Design Manager

Barhale Ltd; Peterborough; On-site; CAD 122,000 - 168,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company Pension

Life Assurance

Private Medical

25 days annual leave + 8 public bank-h

Employee Assistance Programme

Flexible benefits via salary sacrifice

Company car/green car scheme/car/van

Leadership & management training

Regular line management engagement

Development supported by internal and外

Job summary

Barhale is seeking a Design Manager in Peterborough to lead the engineering design delivery for water treatment portfolios. You will collaborate with senior engineers to implement design methods, allocate resources, and drive right-first-time design quality across multidisciplinary teams.

We value leadership with experience in water/civil projects; chartered status is preferred or being pursued. Barhale offers extensive employee development and a supportive, inclusive workplace culture.

Qualifications

• Engineering degree or equivalent required.
• Experience leading multi-discipline teams recommended.
• Chartered status encouraged or working towards it.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage engineering design delivery for water treatment projects.
• Manage Engineering Project Plans to control scope, programme, cost, risk and resources.
• Collaborate with Senior Discipline Engineers to select suitable design methods.
• Allocate competent resources to projects based on portfolio complexity.
• Work with BIM Programme Manager to ensure design quality and right-first-time outcomes.
• Coordinate with Solutions Team on optioneering and single solution design.
• Support end users with considerations for health & safety, environment, procurement and customers.

Skills

People management

Leadership

Education

Engineering degree or equivalent

Job description

Barhale is a business founded on family values, having been established by our Chairman, Dennis Curran, in 1980. We are one of the largest privately owned civil engineering and infrastructure specialists in the UK, with over 40 years of experience in providing design, civil engineering and maintenance services working across multiple sectors, including:

• Water
• Transport
• Energy

We operate as a tier one partner for blue chip, regulated and private clients, working as part of large frameworks, joint ventures and alliances, as well as on individual standalone projects, developing long-term relationships based on delivering to the Barhale values which have been integral to our business since their inception in 1985.

Our direct delivery model is at the core of everything we do, as we believe that people are our greatest asset. Therefore, we robustly source, train and retain all our own frontline delivery teams as well as management and support services. We employ over 1,200 employees nationwide.

We possess a range of specialist skills to support our civil engineering and infrastructure activities, including:

• MEICA
• Temporary and permanent design
• Steel-fabrication
• Signs (design and fabrication)
• Health & safety equipment and products, including PPE

Why join Barhale?

• As Gold Investors in People, we are committed to a high standard of people practices, creating an inclusive environment and ensuring cultural alignment to business strategy, ethos and philosophies.
• Job security, long-term secured work through various frameworks and large infrastructure schemes
• Broad range of civil engineering, mechanical and electrical schemes across some of the UK’s largest infrastructure projects and clients
• Strong career progression as demonstrated by our track record in promoting from within, as we believe this is a key driver of our success

Design Manager

The Role

Water and our natural environment are the foundation of life, society and economies. The East of England has unique rivers, wetlands and coastlines, yet it is classified as severely water stressed and faces drought and a degrading natural environment. This is due to a combination of a growing economy, the highest rate of new housing development in the UK, climate change and being a major agricultural producer.

Anglian Water’s purpose is to bring environmental and social prosperity to the East of England, through our commitment to Love Every Drop. We have an ambitious £9bn 5-year capital investment programme that will provide safe and resilient water supplies, permit sustainable growth, provide climate change resilience, and protect and improve the natural environment.

Project Description

Our Water Recycling Business Unit, split into East and West regions, is responsible for the collection, conveyance, and treatment of wastewater across an extensive network. We operate over 76,000km of sewerage infrastructure and 1,163 treatment centres, ensuring safe and sustainable discharge to the environment while driving innovation and environmental performance.

Key Responsibilities

Design Management

• Lead and manage the engineering design delivery for a portfolio of water treatment projects.
• Manage the development, implementation and management of Engineering Project Plans to control scope, programme, cost, risk and resources.
• In collaboration with the Senior Discipline Engineers (Process / Mechanical / Electrical / Civil), provide direction on suitable design methods for undertaking engineering design tasks.
• Using the principle of best for task, assess the complexity of your portfolio projects and assign suitably competent engineering resources to projects.
• Collaborate with the Senior Discipline Engineers and BIM Programme Manager to implement design quality procedures and monitor adherence to achieve a right first-time philosophy.
• Supplier and subcontractor design input – support the engagement, selection, contracting, management and integration of designs for your portfolio.
• End users – support your team to produce acceptable designs with consideration of health & safety, the environment, construction, procurement, the customer, and Anglian Water Operations.
• Conduct portfolio engineering design meetings and hold team members to account.
• Lead your team to collaborate with and support the Solutions (optioneering) Team, including taking responsibility for the design aspects for optioneering and the single solution.

Project Delivery

• One project team – work in partnership with and support the other @one functions (e.g. project management, enabling, procurement, construction) to deliver outcomes for your portfolio.
• Affordability – understand the project outcomes and obligations within your portfolio, and through the management of the engineering design, seek and deliver opportunities to achieve affordability and value.
• Delivery on Time - support the development and management of project programmes to achieve milestones and drive efficiencies.
• Sustainability – produce designs that contribute to enhancing the environment and reducing carbon.
• Risk, Opportunities & Value - contribute to the management of, including challenging designs and producing value driven outcomes. Support your project design teams to identify and issue early warnings to the Project Managers and manage mitigation measures.
• Collaboration - engage with internal and external stakeholders to deliver the portfolio projects and obtain acceptance.

Health & Safety

• Construction Design & Management (CDM) Regulations – undertake delegated tasks of the Principal Designer and manage your team to comply with CDM procedures and regulations.
• Manage CDM competency assessments for your team and projects.
• Ensure the production of design risk assessments, manage the production of the pre-construction information, and the H&S File for your portfolio.
• Identify health, safety and welfare issues with team members and seek support to manage.
• Drive a strong health, safety and welfare culture within your team, including continuous improvement.

People/Team Development

• Provide clear, consistent, and visible leadership to your portfolio engineering design team.
• People Management - undertake for a multi-discipline team, including performance management, and the mentoring and development of team members to reach their potential.
• Support creating a positive and fulfilling environment, where everyone is respected and heard, treated equally, recognised, and diversity is embraced.
• Allocate resources to your portfolio projects based on priorities and complexity. Identify competency gaps within your portfolio design team and support the recruitment of staff, and the use of global resources and suppliers.

Transformation

• Lead and drive a culture that inspires your portfolio engineering team to experiment, deliberately-deliver-differently, innovate, manage risk, and continuously improve performance.
• Support your team to reduce carbon and natural capital within designs.
• Embrace new digital technologies to achieve the goal of fully attributed 3D models.
• Lead the development of standardisation and product development within your portfolio.
• An engineering, or equivalent, degree is required.
• Preferably chartered, or working towards, chartered status.
• Experience of water-sector assets and capital projects.
• Ideally, but not essential, experience of a Design & Build environment.
• Leading and managing people and teams.

Caring and investing in you

Our values have been embedded at Barhale for over 40 years, and they are our guiding principles regarding how we care and invest in people. Our values are our commitment to being a people-centric company.

As a Gold Investors in People company and a Sunday Times 100 Best Company to Work For, we are committed to investing in people. We are passionate about creating a working environment where people are supported throughout their careers, where people can enjoy security and be part of a company that cares about them.

From the moment you join us, your well-being and career aspirations will be supported by.

• Company Pension
• Life Assurance
• Private Medical
• 25 days of annual leave in addition to 8 public bank holidays and loyalty days
• Employee Assistance Programme to support your mental, physiological and financial wellbeing.
• Flexible benefits via salary sacrifice
• Company car/green car scheme/car allowance/Van (dependent on position)
• Leadership & management training and coaching
• Regular line management engagement and appraisal to support your career progression.
• Development supported by internal and externally delivered training.

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme

Job Details

Company: Barhale

Salary: Competitive

Hours: Full-time

Location: Peterborough, PE3 6WT

Job type: Permanent

Posting date: 28 Sept 2026

Closing date: 27 Oct 2026