Senior Design Manager

Overview

As a Senior Design Manager you guide the design process for large-scale projects within Willmott Dixon’s Construction North team. You will lead design delivery across multiple sectors, ensuring alignment with programme, cost, and client requirements, while coordinating a multi-disciplinary team of consultants and in-house specialists. You will help build buildable, quality-focused designs and drive collaboration with pre-construction, operations, and supply chain partners. This role offers hybrid working and a clear path toward senior leadership.

Pay / Benefits

• hybrid working
• career progression opportunities (to Principal Design Manager)
• structured development
• knowledge-sharing forums
• inclusive workplace culture

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a design management team on larger projects (1–2 Design Managers)
• Oversee the design process to meet Willmott Dixon procedures and high-quality outputs
• Coordinate design programmes, manage deadlines and information flow
• Chair design team meetings and foster cross-functional collaboration with consultants, suppliers, and internal teams
• Review technical details to maintain buildability, value engineering, and quality
• Collaborate with Pre-construction, Principal Design, and Operations managers to align design with programme, cost, and client needs

Key requirements

• Senior Design Manager experience in a Tier 1/Tier 2 Head Contractor environment on large-scale projects (from preconstruction through delivery)
• Strong technical design capabilities
• Experience across Education, Health, Commercial, Defence, Residential, Leisure sectors
• Proven leadership and coordination of multidisciplinary design teams
• Ability to review drawings, specifications, and design details with technical confidence
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills; able to influence stakeholders
• Proficiency with MS Office and drawing mark-up tools

• communication
• collaboration
• influence
• design management
• buildability
• value engineering

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