Senior Design Manager

Willmott Dixon; Oldham; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading UK contractor is seeking a Senior Design Manager to lead large-scale projects. The role includes managing design teams, ensuring high-quality outputs, and collaborating across various sectors. This position offers a hybrid working model and opportunities for career progression in design management.

Benefits

Flexible working model

Career development opportunities

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Senior Design Manager in Tier 1/Tier 2 environments.
• Experience across multiple sectors like Education and Health.
• Strong track record in leading design teams.

Responsibilities

• Manage a team of Design Managers on large scale projects.
• Lead design processes ensuring compliance and quality.
• Coordinate design programmes, maintaining deadlines.

Skills

Technical Design skills

Communication and collaboration skills

Proficiency with MS Office Suite

Leadership in multi-disciplinary teams

Education

Professional qualifications (e.g. CIOB, RIBA)

Job description

Senior Design Manager

Are you an experienced Senior Design Manager looking for your next challenge with a Tier 1 contractor? Willmott Dixon is seeking a motivated and technically strong Design Manager to join our Construction North team, where you\'ll play a key role in delivering exciting projects across the Northwest.

Our pipeline includes a diverse mix of projects such as Department for Education schemes, high-rise residential, offices, town centre regeneration, leisure, and blue-light facilities etc. With an excellent reputation as one of the UK\'s leading contractors, this is a fantastic opportunity to join a business that was recently ranked in the top five of the Financial Times\' "Europe\'s 1,000 Best Workplaces" list for 2025.

This role offers you flexibility with a hybrid working model, typically three days in the office or on site and two days from home.

Key Responsibilities/Deliverables

• Manage a team of 1 to 2 Design Managers on larger scale projects
• Lead the design process on allocated projects, ensuring compliance with Willmott Dixon procedures and delivering high-quality outputs.
• Manage and coordinate design programmes, maintaining control of deadlines and information flow.
• Chair and contribute to design team meetings, ensuring collaboration across consultants, supply chain partners, and internal teams.
• Review and challenge technical details to maintain buildability, value engineering, and quality.
• Work closely with Pre-construction Managers, Principal Design Managers, and Operations Managers to ensure design aligns with programme, cost, and customer requirements.

Essential Skills

• Proven experience operating as a Senior Design Manager within a Tier 1/Tier 2 Head Contractor environment - on larger scale projects from Preconstruction phase right through delivery (Cradle to grave).
• Excellent level of Technical Design skills and capabilities.
• Experience across multiple sectors such as Education, Health, Commercial, Defence, Residential, leisure.
• Strong track record of leading and coordinating multi-disciplinary design teams.
• Technical confidence in reviewing design details, drawings, and specifications.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, able to influence both internal and external stakeholders.
• Proficiency with MS Office Suite and drawing mark-up tools.

Desirable Skills

• Professional qualifications (e.g. CIOB, RIBA) or evidence of continued professional development.

At Willmott Dixon, we pride ourselves on creating an inclusive workplace where people can thrive, develop, and build long-lasting careers. For this role, the career pathway includes progression to Principal Design Manager, supported by structured development and active knowledge-sharing forums.

About Us

With over 170 years of rich history, Willmott Dixon\'s purpose is beyond profit; delivering brilliant buildings, transforming lives, strengthening communities and enhancing the environment so our world is fit for future generations. Ensuring that we add lasting value to the neighbourhoods we work in; our values, people, innovation, partnerships and focus on sustainability has allowed us to build a successful and solid privately owned business where our people can thrive.

Willmott Dixon was recognised by The Sunday Times as one of the Top 10 "Big" Companies to Work For in 2025, named among the Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality in 2024, and ranked in the Top Five of Europe\'s 1,000 best workplaces by the Financial Times in 2025.

Willmott Dixon is also the first major contractor and developer to win a King\'s Award for Enterprise in the category of sustainable development.