Design Manager - Site - Norway

CTS Group; Vennesla; Hybrid; NOK 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Job summary

CTS Group seeks a Design Manager - Site to lead on-site design delivery for Norway data centre projects. You will be the design authority on site, coordinating with construction teams, suppliers, and CTS's design and engineering offices, guiding RFIs, TQs, and design changes through to handover.

This role requires a degree in engineering, 7+ years in design management on complex data centre builds, strong BIM coordination, familiarity with Norwegian regulations, and fluency in English.

Qualifications

• Degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering or equivalent.
• 7+ years in site-based design management or construction-phase engineering.
• Experience on data centre or mission-critical construction sites.
• Strong understanding of M&E systems interfaces and resilience standards.
• Proven track record managing RFIs, TQs, submittals, and design changes.

Responsibilities

• Act as the design lead on site and primary interface between site teams, subcontractors, vendors and CTS engineering.
• Manage RFIs and Technical Queries: log, prioritise, resolve or route as needed, close out promptly.
• Control design changes during construction with regard to programme, cost, resilience and compliance.
• Review contractor/vendor submittals against the approved design intent.
• Ensure latest design revisions are used on site and maintain drawing control.
• Coordinate with BIM team for clash resolution and model updates.
• Support testing and commissioning and assist with handover documentation.
• Ensure compliance with Norwegian regulations and site approvals.

Skills

RFI management

TQ management

Site design coordination

BIM coordination

Navisworks/BIM 360

Regulatory knowledge

Education

Engineering degree (Mechanical or Electrical)

Tools

Navisworks

BIM 360/ACC

Job description

Design Manager - Site

Company: CTS Group

Location: Project sites across Norway

Reports To: Project Director (dotted line to Design Director)

Type: Full-Time, Site-Based - Rotational (3 weeks on site / 1 week remote)

About CTS Group

CTS Group is a fast-growing international design and build company specialising in data centre development across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). We combine engineering excellence, innovation, and digital transformation to deliver high-performance, sustainable, and future-ready data centre solutions.

With over 40 nationalities represented across our teams, CTS fosters a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performance culture where innovation and technical precision drive every project. Beyond construction, CTS develops digital systems and standardised modular data centre units to meet the evolving needs of hyperscalers, colocation providers, and enterprise clients.

Our proven track record and strong partnerships have established CTS as a trusted industry leader delivering large-scale, complex data centre facilities with speed, efficiency, and excellence.

Role Overview

The Design Manager (Site) is the design lead embedded in the project delivery team on CTS data centre construction sites across Norway. The role is the point of design authority on site, ensuring that what is built matches the approved, coordinated design from construction through commissioning and handover.

Reporting to the Project Director, with a dotted line to the Design Director, the role manages RFIs and technical queries, controls design changes during construction, and is the key interface between the site construction team, subcontractors, vendors, the client's technical representatives and CTS's office-based Design & Engineering teams.

The role works on a rotational pattern of 3 weeks on site followed by 1 week working remotely.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as the design lead on site and primary interface between the site construction team, subcontractors, vendors, client representatives and the office-based Design & Engineering team.
• Manage the RFI and Technical Query (TQ) process: log, prioritise, resolve or route to the right discipline or consultant, and close out within agreed turnaround times.
• Control design changes during construction, assessing site-driven changes for programme, cost, resilience and compliance impacts and managing them through CTS change control.
• Review contractor and vendor submittals, shop drawings and equipment/material submissions against the approved design intent.
• Ensure site teams always work to the latest approved design revision, managing drawing control and information release on site with document control.
• Carry out site inspections and walk-downs to verify installation against design, raising and closing out design-related non-conformances.
• Coordinate site clash resolution and field changes with the BIM team, ensuring changes are captured in the model and common data environment.
• Support installation interfaces across power, cooling, fire protection, BMS/EPMS and the integration of prefabricated and modular units (e.g. EPODs, modular data centre units).
• Lead design input at site coordination, progress and client meetings, and report design status, open RFIs/TQs and design risks to the Project Director.
• Support testing and commissioning (Levels 1-5 / IST) with design clarifications and resolution of commissioning issues.
• Manage as-built documentation, red-line mark-ups and design handover information for client acceptance.
• Support site inspections and approvals by the kommune (municipal building authority) and national regulators.
• Promote safety in design on site and uphold CTS HSE standards.
• Feed site lessons learned back to the Design & Engineering team to improve CTS standards and reference designs.

Required Skills And Experience

• Degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering strongly preferred; alternatively Civil/Structural Engineering, Architecture or another relevant technical discipline.
• 7+ years' relevant experience, including at least 3 years in a site-based design management, design coordination or construction-phase engineering role.
• Demonstrable experience on data centre, mission-critical or comparable technically complex construction sites.
• Strong understanding of Mechanical and Electrical systems and their interfaces within mission-critical environments, including resilience topology and Uptime Institute Tier standards.
• Proven track record managing RFIs, TQs, submittals and design change control during construction.
• Experience supporting testing and commissioning through to handover.
• Experience within an EPC/design-build contractor or Design & Engineering consultancy with site delivery responsibility.
• Working knowledge of BIM/digital coordination and common data environments (Navisworks, BIM 360 / ACC) for site coordination.
• Knowledge of Norwegian regulations, including the Planning and Building Act (PBL), TEK17, SAK10, NEK 400 and Eurocodes (Norwegian National Annexes).
• Experience with cold-climate design, free cooling and heat-recovery / district-heating integration is advantageous.
• Ability to make timely, sound technical decisions under programme pressure and to work effectively with site teams and subcontractors.
• Fluent English (mandatory); Norwegian or another Scandinavian language advantageous.
• Must be available to work a 3 weeks on site / 1 week remote rotation and to be deployed to CTS project sites across Norway.