Senior Design Manager📣 Job Ad

About AtkinsRéalis and the Role

AtkinsRéalis is seeking a Senior Design Manager to join its team in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This full-time position involves managing large-scale multi-disciplinary projects within KSA and the GCC Region, ensuring design coordination, programme management, quality, and scope compliance. The role operates independently, leading multi-disciplinary design teams and collaborating closely with project delivery teams to achieve project objectives and milestones.

Role Overview

The Senior Design Manager holds full accountability for design coordination, programme management, quality, and scope compliance across projects. This role involves close collaboration with the project delivery team to establish project objectives, develop the Design Management Plan, and oversee project scheduling. The objective is to ensure alignment throughout the project lifecycle, achieving agreed objectives and milestones in accordance with project management standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the overall technical input of the multidisciplinary design team, ensuring design outputs are fully coordinated, compliant with contractual and regulatory requirements, and delivered to required quality standards.
• Create, maintain, and actively manage the Design Management Plan (DMP), ensuring alignment with project scope, programme, organisation structure, communication protocols, and client requirements.
• Be accountable for the design coordination and interface management process, ensuring effective integration between disciplines, subconsultants, third parties, and client requirements, and proactively resolving coordination issues.
• Develop, own, and manage a multidisciplinary design programme, securing buy-in from Technical Leads and aligning design deliverables with client milestones, approvals, procurement strategy, and construction sequencing.
• Ensure all design deliverables are reviewed, approved, and issued in accordance with the AtkinsRéalis Quality Management System (QMS), project procedures, and agreed document control processes.
• Integrate Safety in Design principles throughout all stages of the design process, ensuring hazards are identified, risks are managed, and design decisions support safe construction, operation, and maintenance outcomes.
• Confirm that contractual design deliverables have been achieved in accordance with the agreed scope and programme prior to the production of invoices.
• Identify, coordinate, and support the compilation of scope gaps and changes, working closely with the Project Manager, Lead Designer, and Discipline Leads to assess impacts on time, cost, and resources.
• Demonstrate a strong understanding of risk, contingency, and change management, applying commercial awareness and sound judgement to support overall project financial health.
• Manage and monitor design resources to ensure delivery is achieved in line with agreed budgets, programmes, and project priorities.

Client and Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as the primary technical interface with the Client's technical team, ensuring alignment on design objectives, scope, and delivery expectations.
• Manage client expectations through clear, structured communication, timely reporting, and coordinated, high-quality responses to client comments, queries, and technical requests.
• Provide appropriate technical advice and resources to address client requirements, ensuring issues are resolved efficiently and in accordance with project and contractual obligations.
• Lead or support stakeholder and statutory authority engagement processes, ensuring design submissions meet client, regulatory, and approval requirements.
• Proactively escalate technical, programme, or scope-related issues in a timely and structured manner, supporting effective resolution and minimizing impact on project outcomes.

Team Leadership and Business Development

• Provide day-to-day leadership and mentoring to Design Managers, Assistant Design Managers, and junior team members.
• Foster a collaborative, high-performance team culture, encouraging knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.
• Support performance development through coaching, feedback, and contribution to appraisals where required.
• Act as a role model for AtkinsRéalis behaviours, values, and professional standards.
• Act as Bid Manager for small to medium proposals aligned with experience and capability, contributing to bid preparation, methodology development, programme input, and Design Management strategy.
• Support wider Design Management marketing and business development initiatives, promoting best practice and capability.

Candidate Requirements

• Minimum of 12 years of postgraduate experience, with at least 8 years in the Middle East.
• Significant experience in Design Management (minimum 5 years) or multidisciplinary design delivery.
• Proven track record leading small to medium-scale projects of medium to high complexity, or significant packages within larger projects.
• Demonstrated experience in managing and mentoring Design Management teams.
• Ability to operate independently and lead multi-disciplinary design teams effectively.
• Strong understanding of risk, contingency, and change management, coupled with commercial awareness.