Federal Design Manager - Design-Build Focus

Parsons; Huntsville (TN); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Parsons is seeking a Federal Design Build Manager to lead the design execution on federal projects, delivered through design-build, coordinating the contractor's design efforts and ensuring compliance with contract requirements, federal standards, and owner expectations from startup through closeout.

You will serve as the primary interface among the owner, contractor, and design teams, directing design reviews, submittals, and design changes, and guiding constructability reviews for a seamless

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, architecture, construction management, or related field.
• Fifteen or more years of progressive design/engineering experience.
• Senior design-management leadership on complex, regulated, or mission-critical design-build projects.
• Experience with design reviews, submittals, and design-change control.
• Strong constructability and design-construction integration background, with cross-discipline coordination.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design process on design-build projects, overseeing the contractor's design team and subconsultants.
• Integrate contract requirements, federal criteria, client direction, and design-basis information.
• Plan and lead design reviews, interdisciplinary checks, constructability reviews, and QA/QC activities.
• Oversee design submittals, responses to comments, and resolution of design issues.
• Manage design changes, evaluate impacts, and ensure proper documentation and communication.
• Provide technical oversight and support during construction, including review of shop drawings and RFIs.
• Coordinate with owner, contractor, federal agencies, and other stakeholders.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate design and constructability risks.

Skills

Design management

Design-build

Leadership

Regulatory compliance

Stakeholder coordination

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering/architecture/construction management

Job description

In a world of possibilities, pursue one with endless opportunities. Imagine Next! At Parsons, you can imagine a career where you thrive, work with exceptional people, and be yourself. Guided by our leadership vision of valuing people, embracing agility, and fostering growth, we cultivate an innovative culture that empowers you to achieve your full potential. Unleash your talent and redefine what's possible.

Job Description:

The Federal Design Build Manager is responsible for leading and managing the design execution process on federal projects delivered through design-build or other integrated delivery methods. This role is accountable for the oversight, coordination, and integration of the contractor's design efforts, ensuring compliance with contract requirements, federal criteria, and client expectations from project startup through final design, construction, commissioning, and closeout.

The Design Manager serves as the primary interface between the owner, contractor, and design teams, providing technical leadership and rigorous oversight of the contractor's design development, submittals, and design changes. The role requires deep experience in design-build project delivery, including constructability reviews, design validation, and proactive resolution of design-construction interface issues.

The Design Manager operates as part of a project leadership triad with the Project Manager and the Project Engineer/Senior Project Engineer. The Design Manager is specifically responsible for:

• Oversight and integration of the contractor's design and design-build team activities.
• Ensuring design compliance with contract documents, federal standards, and owner's project requirements.
• Managing design reviews, submittal processes, and design change control.
• Leading constructability reviews and facilitating seamless transition from design to construction.
• Providing technical direction and resolving design-related issues during construction.

A successful candidate will be able to clearly articulate, at any point in project execution, the status of design actions and decisions, ownership and due dates, affected deliverables or milestones, supporting evidence for closure, and any unresolved issues impacting scope, cost, schedule, quality, safety, security, constructability, commissioning, client acceptance, or contractual entitlement.

What You'll Be Doing:

• Design-Build Oversight: Lead and manage the design process on design-build projects, including direct oversight of the contractor's design team, subconsultants, and specialty designers.
• Design Integration: Integrate contract requirements, federal criteria, client direction, and design-basis information into a coordinated design-build delivery approach.
• Design Review & Validation: Plan, coordinate, and lead design reviews, interdisciplinary checks, constructability reviews, and quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) activities.
• Submittal Management: Oversee and track design submittals, responses to comments, and resolution of design issues to ensure timely and compliant deliverables.
• Change Control: Manage design changes, evaluate impacts, and ensure proper documentation and communication of design modifications.
• Construction Support: Provide technical oversight and support during construction, including review of shop drawings, RFIs, field changes, and as-built documentation.
• Stakeholder Coordination: Serve as the primary point of contact for design-related matters with the contractor, owner, federal agencies, and other stakeholders.
• Risk Management: Identify, assess, and mitigate design and constructability risks throughout the project lifecycle.

What Required Skills You'll Bring:

• Education: Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in engineering, architecture, construction management, or a closely related technical discipline.
• Professional Experience: Fifteen or more years of progressive experience in design, engineering, architecture, or project delivery, with substantial responsibility for multidisciplinary design coordination and formal deliverables on design-build projects.
• Design-Build Leadership: Demonstrated experience leading or serving in a senior design-management role on complex, high-profile, regulated, mission-critical, infrastructure, facility, or federal design-build projects.
• Project Lifecycle Experience: Proven track record supporting projects from startup and design planning through final design, issue for construction, construction support, commissioning, and closeout.
• Contractor Design Oversight: Experience overseeing and validating contractor's design, managing submittals, and ensuring compliance with owner's project requirements and federal standards.
• Constructability & Integration: Strong background in constructability reviews, design-construction integration, and facilitating effective collaboration between design and construction teams.
• Quality & Readiness: Experience planning and coordinating design reviews, QA/QC interfaces,