for

Required

• Diploma or Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related engineering discipline.
• Substantial relevant experience in district cooling plants, packaged chiller plants, modular central utility plants, utility skids, cooling tower systems, pumping systems, or comparable industrial mechanical systems.
• Demonstrated experience across concept design, detailed engineering, customer approval, BIM coordination, manufacturing and fabrication support, installation, testing, and commissioning support.
• Hands‑on experience preparing and reviewing P&IDs, plant layouts, mechanical calculations, customer submittals, manufacturing drawings, fabrication drawings, and installation documentation.
• Experience coordinating engineering deliverables with more than one manufacturing facility or geographically distributed project team is strongly preferred.
• Experience supporting Sales, Estimation, Procurement, Quality, Manufacturing, Project Delivery, and Site teams in an engineered‑to‑order environment is preferred.
• Knowledge of applicable mechanical, piping, pressure‑testing, fabrication, quality, and safety standards relevant to modular plant projects.