Associate Director (Mechanical)

Harley Haddow; West of England; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Harley Haddow in Bristol seeks an Associate Director (Mechanical) to lead delivery on complex projects, manage client relationships and drive business growth. You will shape strategy with the director, oversee design teams, and represent the firm in commercial discussions.

The role is based in Bristol city centre, permanent, with strong emphasis on leadership, client development and high-quality technical delivery across projects.

Qualifications

• Degree qualified and incorporated/chartered status or equivalent.
• Hold strong 10+ years of project responsibility and delivery experience.
• Proven track record in client management and business development.

Responsibilities

• Lead projects across RIBA stages from concept to post-contract delivery.
• Manage projects, personnel and engineering output to meet delivery dates and quality.

Skills

Project management

Client management

Leadership

Business development

Team management

Communication

Financial awareness

Education

Degree qualified

Chartered status

Tools

AutoCAD

Revit

Job description

Vacancy

Associate Director (Mechanical)

Location: Bristol || Contract:Permanent || Salary:Competitive

Our recently opened office in Bristol city centre.

Purpose

You will be a member of the senior management team within the office and play an intrinsic role in ensuring that your departmental workload grows. You will work closely with the Director to ensure that technical delivery and quality of the engineering design specification and post contract monitoring of all projects is undertaken and be able to confidently represent Harley Haddow to all relevant parties to discuss project development, seeking feedback direct from clients as necessary. You will also work closely with the Director to assess opportunities for projects, Clients, growth and strategic investment.

You will also act as the primary point of contact on key commercially or client sensitive projects and will consult at key stages of the project with other members of the project team and your colleagues to ensure that the engineering requirements are delivered. You shall be part of the senior management team and shall be fully involved in commercial discussions relating to resources, profitability and future projects, leading these discussions with existing and prospective clients. You will be expected to review and highlight opportunities for new work and ensure that existing clients are maintained.

The position demands excellent communication skills; you will be representing Harley Haddow through direct contact with clients and other design team members. You are expected to represent the company at meetings in engineering as well as on all aspects of commercial matters ensuring that fee and contract matters are discussed with the Director and senior management colleagues.

You will also be engaged in client development for your office, and the company generally, in a business development and client retention programme. You will be expected to liaise, manage and monitor client relationship and project opportunities. This will include liaison across disciplines and offices in differing geographical locations.

Roles and Responsibilities

Key Areas of Focus

• Drive business development, client retention and growth of commercial and workload opportunities, developing new clients and workload streams. Engagement with the Bids and Marketing team to ensure continued workload and support the company’s business development programme.
• Oversee the bids process — quality-checking output, assessing go/no-go options and leading commercial input — working closely with the Bids and Marketing team to support the pipeline
• Lead projects (and support senior colleagues where needed) across all RIBA stages, from concept and strategy (Stage 2–3) through detailed design (Stage 4) to post-contract delivery (Stage 5–7)
• Manage projects, personnel and engineering output to ensure delivery dates and quality criteria are met
• Provide technical leadership and support to engineers and technicians, and prepare scheme design reports, drawings and detailed design/production information
• Maintain and grow existing client relationships, seeking feedback to ensure repeat business through excellent delivery
• Develop and assess new skill bases to strengthen our multi-disciplinary offering, and drive ongoing improvements in quality, efficiency, added-value services and commercial awareness across the team
• Take ownership of your own and your staff's health and safety in the office, on site, and while travelling, cooperating fully with the company's health and safety policies

Role Requirements

Qualifications

Degree qualified and incorporated/chartered status or equivalent, or working toward chartered status. Member of appropriate Institution.

Knowledge and Experience

• At least 10 years' total project responsibility and delivery experience
• Strong record in project management, delivery, quality and time management, with commercial awareness in both contractual and financial aspects of project work
• People skills, with demonstrable team management, client management and client-facing experience.
• Demonstrate a track record in work winning, business development and client development / retention
• Self-starter, capable of working on own initiative to solve engineering and management challenges
• Appropriate IT skills, with proficiency in the standard Office Suite, AutoCAD/REVIT and engineering design/analysis software
• Hold a valid UK driving licence and willingness to travel to meetings and projects as necessary

Working in a medium-sized consultancy offers the unique opportunity to be involved in projects of all sizes from start to finish - taking part in concept design, technical development, and seeing your designs come to life through to construction and completion.

You'll be joining an industry-leading environment of engineering experts, working across heritage, healthcare, super-prime residential and commercial projects throughout the UK — and helping build something new in Bristol.