Senior/ Associate Design Manager

COLEMAN JAMES LTD; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

COLEMAN JAMES LTD is seeking a Design Manager to lead MEP design across multidisciplinary teams on complex projects, including data centres and high-performance buildings. You will coordinate with civil, architecture and structural groups while liaising directly with clients and stakeholders to ensure delivery against programme and budget.

The role emphasizes technical excellence, clear communication, and a proactive approach to sustainability and innovation within a consultancy setting.

Qualifications

• Significant experience delivering complex MEP/building services projects in a consultancy, contractor or design-management environment.
• Proven leadership and excellent communication with clients and stakeholders.
• Experience coordinating across civils/architecture/structural interfaces.

Responsibilities

• Lead MEP design teams to develop, coordinate, and deliver design packages.
• Act as primary technical contact with clients to meet requirements.
• Coordinate design with building structures, systems and equipment.
• Monitor design risks and ensure regulatory compliance and quality.
• Manage design programmes, fees, resources and change control.
• Drive low-energy design, sustainability and innovative solutions.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Project coordination

Client liaison

MEP design

Job description

Our client is an international M&E consultancy specializing in high-performance building design, particularly within the data centre and critical infrastructure sectors. They are looking for a Design Manager to join their North East team to oversee multidisciplinary MEP design for complex, high-performance projects, such as data centres, with values rising up to £200m.

This is a great opportunity for an experienced building services professional to take responsibility for the coordination, management and delivery of complex MEP design projects, working across multidisciplinary teams and engaging directly with clients, contractors and key project stakeholders.

This role will involve managing design and multidisciplinary teams across civils/ architecture/ structural, ensuring technical excellence, adherence to schedules and client compliance. This individual will be a key individual in communicating across teams and with clients but will have a strong support system from the engineering team and training provided to consistently develop.

Key Responsibilities

• Design Leadership: Lead MEP design teams, managing the development, coordination, and delivery of design packages
• Client Interface: Act as the primary technical point of contact, ensuring client requirements and project milestones are met.
• Technical Coordination: Oversee the integration of design with building structures, systems, and equipment.
• Monitor design risks, perform quality reviews, and ensure compliance with regulatory standards
• Manage design programmes, fee management, resource planning, and change control processes.
• Sustainability & Innovation: Drive low-energy design and sustainable solutions

The ideal candidate will have significant experience delivering complex MEP/building services projects within a consultancy, contractor or design management environment. They will combine strong technical knowledge with excellent leadership, communication and stakeholder-management skills.

Our client has a great culture with lots of flexibility to ensure a strong work-life balance, a less intense atmosphere which puts their employees first and the opportunity to progress with an outstanding company working on complex projects!