Costain Group
Design Manager
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Costain are working with Thames Water on a variety of water and wastewater projects and have fantastic opportunities for individuals to join our growing AMP8 delivery team, working predominantly across the Thames Valley and Thames South regions. There is a mix of projects ranging from smaller capital maintenance to large civil new build schemes.
Role Overview
Design Managers are project-based, working as part of the project team to deliver the design and engineering aspects of our projects. This may include delivering design management on major bids.
As a Design Manager, you are accountable for all the design for a scheme (on a framework) or section of a major project. Managing the relevant designers on your project, ensuring the design being delivered on time, to budget and technically compliant. All our designs must be safe, sustainable, and efficient to construct.
As Design Manager you will work in a team of design managers, either on a major project or delivering schemes as part of a framework. You will report to a Principal or Senior Design Manager as part of a wider team.
At Costain, we believe diverse perspectives drive innovation. If you’re passionate about making a positive impact and think you can bring value to our team, we’d love to hear from you—even if you don’t tick every box. Your unique skills and experiences could be exactly what we need.
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Responsibilities
Key Responsibilities
- Delivering engineering solutions at a project / framework level from initial definition of need through optioneering, solution development, detail design and construction support.
- To lead a team of discipline design engineers in the development of wastewater technical solutions from initial need statement through optioneering, solution development, value engineering, detail design and construction support.
- Ensure affordable design solutions are developed within project budget and solution risk is appropriately managed and communicated throughout the solution development process.
- Establish collaborative working relationships with the client, design teams, construction staff and supply chain representatives to promote buildability and supply chain efficiency in design outputs.
- Ensure sustainable design solutions completed in accordance with CDM Regulations
- Provide design solutions that meet all the requirements of the programme’s systems and governance procedures
- Agree design budgets, monitor performance against the budget and provide forecast costs to completion for individual projects
- Record, monitor and control design changes in order to maximise cost efficiency
- Establish and agree design costs and programme timescales with the Project Manager and Principal Design Manager, providing report metrics regularly including narrative.
- Organise the work required and document the Design Management Plan / Project Execution Plan
- Deliver the design stage outputs of each project within the agreed timescale and budget
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Knowledge, Skills, and Experience
Essential
- Academically qualified Civil/Mechanical/Electrical design engineer.
- Ideally chartered.
- Experience of managing design quality control processes.
- Able to collaborate and work effectively within a multidiscipline and diverse team.
- Ability to successfully deliver design and tenders to program, budget and quality requirements.
- Proactive approach and growth mindset, with an ability to adapt to changing scenarios.
- Understanding of responsibilities under CDM.
Desirable
- Experience of managing large amounts of design change
- Understanding of operating Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) and design workflows
- Demonstrable basic legal, contractual and construction knowledge
- Confidence and ability to assert influence
- Some experience of drafting effective contractual correspondence and the facilitation of collaborative solutions
- Basic negotiating and team-working skills
Qualifications
Essential
- Bachelor’s degree / Engineering or management apprenticeship with industry experience
Desirable
- Chartered member of professional institute (MICE/IMechE/MCIOB etc)
- Related Project Management or Risk Management training
About Costain
Costain helps to improve people’s lives with integrated, leading edge, smart infrastructure solutions across the UK’s energy, water, transportation and defence markets. We help our clients improve their business performance by increasing capacity, improving customer service, safeguarding security, enhancing resilience, decarbonising and delivering increased efficiency. Our vision is to be the UK’s leading smart infrastructure solutions company. We will achieve this by focusing on blue chip clients whose major spending plans are underpinned by strategic national needs, regulatory commitments, legislation or essential performance requirements. We offer our clients leading edge solutions that are digitally optimised through the following five services which cover the whole lifecycle of their assets: future-shaping strategic consultancy; consultancy and advisory; digital technology solutions; asset optimisation and complex programme delivery. Our culture and values underpin everything we do.
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Costain appreciate the time and effort taken when applying for one of our positions but, due to the high volume of responses, we are unable to provide individual feedback on candidates at application phase.
We do share individual feedback following an interview.
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that disclose they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer.
It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people.
For more details please go to the Disability Confident website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/disability-confident-campaign
Costain are working with Thames Water on a variety of water and wastewater projects and have fantastic opportunities for individuals to join our growing AMP7 delivery team, working predominantly across the Thames Valley and Thames South regions. There is a mix of projects ranging from smaller capital maintenance to large civil new build schemes.
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