Design Manager

Job Title: Design Manager (Project Harker)

Reporting to: Design Management Regional Lead

Role purpose

The Design Manager is a key member of the Design Management team and will be fully dedicated to Project Harker (Carlisle, UK). They are responsible for the end‑to‑end management, coordination and assurance of design activities across the project, ensuring that all design outputs are delivered on time, to the required quality, and in line with client specifications and Omexom governance.

This role requires regular on‑site presence at Harker, with a minimum of three days per week spent on site to support coordination, stakeholder engagement, design reviews and construction interface activities.

Working closely with the Design Management Regional Lead for England, the Design Manager will oversee the design programme, design deliverables, technical assurance processes and design‑related coordination, collaborating with PMs, Designers, Planning, Commercial and Business Unit leadership. They will promote effective communication, proactive issue resolution and value‑driven design approaches throughout the project lifecycle.

Responsibilities & Duties

Including but not limited to the following:

1. Design Programme Ownership

• Develop, maintain and issue the design programme for all schemes.

• Proactively monitor progress, highlight deviations, and implement recovery strategies.

• Coordinate programme interfaces with planning, procurement and construction.

2. Design Quality & Technical Assurance

• Ensure design outputs meet NG, SSE and Omexom specifications in line with the LCDAE.

• Manage the assurance submission process, hold-point reviews and gateway approvals.

• Provide oversight for compliance with internal procedures, standards and CDM.

3. Commercial & Change Control (NEC Focus)

• Act as the custodian of design change, maintaining registers and logs.

• Manage EWNs, CEs, PMIs and ensure contractual obligations are followed.

• Identify design impacts on cost, programme and risk, and support forecasting.

• Supporting cost forecasting by linking design activity to commercial impacts.

4. Design Coordination & Stakeholder Management

• Lead design review meetings and coordinate multidisciplinary design teams.

• Interface with clients, OEMs, subcontractors, internal, and external, Design teams and delivery teams.

• Manage RFIs, TQs and design communications flow.

5. Risk, Safety & CDM

• Identify and manage design risk, including temporary and permanent works considerations.

• Ensure Principal Designer communications are flowing and documented.

• Promote the principles of prevention and safety-by-design.

6. Tender & Pre-Construction Input

• Supporting the BUGM and Bid Manager with technical input, design methodology, design assumptions and risk assessment during tender development.

• Ensuring that tender designs and proposals are robust, compliant and commercially defensible.

7. Team Leadership & Continuous Improvement

• Promote collaboration, innovation and smart Design delivery.

• Drive lessons learned and standardisation across multiple projects.

• Support the development and mentoring of assistant design managers.

Key interfaces

Relationships with key stakeholders:

• BUGM / Head of Design

• Project Managers

• Internal & External Design teams

• Planning Engineers

• Commercial & QS Teams

• Principal Designer

• Site Delivery Teams

• Client Representatives (NG / SSE)

Person Specification

Qualifications and experience

The jobholder shall possess:

Essential:

• 8+ years of experience in a related role and possess relevant qualifications

• Experience working on HV substation projects, ideally within the UK transmission sector.

• Proven ability to deliver Design related projects, with a high level of attention to detail.

• A strong belief in developing people and building a team, to deliver programs safely, on time, on budget and to a high quality.

• Internal and external stakeholder management experience

• Project leadership at a management level, delivering a range of projects that vary in complexity, are multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams

• Familiarity with National Grid processes, standards, assurance pathways or project delivery expectations.

Desired:

• Degree qualified in a relevant Engineering discipline or Project Management / Construction management or similar.

• National Grid persons (substations)

• Experience working to energy transmission and distribution specifications, processes and procedures.

• Experience of working in the UK Energy sector or within highly regulated industries

• Membership of a relevant professional institution

Values

In line with Omexom’s values, the jobholder must have the following qualities:

Team Spirit & Generosity – able to work effectively within and contribute to the Omexom team to deliver results, provide support and drive performance.

Trust and Empowerment – enjoy managing their responsibilities and time to ensure work is completed efficiently and professionally.

Integrity and Responsibility – enjoy taking responsibility for their duties and managing these effectively to ensure efficient high quality results.

Innovation & Entrepreneurship – continually strive to improve processes and introduce new initiatives to improve efficiency.