Design Manager

London Area, United Kingdom

Job Purpose:

We are seeking an agile Senior Design Manager and a highly performing SME with sufficient experience managing multi-disciplinary design teams to support our Design and Engineering function within Design & Construction.

Acting as Senior Design Manager and an SME on Mechanical or Electrical discipline matters, He/She will manage the consultant teams in the production of the data centre design documents for the project/projects under His/Her responsibility. Experience as DataCentre Operator, DC General Contractor or DC Consultant is mandatory.

The projects can include:

Expansion to existing facilities,

Upgrades to existing infrastructure,

Green field construction and

Support in M&A transactions.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

To steer and guide and also challenge the external Design Consultants and Contractors when required taking a ‘Trust but Verify’ approach, to ensure they deliver a design to meet the requirements of the Design Brief, periodically assessing and evaluating all project related design decisions presented by consultants and contractors with support if required from the Director of Design.

Review and approve design proposals, specifications, manuals, and other data submitted for review on ASite Platform and to evaluate the design feasibility, Technical specifications, compliance with the project specifics and local requirements. You will be expected to evolve design process to improve speed-to-market while still ensuring project deliverables are met

Supports in the production and evaluation of test fits, predominantly led by the product team to determine IT yield from land to be acquired.

Leads in the production of power applications once early test fits have been approved.

Manage and liaise with local utility providers regularly during the design and construction cycle to enable planned delivery of power to support T&C and RFS of the facility. Support in determining the lowest cost solution for utility provision to sites.

Liaise with local planning authorities to determine the most expeditious route to commence construction with permits in hand.

Coordinate with fibre providers to determine routes and timing for fibre connectivity to the facilities including agreeing fibre vault and route information.

Leads on the creation and agreement of the design production program for projects, the monitoring of the program, and the continual improvement of the delivery program of the design to improve time to market.

Contributes to the development of design standards in alignment with our product requirements.

Work with other design managers, senior design managers and SME’s to ensure consistency of design information and repeatable design processes/methodologies.

During the design process manage and interact with Architectural, Mechanical and Electrical Partners (MEPs), plus other specialities design partners (Controls/Security/Network etc) to deliver components of the design culminating in high quality industry leading design documentation for mission critical facilities.

Suggest improvements to the reference design post implementation on a project for refinement and streamlining on the next project.

Participate in the production of technical content to support business case approval by our investors.

Review designs managed by other design managers to ensure accuracy and consistency of design documents.

Work with the construction team, the General contractors, subs and equipment suppliers to enable successful on time completion of projects.

Work with the commissioning team to determine the most expeditious way to commission facilities.

Produce project renderings to support sales, company promoting and general awareness of AE and the expansions we are undertaking.

Once the design is complete work with the project teams and customers to ensure projects are documented properly, closed out quickly and transitioned successfully to the local operations team.

Review with the project cost management teams and construction team the budgets proposed for design services and also provide improvements to design detailing to drive the cost to build down to the AE target build cost.

Be up-to-date on industry trends and design solutions being developed by our competitors to further inform the product offering and drive the cost to build lower.

Review and produce designs so that they meet the future needs of our customers for capacity, density, and functionality.

KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE

PREFERRED EDUCATION/ QUALIFICATIONS:

5-10 years’ experience in either a (1) Design MEP consultancy, (2) design team of a DC operator

Degree in Engineering. A Master Degree in Engineering is preferred but not essential

PE/Chartered member preferred but not essential.

Proven track record of successful multi-disciplinary design management

SKILLS & ABILITIES:

Experience with industry standards, building codes and safety standards

Experience with design management tools and platforms (ASite. BIM360, Revit/BIM and Bluebeam)

The ability to work in a collaborative way across all engineering disciplines and with other business functions

Experienced in ASHRAE Testing and Commissioning Levels and Commissioning Planning of mission critical systems.

Experience during the early site selection, design and procurement phases of new build and existing mission critical facilities site reviews.

Good understanding of Construction Contracts.

Experience with project management approaches, tools and phases of the project lifecycle

Good understanding of Design Consultants appointments.

Excellent working knowledge of RIBA (or AIA and equivalent) design stages.

Experience with formal change management processes

Must be able to demonstrate initiative.

Must have the ability to work accurately under pressure.

Must be able to operate in an open management style and structure with an emphasis on team working and within AE matrix

Excellent Time Management Skills.

Ability to travel within reasonable notice to visit project’s sites or existing facilities across AE projects locations.

Excellent communication skills verbally and written.

Must be able to operate in an open management style and structure with an emphasis on team working and within a AE matrix

Substantial experience of working in the data centre and engineering industry.

Delivery of large capital expenditure projects with a high dependence on MEP.