Senior Design Manager

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Employer Wates Group Location Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom Salary Competitive Closing date 26 May 2025

View more categories View less categories Sector Creative and Design Role Senior Executive Contract Type Permanent Hours Full Time

The Vacancy

At Wates, we don't just construct buildings-we craft places with meaning, impact, and innovation at their core. Now, we're looking for a Senior Design Manager to join our team in Birmingham and help shape some of the most high-profile, technically ambitious projects in the city.

If you're the kind of person who sees possibility where others see limitations-who thrives in complexity, and leads with creativity and clarity-then this is your moment.

Why This Role?

As a Senior Design Manager, you're a strategic force, turning vision into reality, balancing creativity with constructability, and driving design excellence at every turn.
You'll be the glue between imagination and execution-where the boldest ideas meet the practical brilliance of delivery.

What You'll Be Doing

• Rethink the ordinary. Challenge the status quo of design and construction.
• Lead from the front. Own the design programme, working with consultants, commercial and ops teams to deliver beautiful, buildable, and budget-conscious outcomes.
• Spot the hidden potential. Identify design risks and turn them into opportunities that unlock value and elevate outcomes.
• Create cohesion. Align stakeholders, drive workshops, and champion coordination from concept to completion.
• Be the spark. Bring fresh thinking, elevate others, and leave a lasting mark on every project you touch.
• Ensure compliance. Act as a competent professional under the Building Safety Act, signing off project components with full accountability for safety and regulatory alignment.

What You'll Bring

• A passion for design that goes beyond aesthetics-you see how it lives, breathes, and functions in the real world
• Proven experience managing complex design processes on major construction projects
• A collaborative mindset and a sharp eye for detail, quality, and innovation
• The confidence to challenge, the curiosity to ask "what if?", and the skills to turn ideas into impact

What We Offer

• Competitive salary & profit share scheme
• Flexible working
• Car Allowance / Company Car (subject to Role/Grade)
• Travel covered to any of our sites (subject to HMRC advisory rates)
• Extensive corporate benefits including, Private Medical, Pension 8% employers' contribution, Health and Wellness programme, 26 days holidays + bank holidays and much more...
• Excellent range of learning and development activity to support your career progression.
• Industry leading family leave benefits to included 26 weeks fully paid maternity, 12 weeks fully paid paternity.

To find out more about LIFE AT WATES please click on the following link https://www.wates.co.uk/careers/

We are always looking for a variety of new talent to join our teams, to help us grow and innovate as a business. Although you may not have all of the skills listed, many of them may be transferable to other roles within the WATES Group.

If you would like clarity on any of our vacancies, discuss career opportunities in strict confidence or need anything to make our recruitment process easier, please contact our In-House Recruitment Team directly or via recruitment@wates.co.uk and one of us will get in touch as soon as possible.

As a responsible and inclusive employer, we are committed to equality and are proud to have been recognised for this through a range of accolades including gold accreditation with Investors in People, we are also a Disability Confident employer. Being a family owned, business means we understand and value long term relationships.

Given the nature of this position, you will need to undergo an Enhanced and Barred Lists Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS) at offer stage. Applicants with criminal convictions will be assessed individually, and we assure you that we do not discriminate based on an applicant's criminal record or the details of any disclosed offenses. Additionally, certain roles may be subject to additional pre-employment checks.

To learn more about the checks included in this process, please click on the following link: National Security Vetting

Work for Wates

Wates is one of the UK's leading family-owned development, building and property maintenance companies. Founded over 125 years ago, we have a proud legacy in the built environment.

We are driven by our purpose, 'reimagining places for people to thrive' and our three promises:

Thriving places - working with customers, partners and communities to create places that are more sustainable, inclusive, and full of opportunity.
Thriving planet - protecting nature and taking action on climate change by collaborating and innovating with our partners.
Thriving people - creating opportunities and relationships so that everyone who works for and with us feels included, invested in, and treated with care.

We are proud to be recognised as Gold Investors in People and as a Disability Confident employer. We also ensure that our recruitment processes do not treat anyone less favourably due to an offending background.

Company

We employ almost 4,000 people, working with a range of clients and partners from across the public and private sectors.

At Wates, we are driven by our purpose of working together to inspire better ways of creating the places, communities, and businesses of tomorrow. We need the right people from whatever background to help us make this happen and we are always looking for talented people from all walks of life to reflect the diverse communities where we work.

There’s a huge variety of job opportunities across our businesses, working on challenging and exciting projects for customers across both the public and the private sector. No two days are ever the same.

By joining Wates, you’ll be working for an organisation which invests in your continued professional development, regardless of which stage you might be at in your career.To discover what it is like to work for Wates, click below.

Working for Wates

There’s a huge variety of job opportunities across our businesses, working on challenging and exciting projects for customers across both the public and the private sector. No two days are ever the same.

By joining Wates, you’ll be working for an organisation which invests in your continued professional development, regardless of which stage you might be at in your career.

Our Guiding Framework

Our Guiding Framework shapes everything we do. It incorporates our driving purpose, it outlines the behaviours we work by, and the goals we are all working together to achieve. These are our values and vision.

As a family-owned business, we know it’s our people who make us successful. And just as in a family, everyone should feel welcome, included, and connected at Wates. We strive to be an organisation where everyone loves to work and to provide a safe space where everyone can be themselves.

Wates Together

Our Diversity and Inclusion plan is our long-term blueprint to create a business where everyone is welcomed, included and connected. We call this #WatesTogether.

Inclusion and Diversity

We are committed to building an organisation which is more representative of the communities we serve, offering equality of opportunities to diverse talent and an inclusive work environment where this talent thrives. We have set ourselves bold targets that will take time to achieve, but we are moving in the right direction and we are committed to achieving sustainable change.Find out more about our inclusion and diversity strategy

Social Value

Our approach to social value is rooted in our belief that how we do business, is as important as what we do. Our programmes and activities are focused on creating work and training opportunities, particularly for people furthest away from the workforce, such as care leavers, ex-offenders and ex Services personnel; building sustainable communities through employment, skills and awareness, and advocacy of trade with the social enterprise sector.

Environmental Sustainability

The Wates Group is committed to the long-term sustainability of the built environment and we’re working to eliminate carbon from our operations by 2025.

We’re committed to having a workforce that more accurately reflects society and providing an environment that positively encourages flexible working through working arrangements and benefits. Following the introduction of sector-leadingFamily Leave Policies in 2020, we have become one of the first construction companies to support flexible working across every part of our business, including for site-based employees. By 2025, we intend all our roles to be flexible, and we already advertise all new vacancies as flexible.Our six flexible working principles are designed to allow our colleagues and teams to develop working patterns that take into account individual preferences, allowing everyone to perform at their best.

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