Senior Design Manager - Rail

About the role

The Senior Design Manager will support the Project Management team in the planning and delivery of multidisciplinary design packages on major rail projects. They will work closely with the Arup Design Manager, coordinating multidisciplinary design teams across multiple technical disciplines to support integrated design delivery and alignment with project objectives.

Responsibilities

• Support the Project Management team in the planning and delivery of multidisciplinary design packages on major rail projects, including scope definition, scheduling, resourcing, and progress tracking.
• Work closely with the Arup Design Manager to communicate design progress and issues and escalate where required.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary design teams across multiple technical disciplines to support integrated design delivery and alignment with project objectives.
• Support the coordination of Arup-specialist inputs (fire, facades, acoustics, security, assurance) into the design.
• Assist in the Integration Manager in overseeing design interfaces, risks, and issues, tracking actions and supporting timely resolution of technical and coordination decisions.
• Lead the delivery of project drawings, reports and specifications to ensure production of deliverables to agreed timelines and within budget.
• Support package-level design delivery, including coordination of design activities, procurement inputs, and construction interface support.
• Lead design coordination workshops and formal stage reviews with technical disciplines.
• Arrange, attend and record client and stakeholder design presentations.
• Facilitate collaboration between clients, contractors, and consultants, including participation in user groups and stakeholder meetings.
• Help monitor schedule, cost, and performance for assigned design packages, escalating risks and opportunities as appropriate.
• Coordinate communication and information flow across the design team to support efficient, well-informed decision-making.
• Support design quality management processes to ensure outputs meet agreed standards, contractual requirements, and client expectations.
• Verify formatting, language and grammar of high quality reports and presentations.
• Aid in design reporting, governance, and project controls activities in line with project and client requirements.
• Contribute to business development activities, including client engagement, marketing coordination, and support for bids and proposals.

Requirements

The ideal candidate should have:

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering or a related field, with 5–10 years of experience supporting the delivery of complex rail or transit projects in a multidisciplinary environment.
• A strong understanding of rail and transit project delivery, including client drivers, governance, procurement approaches, and design-build or alternative delivery methods.
• Experience leading and coordinating multidisciplinary design teams, fostering collaboration, effective decision-making, and high-quality design outcomes.
• Experience managing the review, production, and submission of high-quality deliverables across many disciplines in a large project environment.
• Excellent communication and organizational skills, with experience engaging clients, stakeholders, and project teams throughout the design and delivery lifecycle.