Senior Design Manager; Data Centres

Senior Design Manager (Data Centres) - London

RED are an expanding international M&E consultancy, with a proven track record in low energy design, focused on providing excellent design solutions to clients.

Through our market leading technical expertise, we enable the world's digital infrastructure and develop the built environment whilst also helping clients realise ambitious plans for zero carbon-built environments. We cover the entire life cycle of any building project, with our broad capability offering saving our clients time, money, and effort. Our approach is centred around listening to our clients and interacting energetically with our fellow project stakeholders.

We add value with our people, client service ethos, global delivery strategy, technical ability, and attitude.

We now seek a fully experienced Senior Design Manager to join our London office.

The Senior Design Manager (SDM) leads and coordinates multidisciplinary design activities across complex hyperscale and technology driven data centre projects. Operating with a high degree of autonomy, the SDM owns the day to day design management activities on assigned projects and acts as the principal design point of contact for internal project teams, external consultants, and clients.

Working closely with Associate Design Managers-who oversee broader project portfolios-the SDM is responsible for ensuring design deliverables meet project requirements, client standards, and key milestones from feasibility through concept, 50/80/100% design stages and into post contract support.

This role requires strong leadership, excellent communication skills, and a deep understanding of MEP, architectural, structural, civil, and specialist data centre systems. The SDM drives quality, technical accuracy, and coordinated outputs across all design work streams.

• Lead, organise, and coordinate multidisciplinary design teams (MEP, architecture, structures, civils, security, sustainability, acoustics and specialist SMEs).
• Operate with full autonomy in daily design management activities, requiring minimal direction.
• Serve as the principal design interface alongside the wider project team, ensuring consistent communication and alignment across all project stakeholders.
• Capture client requirements and translate them into clear, toll gated design deliverables (Masterplan, 50%, 80%, 100% packages).
• Ensure design outputs meet project demands, quality standards, regulatory requirements, and global data centre benchmarks (e.g., Uptime Institute, ASHRAE TC 9.9, ISO/IEC standards).
• Oversee compliance with planning, permitting, building regulations, and localisation requirements
• Manage design programmes and track progress against milestones, proactively identifying risks, clashes, or schedule impacts.
• Lead design change control processes in collaboration with project management, ensuring robust documentation, traceability, and scope clarity.
• Support value engineering while maintaining performance, schedule, and cost objectives.
• Act as the primary technical point of contact for clients, consultants, sub consultants, and internal teams.
• Lead and chair design meetings, technical workshops, and high quality design page turn sessions (virtual or in person).
• Build and maintain strong relationships with clients, addressing performance concerns early and effectively.
• Ensure rigorous QA/QC processes, technical reviews, and risk management protocols are applied across design deliverables.
• Contribute to internal development of design management systems, tools, templates, and best practice processes.
• Support business development, representing the discipline and the business with professionalism and technical excellence.
• Mentor and support junior design managers, engineers, and discipline leads.
• Promote high standards of behaviour, documentation, collaboration, and technical excellence across the team.

• 5+ years at Senior Engineer or Design Manager level.
• MSc/MEng (or equivalent) in an appropriate engineering discipline (desirable). BSc/BEng as a minimum.
• Professional membership (e.g., MCIBSE, MIEE, IMechE, MCIOB, APM PMQ, PRINCE2) desirable;
  Chartered status preferred.
• Proven project management and multidisciplinary design experience with data centres or other large scale, complex engineering projects.
• Strong MEP background with exposure to highly engineered or mission critical environments.
• Experience working in fast track, client driven design cycles (typically 20-25 weeks).
• Knowledge of redundancy strategies (UTI, Sub UTI, distributed redundancy) preferred.
• Strong understanding of the full design lifecycle and multidisciplinary coordination.
• Able to manage multiple concurrent work streams with autonomy.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with cross cultural awareness
• Commercially aware with experience in fee management, resource planning, and financial controls.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, MS Project; familiarity with Autodesk Construction Cloud, Planisware, and…