0 Senior Design Manager roles in Central & South East Region

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

Who we're looking for

We’re looking for someone with:

• 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.

Why join us?

As if contributing to and supporting work that makes life better for millions wasn’t rewarding enough, we offer a full range of benefits too. You’ll have the freedom to shape the package that’s right for you and your life. Here are some of our key benefits:

- 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 which include 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 want everyone to be able to thrive and achieve their full potential, regardless of their identity or background. We’re making great progress through our Value Everyone DEI Action Plan, but we know we’ve got more to do.  Find out more about our values and DEI initiatives. 

As a Disability Confident Employer, we ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this role will be offered an interview. 

We are committed to our processes being barrier-free and will support adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process. Please let the recruiter for this role know if you require any adjustments. 

We’re looking to continually improve our recruitment process, so if you have any feedback, please share this with us via candidaterecruitmentenquiries@balfourbeatty.com