Head of Design - Building Services

Key Talent Solutions; Dublin; On-site; EUR 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Key Talent Solutions is supporting a leading engineering business in Ireland to appoint an exceptional Head of Design for a major healthcare development. This role offers technical leadership from concept through to manufacture, installation and completion, guiding multidisciplinary teams to ensure robust, buildable, and commercially sound solutions.

The opportunity provides genuine ownership of technical decisions and direct access to teams responsible for delivering them, with visibility and

Qualifications

• Experience leading multidisciplinary Mechanical, Electrical and BIM design teams.
• Healthcare sector experience highly relevant; ability to lead complex, high-value projects.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical direction across a flagship healthcare programme and support development of wider design capability.
• Set the technical direction across a complex healthcare development and drive design governance.
• Review designs, challenge decisions and ensure quality throughout delivery.
• Collaborate with manufacturing, commercial and operational teams to develop practical, buildable solutions.
• Mentor and develop senior engineers and future technical leaders.
• Drive innovation across Building Services, offsite MEP and low-carbon engineering.

Job description

What if the next defining project of your career was one that genuinely mattered?

Executive Salary + Comprehensive Benefits Package

Some senior engineering roles are defined by budgets, programmes and delivery milestones.

This one is defined by the impact the finished project will have for decades to come.

We're supporting a leading engineering business in the appointment of an exceptional Head of Design to provide technical leadership across a major healthcare development in Ireland.

This is an opportunity to guide multidisciplinary engineering teams, influence critical design decisions and ensure technical excellence is maintained from early concept through to manufacture, installation and completion.

For an experienced Building Services leader, it offers something increasingly rare:

The chance to lead a complex project with genuine purpose, visibility and long-term significance.

A Different Kind of Engineering Environment

This is not a conventional consultancy appointment.

The business brings design, manufacturing, installation and project delivery together under one roof, allowing its technical leaders to remain closely involved throughout the complete engineering lifecycle.

You won't simply oversee designs before handing them to another team.

You'll work alongside manufacturing, commercial and operational colleagues to make sure each solution is technically robust, coordinated, buildable and commercially sound.

With an established presence across Ireland and the UK, the organisation has developed a strong reputation for offsite MEP delivery, low-carbon engineering and modern methods of construction.

That integrated approach gives the Head of Design real influence over how engineering decisions translate into completed projects.

Your Role

You'll provide technical direction across a flagship healthcare programme while supporting the continued development of the wider design capability.

Your focus will include:

• Leading multidisciplinary Mechanical, Electrical and BIM design teams.
• Setting the technical direction across a complex healthcare development.
• Reviewing designs, challenging engineering decisions and ensuring quality remains consistent throughout delivery.
• Establishing clear design governance, technical assurance and engineering best practice.
• Working collaboratively with manufacturing, commercial and operational teams to develop practical and buildable solutions.
• Supporting, mentoring and developing senior engineers and future technical leaders.
• Driving innovation across Building Services, offsite MEP and low-carbon engineering.

This is not about spending every day producing calculations or models.

It is about having the technical credibility to ask the right questions, make informed decisions and give engineering teams the direction they need to deliver exceptional work.

The Background We're Looking For

This opportunity is likely to suit an experienced:

• Head of Design

You'll ideally come from a Building Services consultancy or design-led contractor environment, with strong experience leading multidisciplinary MEP teams across complex, high-value projects.

Healthcare experience would be highly relevant, although it is not necessarily essential where someone can demonstrate comparable technical complexity, design governance and leadership.

Above all, you'll be someone who combines engineering authority with the ability to develop people, influence stakeholders and bring clarity to challenging technical decisions.

Why This Opportunity?

You'll have genuine ownership of technical decisions.

Direct access to the teams responsible for delivering them.

And the opportunity to make a lasting contribution to one of Ireland's most important healthcare developments.

Some projects are added to a CV.

Others become part of your professional legacy.