Design Delivery Manager
Department: OCU Design
Employment Type: Permanent – Full Time
Location: OCU Stockport Head Office
Reporting To: Kristoffer Baker
Description
The Opportunity
OCU Design are seeking an experienced Design Delivery Manager to lead a team of Design Project Managers across a varied portfolio of complex energy and infrastructure projects. The role will typically oversee design delivery across areas such as battery energy storage systems, substations, and grid connections for developments including data centres, solar farms, and other major infrastructure schemes.
What You’ll Do
As Design Delivery Manager, you will provide leadership, direction, and support to a group of around five Design Project Managers, ensuring design delivery is planned, coordinated, and controlled across multiple projects. You will work closely with the wider design leadership team to help embed improved ways of working, strengthen delivery governance, and support positive change across the design function. You will be responsible for driving consistency in design management, supporting project teams, resolving key delivery issues, and ensuring design outputs meet programme, quality, safety, and commercial requirements.
This is a great opportunity for someone who enjoys leading people, improving delivery performance, and helping to shape the governance, behaviours, and controls needed to deliver consistently across a diverse portfolio of technically complex projects.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead, manage, and support a team of approximately five Design Project Managers across a portfolio of projects.
- Oversee design delivery across areas such as BESS, substations, and grid connections for data centre, solar, and other infrastructure developments.
- Ensure design programmes, deliverables, interfaces, risks, and key milestones are effectively managed across the portfolio.
- Provide direction, coaching, and escalation support to DPMs, helping them resolve delivery challenges and maintain project momentum.
- Work closely with clients, consultants, project teams, commercial teams, supply chain partners, and internal engineering functions.
- Promote safe, buildable, compliant, and commercially robust design solutions in line with project and business requirements.
- Support the design leadership team in implementing process improvements, governance controls, and consistent delivery standards across the DPM community.
- Monitor portfolio performance, manage key risks and change, and provide clear reporting to senior project and business leadership to support improved delivery governance and decision‑making.
What You’ll Bring
We are looking for someone with strong design delivery leadership, technical awareness, and the ability to manage people and performance across multiple projects.
Essential
- A degree in Electrical, Civil, Mechanical Engineering, or a related discipline
- Strong experience in design management, design delivery, or multidisciplinary infrastructure projects
- Experience leading or line‑managing design managers, project managers, engineers, or similar delivery professionals
- Proven ability to manage design across complex project portfolios with multiple stakeholders, interfaces, and competing priorities
- A good understanding of CDM 2015 roles, duties, and responsibilities
Desirable
- Chartered or Incorporated Engineer status, or capable of progressing towards professional accreditation
- Experience with BESS, HV/MV substations, grid connections, data centres, solar, or related energy infrastructure environments
- Experience working across client, consultant, contractor, and supply chain interfaces
- Exposure to temporary works, construction delivery, and operational handover requirements
To Succeed in This Role
- A confident people leader who can set direction, support others, and build a strong delivery culture
- Able to influence senior stakeholders, challenge constructively, and drive improvement where needed
- Highly organised, delivery‑focused, and comfortable managing competing priorities across a project portfolio
- A clear communicator with sound judgement, strong decision‑making ability, and a practical approach to problem solving
Working Arrangements
- Primarily home‑based, with regular visits to project sites
- Travel to project locations and company offices will be required
- Full UK Driving licence
What We Offer
At OCU, we believe that meaningful work should come with meaningful support. That’s the principle behind Careers with Purpose, our commitment to ensuring every person at OCU feels supported, developed, and valued, not just in their role today, but throughout their career with us.
Alongside the opportunity to work on some of the UK’s most significant infrastructure projects, we offer a benefits package that we are continuing to develop as we grow, and the kind of career acceleration that only comes from being inside a business moving at this pace.
As a rapidly growing organisation, there are genuine opportunities to progress, broaden your experience, and build a long‑term career within OCU Group.
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