Water Design Manager (SuDS)

AECOM; Shere; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working model

Career development opportunities

AECOM University

Volunteering days

Job summary

AECOM is seeking a Design Manager to join our England & Wales Water Team. You will lead technical delivery across feasibility to detailed design, ensuring compliance with standards and quality.

The role includes client liaison, scope development and price proposals, with mentoring responsibilities for junior staff. Join a multidisciplinary team delivering high-profile flood risk, SuDS and drainage projects across the UK.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in Civil Engineering.
• Chartered or Incorporated engineer or working towards ICE/CIWEM.
• Experience delivering sustainable drainage or nature-based solutions in a leadership role.
• Experience in outline/detailed design of flood risk management or drainage schemes.
• Experience leading project teams and mentoring junior staff.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership across design stages from feasibility to detailed design.
• Lead delivery of complex tasks, managing programme and budget, reviewing outputs.
• Identify and resolve engineering, design and stakeholder issues to progress projects.
• Coordinate with AECOM design teams and external parties, ensuring clear communication.
• Liaise with clients to develop scopes, price proposals and support project objectives.
• Mentor and coach junior team members to develop capabilities.

Skills

Leadership

Project management

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering

Chartered Engineer or working towards (ICE/CIWEM)

Job description

Our dynamic and multidisciplinary Water Team in England & Wales is seeking a Design Manager to join our expanding team. We are engaged in high-profile, industry-leading infrastructure projects spanning the full lifecycle - from feasibility and design through to construction, operation, maintenance and asset management. This position offers the opportunity to play a pivotal role in the delivery of blue-green infrastructure, drainage and flood risk projects in the UK and overseas. Working collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams, you'll work alongside engineers, hydraulic modellers, environmental scientists and technical specialists to deliver high-quality outcomes for the communities we serve. Some of our recent projects and achievements include: acting as lead design consultant for Severn Trent's 76m Mansfield Strategic Flood Resilience Project - the largest Sustainable Drainage (SuDS) retrofit project in the UK. Drafting Severn Trent's Retrofit SuDS Design Manuals. Authoring the draft National Standards for Sustainable Drainage Systems, published in England by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Here’s what you’ll do:

• Provide technical expertise and leadership across all design stages, including feasibility studies, outline and detailed design, reports and specifications, while ensuring designs comply with applicable standards, regulations, safety and quality requirements.
• Lead the technical delivery of complex tasks and projects, taking responsibility for programme and budget management, reviewing work produced by others and ensuring timely, accurate and high-quality outputs.
• Work proactively to identify, address and resolve engineering, design and stakeholder issues, providing effective solutions and supporting the successful progression of projects.
• Manage day-to-day interactions within AECOM design teams and with external parties, clients and stakeholders, maintaining clear and effective communication throughout project delivery.
• Liaise directly with clients and external stakeholders to develop scopes, prepare and price proposals, communicate project progress and support the successful delivery of project objectives.
• Provide technical leadership and support the development of colleagues, including reviewing work and mentoring and coaching junior team members.

Join our team.

Become part of our dynamic water business, which boasts around 700 experts across the UK & Ireland. You will join a local team of high-performing engineers ranging in experience from apprentice to director level, within a larger global Water Team. There are excellent opportunities to develop your project and client management skills, enhance your technical expertise, and progress your career.

Let’s not forget the perks!

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, technical practice networks, AECOM University, volunteering days and our flexible hybrid working model to ensure a work-life balance that suits your lifestyle.

If you’re passionate about innovation and turning bold ideas into reality, we’d love to hear from you. Follow AECOM Water on LinkedIn to discover more about our projects and the difference we’re making across the industry.

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in Civil Engineering.
• Chartered/Incorporated or working towards this with a relevant institution e.g. ICE, CIWEM.
• Experience in the delivery and design of sustainable drainage or nature-based solutions in a management or technical leadership role.
• Experience in the outline and/or detailed design of flood risk management, flood risk assessment or drainage schemes.
• Experience of leading project teams or sub-teams and mentoring and training junior staff.

Additional Information At AECOM

At AECOM, we are committed to maintaining a secure and trustworthy recruitment process and take any fraudulent hiring activity seriously. To support this commitment, all newly hired employees are required to attend an in-person Day 1 onboarding at an AECOM office location as a condition of employment.

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 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 and will offer an interview to applicants who have a disability or long‑term condition, who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.