Senior/ Associate Design Manager

Coleman James; Newcastle upon Tyne; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Coleman James is recruiting a Design Manager for its North East team to lead multidisciplinary MEP design on high-performance projects, including data centres, with complex coordination across civils, architecture and structure.

You will own design packages, liaise with clients and contractors, manage schedules, budgets and change control, and drive sustainable design while maintaining technical excellence.

Qualifications

• Significant experience delivering complex MEP design in consultancy or similar.
• Strong leadership and client-facing skills.
• Experience coordinating multidisciplinary design teams across disciplines.
• Knowledge of regulatory standards for building services projects.
• Background in data centre or high-performance projects is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Lead MEP design teams and coordinate development, coordination and delivery of packages.
• Act as primary technical point of contact with clients to meet milestones.
• Oversee integration of design with structures, systems and equipment.
• Monitor design risks, conduct quality reviews and ensure regulatory compliance.
• Manage design programmes, fees, resources and change control; promote sustainability.

Skills

MEP design lead

Client interface

Multidisciplinary coordination

Stakeholder management

Tools

Revit

Navisworks

Dialux

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!