Project Manager / Design Manager - Transport

Mott MacDonald; Sydney; On-site; AUD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Agile working environment

Insurance (life/personal accident)

Salary continuance insurance

Employee resource groups

Annual health checks

Professional development

Job summary

Mott MacDonald Australia’s Roads and Highways team in Sydney seeks an experienced Project Manager/Design Manager – Highways to lead and deliver iconic highway projects. You’ll drive design management, stakeholder engagement, and contract oversight across civil, structural, geotechnical and digital disciplines, ensuring strategic planning and quality outcomes.

You will guide project delivery from planning through close-out, mentoring engineers, and embedding technical excellence into every phase

Qualifications

• Degree in civil engineering or equivalent qualifications.
• 10+ years of experience delivering transport infrastructure engineering for design for construction contractors, PPPs or Alliances.
• Proven ability to manage complex design interfaces and multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong communication, negotiation, and client relationship skills.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the full lifecycle of highway projects, including planning, design, procurement, construction, and close-out.
• Engage with clients, contractors, consultants, and internal teams to ensure alignment and timely decision-making.
• Administer contracts, manage compensation events, and ensure commercial reporting and budget control.
• Lead the development and maintenance of project schedules using Primavera P6, ensuring milestones are met and risks are mitigated.
• Ensure adherence to safety, environmental, and regulatory standards.
• Lead multidisciplinary teams across civil, structural, geotechnical, and digital disciplines, ensuring collaborative delivery.
• Apply lessons learned to improve planning, delivery, and governance processes.
• Leverage tools such as ProjectWise and BIM platforms to interrogate and manage digital design data, workflows, and deliverables.
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to capability building through the Highways Academy and internal knowledge-sharing platforms.
• Diligent approach to quality assurance including team selection, competency management, and design requirements allocation/verification

Skills

Strong communication

Negotiation

Client relationships

Lead multidisciplinary teams

Education

Degree in civil engineering or equivalent qualifications

Tools

Primavera P6

ProjectWise

BIM platforms

Job description

Brilliant people trusted to do brilliant things

Mott MacDonald is a vibrant and forward-thinking employee-owned engineering, management, and development consultancy. Working together as a global team we plan, design, deliver and maintain the water, transport, energy , buildings, and wider infrastructure that is integral to people’s daily lives. We value excellence in every dimension of our business and continuously seek opportunities to improve what we do and how we do it.

We employ brilliant people who combine their diverse skills and experiences to achieve brilliant things. Whether you want to specialise or broaden your experience, you'll be supported by global specialists eager to share their expertise. With numerous opportunities to learn and grow, the possibilities are as diverse as our people. Working as a connected global team, we deliver impactful projects that shape the future.

Your Opportunity

Building on our recent growth in the Highways Alliance and Design & Construct market across Australia, our Roads and Highways team is seeking an experienced Project Manager/Design Manager – Highways in Sydney to manage and deliver Iconic Australian projects, where you’ll have the opportunity to shape and grow our design management offering, and support growth within our wider transport team, focusing on embedding technical excellence at the core of everything we do.

The Project Manager role will provide leadership and development to support the further growth across the business unit by way of quality project delivery relating to civil, roads and highways, project management and design management functions. You will be responsible for the strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, contract management, and ensuring that projects meet scope, budget, and quality expectations. The position demands strong leadership, technical understanding of highways design and construction, and the ability to manage multidisciplinary teams across various phases of project delivery on complex highway and road infrastructure design projects . Depending on your specific expertise, your responsibilities will include various aspects of:

• Project Leadership: Oversee the full lifecycle of highway projects, including planning, design, procurement, construction, and close-out.
• Stakeholder Management: Engage with clients, contractors, consultants, and internal teams to ensure alignment and timely decision-making.
• Contract & Commercial Oversight: Administer contracts, manage compensation events, and ensure commercial reporting and budget control.
• Programme Management: Lead the development and maintenance of project schedules using tools like Primavera P6, ensuring milestones are met and risks are mitigated.
• Governance & Compliance: Ensure adherence to safety, environmental, and regulatory standards.
• Team Coordination: Lead multidisciplinary teams across civil, structural, geotechnical, and digital disciplines, ensuring collaborative delivery.
• Continuous Improvement: Apply lessons learned to improve planning, delivery, and governance processes.
• Digital Engineering: Leverage tools such as ProjectWise and BIM platforms to interrogate and manage digital design data, workflows, and deliverables.
• Team Development: Mentor junior engineers and contribute to capability building through the Highways Academy and internal knowledge-sharing platforms. Manage the developments of multi-disciplinary design coordination and project management.
• Quality & Assurance: Diligent approach to quality assurance including team selection, competency management, and design requirements allocation/verification

About you

• Degree in civil engineering or equivalent qualifications
• 10+ years of experience in the delivery of Transport infrastructure engineering for design for construction contractors, PPP’s or Alliances.
• Proven ability to manage complex design interfaces and multidisciplinary teams.
• Familiarity with typical client and stakeholder requirements (stage gates, comment close-out, appropriate level of design maturity)
• Understand key technical requirements and identify deliverables and outcomes required to fulfil the client’s scope.
• Strong communication, negotiation, and client relationship skills.

Culture & Benefits

Mott MacDonald celebrates diversity and inclusion, offering a supportive work environment that values work-life balance, diversity, inclusion, and equity. We welcome diverse applicants, including First Nations People, people with disabilities, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and people of all genders, neurodiversity, cultural backgrounds, age groups, and those with intersectional identities.

• Agile working environment, supporting our people to work flexibly
• Life, personal accident, and salary continuance insurance
• Employee resource groups including the Inclusive Network for Women, Corporate Social Responsibility and more
• Annual Health Checks and ongoing professional development

You’ve got this!

We endorse a diverse and inclusive workplace, and look to provide suitable opportunities for employees.

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