Balfour Beatty plc
Senior Design Manager
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About The Role
Join our Regional Civils Central and South East design and technical community and lead the delivery of complex, high-impact infrastructure projects across the Midlands, London and East Anglia. As a Senior Design Manager, you’ll operate across single major schemes or a portfolio of projects typically ranging from £5m to £100m+, spanning Active Travel, place-making, Climate Resilience, Defence and Power.
You’ll take ownership of the design and technical function from preconstruction through to delivery — developing clear design strategies and maintaining control of the design process to ensure solutions are buildable, compliant and commercially robust. Working at the centre of project teams, you’ll drive outcomes that meet programme and cost targets while delivering winning, deliverable solutions for our customers.
You’ll also play a key role in shaping early project outcomes, working closely with internal teams, partners, and the supply chain to influence design from the outset. From supporting work-winning activity through to driving innovation, value engineering and best practice, you’ll ensure every solution is efficient, sustainable and aligned to both customer expectations and Balfour Beatty’s commitment to safe, high-quality delivery.
What You'll Be Doing
As a Senior Design Manager, you will have the following accountabilities:
- Lead the development and implementation of design solutions, ensuring they meet customer requirements, programme and budget constraints and are presented for approval
- Manage and coordinate the Design Team, including M&E elements, ensuring effective briefing and performance of internal, external, and novated teams
- Oversee subcontractor design packages, ensuring technical compliance and timely approvals
- Support and manage the change control process, including assessment and implementation of design changes
- Drive the value engineering process to optimise cost, quality and buildability
- Represent the business within Safety by Design and Engineering forums, championing best practice
- Develop and manage the design deliverables programme, ensuring:
- A clear, agreed schedule of design deliverables
- Effective gate review processes and timely sign-off, with appropriate stakeholder communication
- Coordination and production of all design documentation in line with project and contractual requirements
- Support the implementation of BIM UKCS protocols, including collaboration, data management and model sharing
- Provide guidance on buildability across all design packages to both design and construction teams
- Liaise with statutory authorities (e.g., planning, building control, utilities) to support approvals and compliance
- Undertake line management responsibilities, supporting and developing Design Managers across projects
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Who We're Looking For
Key Requirements:
- Proven experience operating at a senior level, delivering design services within a work-winning / preconstruction and project delivery environment, with a strong track record of implementing effective design strategies
- Strong leadership capability, able to drive high-quality design outputs in line with customer and business sector priorities
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build effective relationships across partners and project teams, often under time pressure
- Experience leading teams and supporting the development of others
- Commercial awareness, with strong numeracy and bid/report writing skills
- A clear understanding of “what good looks like” in bid submissions, with hands-on experience delivering successful, work-winning proposals
- Good working knowledge of BIM and digital delivery tools (e.g., ACC), supporting collaborative design management
- Experience working with modern procurement routes and contract forms (e.g., NEC)
- Relevant professional membership (e.g., ICE, IStructE, CIHT) aligned to the discipline
- A valid CSCS card
- Strong IT skills, including Microsoft Office, with wider digital capability desirable
- In-depth knowledge of relevant codes of practice, standards and regulatory requirements
- A continuous improvement mindset, with a focus on innovation, customer outcomes and business performance
Why Work For Us
Day in, day out, our teams deliver some of the UK’s most ambitious, exciting and meaningful projects; developing, building and maintaining the vital infrastructure that supports national economies and strengthens communities.
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Benefits:
Our rewards extend far beyond performance-related bonuses. You’ll have the freedom to craft a workplace package that suits you and your life. Some of our key benefits include:
- Smart working, giving you more flexibility such as staggered start and finish times, with up to 40% remote working, where roles allow.
- 25 days paid annual leave (pro rata)
- Family-friendly policies, including 28 weeks’ full pay for maternity/adoption leave and four weeks’ full pay for paternity/partners leave.
- Pension, share incentive plan, volunteering leave, recognition schemes, and much more.
About Us
With a strong track record of delivery, our civils teams connect communities through infrastructure projects in the highways, public realm, rail, flood and coastal defence, and industrial sectors across England and Wales.
Diversity and Inclusion
At Balfour Beatty, we believe diversity and inclusion are essential components of any successful, happy workplace. Through our Value Everyone Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan, we are committed to growing our diverse workforce and fostering an inclusive culture where everyone is able to thrive and reach their full potential, regardless of identity or background.
Our initiatives include partnerships with organisations such as:
- WISE
- enei
- Business Disability Forum
- Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers (AFBE)
In 2020, Balfour Beatty signed the Audeliss and Involve Open Letter to demonstrate our commitment to long-term sustainable actions on Black Inclusion. We are also a Gold Award holder in the Ministry of Defence Employer Recognition Scheme and actively encourage applications from Armed Forces personnel, veterans and reservists.
As a Disability Confident Employer, we are committed to working with people who have disabilities and long-term health conditions to remove barriers for them in obtaining employment. If you meet the minimum job requirements, we are committed to offering you an interview. For more information, visit: Disability Confident Campaign.
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