Design Manager - Transmission & Distribution

AECOM; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working model

Career development opportunities

AECOM University

Volunteering days

Job summary

AECOM is seeking an experienced Design Manager to lead UK & Ireland T&D design projects across substations, cables and protection systems. You will oversee lifecycle from concept to completion, coordinating discipline leads and directors while ensuring safety, quality and regulatory compliance.

Join a multi-disciplinary team delivering high-profile grid projects and supporting the UK National Grid Great Grid Partnership.

Qualifications

• Degree qualified in electrical or power systems engineering (or equivalent).
• Transmission & Distribution/ renewables/ large infrastructure design experience including multi-disciplinary scope.
• Demonstrated experience in managing complex, multi-discipline projects and meeting delivery requirements for UK & Ireland clients.
• Working experience with the National Grid & other TSO projects is advantageous.
• Proven client relationship management and business development skills
• Chartered ship & LCDAE/CDAE certifications are advantageous.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Responsibilities

• Oversee UK & Ireland engineering design projects, coordinating discipline leads, PMs and directors to assemble project teams.
• Act as Technical Project Manager for multi-disciplinary design projects across subs, cables, protection & control, civils, overhead lines, and environmental scopes.
• Involved in large programmes such as the Great Grid Partnership (GGP).
• Oversee lifecycle from concept to completion, aligned with best practices.
• Manage phases from concept to detailed design, cost estimation, and permitting.
• Ensure safety, environmental, sustainability and quality standards.
• Ensure submissions meet codes and client standards.
• Lead project and client meetings per processes.
• Provide regular updates on progress, costs, schedules, procurement, safety and design challenges.
• Manage projects/components: allocate resources, coordinate subcontractors, maintain design integrity, incorporate client feedback.
• Support proposals, lead presentations, and participate in negotiations.
• Foster 'Safety by Design' culture and stay updated on industry best practices.
• Represent AECOM professionally, upholding ethics.
• Provide mentorship and technical guidance.
• Review engineering deliverables for accuracy.
• Lead delivery and develop leading-edge technical skills.
• Perform internal reviews and QA of drawings and calculations.
• Identify opportunities for design optimization and cost-efficiencies.
• Pursue new opportunities with defined scope, schedule, budget, exclusions.

Skills

Project management

Client relationship management

Business development

Communication skills

Technical leadership

Education

Electrical or power systems engineering degree

Chartered ship & LCDAE/CDAE certifications

Job description

Company Description

Work with Us. Change the World.

At AECOM, we're delivering a better world. Whether improving your commute, keeping the lights on, providing access to clean water, or transforming skylines, our work helps people and communities thrive. We are the world's trusted infrastructure consulting firm, partnering with clients to solve the world’s most complex challenges and build legacies for future generations.

Job Description

About our Team

The Transmission & Distribution (T&D) Engineering team provides a range of services from the initial concept through Power Systems Analysis, Cabling, Substations, Transmission and Distribution Infrastructure, System Balancing and Compensation, Protection Systems, SCADA, Communications, Converter Station Design and HVDC Systems.

Due to continued growth across a breadth of projects and clients, we are looking for an experienced Design Manager to join the Transmission & Distribution business. This is a fantastic time to join us and apply your skills across a multi-disciplinary, innovative team and work within a varied portfolio of groundbreaking projects. One such project you will have the opportunity to work on is the UK National Grid’s Great Grid Partnership. Part of a £9bn Enterprise partnership that will connect clean energy to homes and businesses across England and Wales by 2030.

Start here. Grow here.

Here’s what you’ll do:

• Oversee engineering design projects across the UK & Ireland, working closely with Discipline Leads, Project Managers, and Directors to build project teams from our global Enterprise Capability offices as needed.
• Act as Technical Project Manager for multi-disciplinary design projects, overseeing various disciplines, including substation primary, cables, protection & control, civils, overhead lines, and environmental scopes.
• You will have the opportunity to be involved in large programmes of work like GGP projects.
• Oversee the entire lifecycle of design projects, from concept to completion, ensuring alignment with industry best practices.
• Manage various project phases, including concept, FEED, environmental assessments, permitting, consenting, planning, cost estimation, detailed engineering.
• Ensure projects meet safety, health, environmental, sustainability, and quality standards.
• Ensure design submissions comply with codes, standards, and quality requirements.
• Ensure adherence to AECOM and client design management processes while leading project and client meetings as needed.
• Provide regular updates on project progress, costs, schedules, procurement, safety, environmental concerns, and design challenges.
• Manage projects or project components, including resource allocation, subcontractor coordination, design integrity, and client feedback
• Support proposal preparation, lead presentations, and participate in contract negotiations.
• Foster a "Safety by Design" culture while maintaining high technical standards by staying informed on industry best practices and client standards to improve safety, constructability, and asset operability.
• Represent AECOM with professionalism and integrity, adhering to ethical standards and the Code of Conduct.
• Provide mentorship, technical guidance, and professional development support to team members.
• Checking and review engineering deliverables such as complex designs, reports, proposals, presentations, and drawing packages.
• Leading the delivery of projects and the development of leading-edge technical skills and their practical application, in ways that add value to AECOM and our clients.
• Perform internal reviews and quality checks of engineering drawings and calculations.
• Identify opportunities for design optimization and cost efficiencies.
• Pursue new opportunities, defining scope, schedule, budget, and exclusions.

Enjoy the Perks.

At AECOM, you'll enjoy a range of core and personalised benefits designed to support your future and well-being, customised to fit your lifestyle. Take advantage of career development opportunities, our flexible hybrid working model to ensure a work-life balance that suits your lifestyle, technical practice networks, AECOM University, and volunteering days.

Qualifications

Ready to push the limits of what’s possible?

• Degree qualified in electrical or power systems engineering (or equivalent)
• Transmission & Distribution/ renewables/ large infrastructure design experience including multi-disciplinary scope.
• Demonstrated experience in managing complex, multi-discipline projects and meeting delivery requirements for UK & Ireland clients.
• Working experience with the National Grid & other TSO projects is advantageous.
• Proven client relationship management and business development skills
• Chartered ship & LCDAE/CDAE certifications are advantageous.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

We celebrate diversity, including neurodiversity, and believe it enriches our team. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and abilities. If you are an applicant with a disability that requires reasonable accommodation to complete the application process, please contact us at [e-mail]. At AECOM, we value everyone's unique contributions and perspectives.

If you meet some of the requirements above or have transferable skills you believe would benefit us, we would be delighted to hear from you!

Additional Information

Interested in the role or curious about life at AECOM? Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to explore our AECOM voices, employee stories, latest projects, and much more!

About AECOM

AECOM is the world’s trusted infrastructure consulting firm, delivering professional services throughout the project lifecycle – from advisory, planning, design and engineering to program and construction management. On projects spanning transportation, buildings, water, new energy and the environment, our public- and private-sector clients trust us to solve their most complex challenges. Our teams are driven by a common purpose to deliver a better world through our unrivaled technical and digital expertise, a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion, and a commitment to environmental, social and governance priorities. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm and its Professional Services business had revenue of $16.1 billion in fiscal year 2025. See how we are delivering sustainable legacies for generations to come at aecom.com and @AECOM.

Freedom to Grow in a World of Opportunity

You will have the flexibility you need to do your best work with hybrid work options. Whether you’re working from an AECOM office, remote location or at a client site, you will be working in a dynamic environment where your integrity, entrepreneurial spirit and pioneering mindset are championed.

You will help us foster a safe and respectful workplace, where we invite everyone to bring their whole selves to work using their unique talents, backgrounds and expertise to create transformational outcomes for our clients.

AECOM provides a wide array of compensation, benefits and well-being programs to meet the diverse needs of our employees and their families. We’re the world’s trusted global infrastructure firm, and we’re in this together – your growth and success are ours too.

Join us, and you’ll get all the benefits of being a part of a global, publicly traded firm – access to industry-leading technology and thinking and transformational work with big impact and work flexibility. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we believe in each person’s potential, and we’ll help you reach yours.

We are a Disability Confident Employer

We are a Disability Confident Employer and will offer an interview to applicants who have a disability or long-term condition, who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role. Please let us know using this email address [e-mail] if you would like to apply through the Disability Confident Interview Scheme.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

ReqID: J10126288

Business Line: Energy

Business Group: DCS

Strategic Business Unit: Europe & India

Career Area: Engineering

Work Location Model: Hybrid