Design Manager - Facilities Planning & Design - Oakland, CA

Kaiser Permanente; Oakland, Northern (CA, KY); On-site; USD 130,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Kaiser Permanente is seeking a Design Manager for Facilities Planning & Design in the NCAL region. The role leads design delivery across capital projects, coordinating Planning & Design, Project Management, operational stakeholders, and external architecture/engineering consultants to ensure alignment of scope, budget, schedule and deliverables.

The position emphasizes early design clarity, reducing waste, and maintaining quality through disciplined design management, consultant oversight, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, Engineering, Planning, Interior Design, Construction Management, Cost Estimating, or related field and 8+ years of experience in planning, architectural, design, or hospital/medical facility projects.
• 11+ years of experience in the related fields can substitute for the degree requirement.
• Experience on hospital/medical facility projects and healthcare planning is required.

Responsibilities

• Leads design delivery across capital projects coordinating Planning & Design, PM, stakeholders, and external consultants.
• Drives design clarity early in the lifecycle and monitors milestones and consultant oversight.
• Translates Owner Project Requirements into actionable design strategies and decision frameworks.
• Mentors designers and planners; provides technical guidance on design execution and standards.

Skills

Design management

Stakeholder coordination

Project management

Consultant oversight

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Architecture/Engineering/Planning/Interior Design/Construction Management or related field

Tools

CADD

Job description

This is a Flexible (Hybrid) position but must be based in the NCAL region, or WA, and OR.

Design Manager - Facilities Planning & Design

The Design Manager - Facilities Planning & Design - is responsible for leading efficient, high-quality, and cost-effective design delivery across capital projects by coordinating Planning & Design, Project Management, operational stakeholders, and external architecture and engineering consultants. This role serves as a design integrator, ensuring alignment between project scope, budget, schedule, operational requirements, and design deliverables from project initiation through construction documentation.

The Design Manager drives design clarity early in the project lifecycle, reduces waste and rework, and promotes consistent execution through disciplined design management practices, milestone-based reviews, and consultant oversight. By translating Owner Project Requirements into actionable design strategies and decision frameworks, the role helps identify and resolve risks, scope gaps, and coordination issues before they impact project outcomes.

Working closely with project teams, user groups, and subject matter experts, the Design Manager supports timely decision-making, strengthens consultant accountability, standardizes design delivery processes, and advances continuous improvement initiatives that enhance quality, efficiency, and overall project performance.

Job Summary:

In addition to the responsibilities listed below, this position is responsible for driving complex assignments projects, performs all conventional and moderately advanced planning and/ or architectural techniques, procedures, and standards; plans and completes assignments requiring more advanced techniques; coordinates the development of templates and standards for planning, design, structural performance specifications, materials, equipment, estimated costs, and constructability of medical and support spaces with focus on user requirements, safety, cost efficiency, and integration of technology and best practices; performs programming, planning, design and development and documentation activities of broad scope including spreadsheets, drawings, calculations, manuals/comprehensive documents and coordination with hospital/medical facility users; develops presentation materials and present to various audiences; leads moderately sized special projects as assigned; develops and leads Content Expert Panels; serves as resource and advisor to capital Project teams and KP service areas/regions; conducts reviews inside buildings to assess current state versus desired end state and to capture those requirements; and provides technical guidance to designers/drafters and less experienced architects/planners.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Promotes learning in others by communicating information and providing advice to drive projects forward; builds relationships with cross-functional stakeholders. Listens, responds to, seeks, and addresses performance feedback; provides actionable feedback to others, including upward feedback to leadership and mentors junior team members. Practices self-leadership; creates and executes plans to capitalize on strengths and improve opportunity areas; influences team members within assigned team or unit. Adapts to competing demands and new responsibilities; adapts to and learns from change, challenges, and feedback. Models team collaboration within and across teams.




• Conducts or oversees business-specific projects by applying deep expertise in subject area; promotes adherence to all procedures and policies. Partners internally and externally to make effective business decisions; determines and carries out processes and methodologies; solves complex problems; escalates high-priority issues or risks, as appropriate; monitors progress and results. Develops work plans to meet business priorities and deadlines; coordinates and delegates resources to accomplish organizational goals. Recognizes and capitalizes on improvement opportunities; evaluates recommendations made; influences the completion of project tasks by others.




• Directs planning and design projects by: using judgment and discretion to define issues and develop solutions to resolve complex problems for the capital program; coordinating the communication network between the project team and other internal personnel across the organization and external contacts; and researching, recommending, and training teams and consultants on strategies and concepts to provide expert strategic guidance, coordination, and management of the support teams area of expertise.




• Supports NFS program deliverables by: managing multiplecomplex National Facilities Services (NFS) projects and initiatives with responsibility and accountability for project outcomes from initiation through design phase with minimal oversight from senior management; developing, analyzing, and managing complex project plans which include scope identification and management, schedule, inter-dependencies, and resource forecast; monitoring overall project performance (e.g., on time, within scope, and with quality) against plans, ensuring measurement of business benefits and outcomes, and makes adjustments as needed; leading project activities related to organizational change management (e.g., development and execution of user adoption, implementation, and training plans) as defined by the project; and driving allocation of resources, establishes schedules, and task assignments to ensure established practices are in place.




• Contributes to consultants relationship management by: driving the application of strategies and concepts to provide technical guidance, coordination, coaching, and project-level supervision to designers/drafters/engineers/consultants/architects/planners; obtaining advanced research knowledge on building codes and materials from vendor and applying strategies for implementation; and identifying incremental process improvements that increase efficiency and effectiveness of vendor assessment.




• Provides oversight for compliance by: leading other internal teams to ensure the enterprise facilities design standards development to ensure quality solutions.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelors degree in Architecture, Engineering (e.g., Electrical, Mechanical, Structural, etc.), Planning (e.g., Space Planning), Interior Design, Construction Management, Cost Estimating, or related field AND minimum eight (8) years of experience in planning, architectural, design, engineering, CADD, hospital/medical facility, healthcare planning, construction estimating, or a directly related field OR Minimum eleven (11) years of experience in planning, architectural, design, engineering, CADD, hospital/medical facility, health and safety administration/management, construction estimating, or a directly related field.

Preferred Qualifications:

• EDAC Certification.


• LEED Accredited.