Design Manager

Arcadis; Manchester; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Arcadis is looking for a Design Manager in Manchester to lead multi-disciplinary design projects primarily within the Defence and Technology sectors. This role requires strong integration and stakeholder management skills, with a focus on delivering high-quality design outcomes.

Candidates should have a relevant degree, and experience in design management within a client/consultancy environment is desirable. The position emphasizes collaboration, innovation, and effective communication with project teams and clients.

Qualifications

• Experience in Defence and/or Technology sector desirable.
• Chartered or equivalent professional accreditation recommended.
• Previous Design Management experience in a client/consultancy environment is ideal.

Responsibilities

• Manage technical delivery and integration of multi-disciplinary design projects.
• Drive high-quality design decisions through collaboration and innovation.
• Work closely with the Arcadis Project Manager to achieve project outcomes.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Technical report writing

BIM-led design

Interpersonal skills

Project management concepts

Education

BA/BSc/BEng or MA/MSc/MEng in a relevant discipline

Tools

Autodesk suite

Programme software applications

Job description

Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. We are more than 36,000 people in over 70 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play and together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact.

Role Description

We are looking for a Design Manager with experience in the Defence or Technology sectors who can work at the business end of design. You will be part of the Design Project Management team within the Arcadis Places Design Practice, expanding our resources.

A key function of the role is to guide design teams (internal and external) to meet the client’s scope, budget, resource requirements and required timescales. You must engage positively with our clients and their stakeholders and work closely with the Arcadis Project Manager. Your responsibilities include facilitating meetings and workshops, identifying design and project risks throughout the project lifecycle, and coordinating design activities with procurement, planners, environmental, construction and operations teams to provide positive direction for the projects you work on.

Role Accountabilities

• Work with the Arcadis Project Manager to achieve the required outcome for the client and Arcadis.
• Manage the technical delivery and integration of multi-disciplinary design projects, providing leadership, direction and delivery excellence.
• Drive high‑quality design decisions through a culture of collaboration, challenge, innovation and creativity across the delivery team.
• Understand PM concepts, tools and techniques.
• Use interpersonal and influencing skills to support successful outcomes.
• Operate in an environment of constantly changing priorities and manage these priorities.
• Understand the challenges associated with multi‑disciplinary, complex engineering problems and plan, manage and implement solutions.

Qualifications & Experience

• BA/BSc/BEng or MA/MSc/MEng or equivalent in a relevant discipline.
• Previous experience within Defence and/or Technology sector desirable.
• Chartered or equivalent professional accreditation recommended.
• Ideally previous Design Management experience within a client/consultancy environment.
• Knowledge and experience of BIM‑led design and Autodesk suite of products.
• Strong focus on integration, stakeholder and communication management skills.
• Awareness of using programme software applications.
• Excellent written English and technical report writing skills are essential.

Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day. We take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We believe diverse and skilled workforces are essential to our success. We work closely with our people across six ED&I Workstreams: Age, Disability, Faith, Gender, LGBT+ and Race.