Senior Design Manager

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At Parsons, you can imagine a career where you thrive, work with exceptional people, and be yourself. Guided by our leadership vision of valuing people, embracing agility, and fostering growth, we cultivate an innovative culture that empowers you to achieve your full potential. Unleash your talent and redefine what’s possible.

 

Job Description:

Parsons is looking for an amazingly talented Senior Design Manager to join our team! In this role you will get to lead and manage complex, multidisciplinary design programs and projects, providing strategic direction across the full design lifecycle. You will be responsible for design scope, quality, schedule, budget, technical integration, stakeholder coordination, and commercial performance, ensuring that design solutions meet client objectives, contractual requirements, regulatory standards, and Parsons' expectations for technical excellence.
 

What You'll Be Doing

• Lead the planning, management, coordination, and delivery of multidisciplinary design activities across assigned projects and programs.
• Manage design programs associated with projects typically up to $100 million in total installed cost, ensuring delivery within approved scope, schedule, budget, and quality requirements.
• Establish the overall design vision, delivery strategy, technical objectives, quality expectations, and design management processes.
• Lead the development and implementation of the Design Execution Plan and support integration with applicable Health and Safety and Quality Assurance/Quality Control plans.
• Define design requirements across all disciplines and monitor draft and final deliverables for compliance with project criteria, client requirements, codes, standards, and contractual obligations.
• Manage design activities from concept and preliminary design through detailed design, construction support, and project completion.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary interfaces between architecture, engineering, infrastructure, utilities, MEP, landscape, specialist systems, and other relevant disciplines.
• Assign responsibility for design packages and workstreams to Design Leads, Project Engineers, and discipline leads based on project requirements and individual capabilities.
• Mobilize and coordinate resources across departments, offices, and technical disciplines to establish effective multidisciplinary design teams.
• Develop integrated design schedules, budgets, resource plans, deliverable registers, and execution strategies in coordination with Project Management and Project Controls teams.
• Monitor design progress against approved schedules and identify potential delays, technical constraints, resource issues, and delivery risks.
• Identify and manage design-related risks associated with scope, cost, schedule, quality, interfaces, constructability, and regulatory requirements.
• Develop and implement corrective action and recovery plans where design performance could affect project milestones, cost, or quality.
• Lead design-related scope management and change control, ensuring changes are appropriately identified, assessed, documented, and approved.
• Support negotiations with clients, consultants, contractors, and key subcontractors regarding design scope, technical requirements, variations, and changes.
• Oversee the timely preparation, tracking, and closure of design-related change orders and variations.
• Lead design reviews, technical workshops, interdisciplinary coordination meetings, peer reviews, and constructability reviews.
• Review design deliverables for technical quality, completeness, coordination, constructability, maintainability, and compliance.
• Champion design excellence through effective Quality Assurance processes, technical reviews, design standards, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure effective integration between design and downstream procurement, construction, commissioning, operations, and lifecycle requirements.
• Coordinate construction-stage design support, including RFIs, technical queries, site coordination, design modifications, and constructability issues where applicable.
• Maintain clear documentation and traceability of key design decisions, actions, approvals, assumptions, and technical commitments.
• Prepare and oversee design briefs, project summaries, technical reports, presentations, and other key design management documentation.
• Monitor and report design performance to project and senior management, highlighting milestones, risks, decisions, changes, and issues affecting cost, schedule, or quality.
• Serve as the primary design representative with clients, consultants, contractors, and other key stakeholders during project execution.
• Manage stakeholder and authority interfaces and support technical approvals throughout the design lifecycle.
• Participate in discussions and negotiations with regulatory and government agencies and represent design solutions in stakeholder meetings where required.
• Establish and lead regular design management and coordination meetings to review progress, interfaces, risks, decisions, and action items.
• Provide technical leadership, mentoring, coaching, and development support to Design Leads and other design personnel.
• Provide input into performance reviews, succession planning, and capability development for design team members.
• Support business development, proposals, technical submissions, and identification of additional or follow-on design opportunities with clients.
• Promote effective use of digital design, BIM, collaboration platforms, and emerging technologies to improve design quality and delivery efficiency.
• Perform other responsibilities associated with this position as appropriate.
   

What Required Skills You'll Bring

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Architecture, Industrial Design, or a related technical discipline.
• Minimum 15+ years of related professional experience, including substantial experience managing complex multidisciplinary design projects.
• Significant experience in a Senior Design Manager, Design Manager, Engineering Manager, or equivalent design leadership capacity.
• Proven experience leading large multidisciplinary design teams and multiple design packages or projects.
• Strong experience managing design through multiple project stages, from concept development through detailed design and construction support.
• Strong understanding of design management principles, processes, governance, and technical assurance.
• Demonstrated experience managing:
• Design scope and deliverables
• Design schedules and budgets
• Multidisciplinary interfaces
• Design quality and technical assurance
• Design changes and variations
• Design risks and opportunities
• Stakeholder and authority requirements
• Strong understanding of the integration between design, engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, and operations.
• Experience developing and implementing Design Execution Plans, design management procedures, deliverable schedules, and technical review processes.
• Proven ability to identify design-related cost, schedule, quality, and technical risks and implement effective mitigation or corrective actions.
• Strong understanding of constructability, maintainability, operability, and lifecycle considerations during design development.
• Thorough knowledge of relevant industry practices, design standards, codes, regulations, and technical requirements.
• Experience managing consultants, designers, specialist subcontractors, and multidisciplinary technical teams.
• Experience leading client-facing design meetings, technical workshops, design reviews, and stakeholder presentations.
• Strong commercial awareness with an understanding of design scope, contracts, variations, budgets, and commercial performance.
• Excellent written, verbal, visual, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Proven leadership, negotiation, decision-making, and problem-solving capabilities.
• Ability to communicate complex design and technical matters effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong knowledge of current design technologies, BIM, digital engineering, and collaboration platforms.
• Ability to meet Parsons' applicable project management certification requirements.
   

What Desired Skills You'll Bring

• Master's Degree in Engineering, Architecture, Design Management, Construction Management, or a related discipline.
• Professional Engineer (PE), Chartered Engineer (CEng), registered Architect, or equivalent professional registration/licensure.
• PMP, PRINCE2, or equivalent internationally recognized project management certification.
• Experience managing design programs associated with projects approaching or exceeding $100 million in total installed cost.
• Experience delivering major infrastructure, buildings, transportation, mixed-use, hospitality, urban development, or other complex multidisciplinary projects.
• Experience within PMC, Delivery Partner, design consultancy, design-build, EPC, or client-side environments.
• Experience managing multiple concurrent projects, design packages, consultants, and technical workstreams.
• Strong knowledge of BIM-based design coordination, Common Data Environments (CDE), digital engineering, and information management processes.
• Experience implementing design governance, technical assurance, peer review, and stage-gate processes.
• Strong understanding of value engineering, design optimization, constructability reviews, and lifecycle cost considerations.
• Experience managing authority approvals and complex stakeholder interfaces.
• Experience supporting procurement, construction, testing, commissioning, and operational readiness from a design management perspective.
• Experience supporting technical proposals, business development, client engagement, and follow-on work opportunities.
• Strong mentoring and team development capabilities with experience developing emerging design leaders.
• Ability to establish design standards, processes, and governance frameworks across multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong strategic thinking with the ability to balance design quality, technical requirements, commercial objectives, schedule, and constructability.
• Commitment to design excellence, innovation, collaboration, quality, and continuous improvement.

Parsons equally employs representation at all job levels no matter the race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, disability or genetic information.

We truly invest and care about our employee’s wellbeing and provide endless growth opportunities as the sky is the limit, so aim for the stars! Imagine next and join the Parsons quest—APPLY TODAY!

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