Design Management Director

Director of Project Design Management

Want to work with the most sought-after minds and most talked-about projects? Your experience of Design Management in Engineering Consultancy might just make you our new Design Management Director.

Job description

Here at Buro Happold, expect the exceptional. 

From the projects you will work on to the clients we work with. From career-defining opportunities to an inclusive and diverse practice where we all contribute to a more equitable world. From our reputation to our relationships. Wherever your Buro Happold career takes you, it’ll be anything but ordinary. 

Your next role

Buro Happold has a clear strategic plan, strong learning culture and entrepreneurial mindset that will allow you to thrive. 

You’ll be part of something bigger than us all where sustainability, equity, social and performance outcomes matter. All of Buro Happold is committed to doing the right thing, even when that’s the hardest thing. This is a genuine opportunity to make impact - and leave real legacy.

Your key duties

The role entails providing strategic leadership to clients and overseeing major buildings and infrastructure projects across the Middle East. It also carries the accountability for the successful delivery of complex, multidisciplinary projects, ensuring the highest standards of quality, commercial performance, and client satisfaction. Acting as a trusted senior advisor, the director will be the primary client interface, working closely with local partners and regional leadership.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Project Delivery

• Scope Management: Define and manage project scope to ensure alignment with client expectations and organisational objectives.
• Schedule Management: Oversee the development and governance of robust project programmes to achieve timely delivery.
• Quality Assurance: Establish and maintain quality control processes to ensure all deliverables meet internal and client standards.
• Financial Oversight: Provide strategic supervision of project budgets, financial performance, and risk management.
• Governance & Commercial Control: Implement and uphold strong commercial and governance practices.

Leadership

• Client Engagement: Lead senior‑level client meetings and act as a trusted advisor.
• Mentorship: Coach and mentor senior staff, supporting succession planning and professional development.
• Design Leadership: Guide teams in resolving complex project challenges through integrated, multidisciplinary solutions.
• Service Growth: Identify opportunities to promote Buro Happold’s wider service offerings.
• Team Leadership: Foster a positive, high‑performance team culture in appointed Buro Happold project teams.

Collaboration

• Cross‑Discipline Working: Support collaboration across disciplines, regions, and business units to deliver exceptional outcomes.
• Knowledge Sharing: Contribute to the wider practice by sharing lessons learned, best practice, and thought leadership.
• Role Modelling: Champion collaborative behaviours and inclusive ways of working in appointed Buro Happold project teams.

Technical & Professional Excellence

• Technology Integration: Advise on the strategic use of digital tools and project technologies to enhance delivery and client value.
• Deliverable Quality: Ensure all reports, presentations, models, and drawings are produced to the highest professional standards.
• Quality Compliance: Enforce compliance with Buro Happold’s internal quality management systems.
• Professional Development: Promote continuous learning, CPD, and awareness of industry and technical advancements.

Your skills and experience

• Degree in Architecture, Engineering, or Master Planning.
• Proven experience in a senior leadership role with at least 5 years in the Middle East.
• Project management qualification (e.g., PMP) or significant project delivery experience.
• Professional accreditation from a recognised organisation.
• Strong technical background in multidisciplinary building and infrastructure design.
• Proven experience in strategic project delivery and team leadership, including managing remote teams.
• Excellent communication skills, capable of engaging with senior clients and collaborators.
• Understanding of Middle East policies and regulations.
• Experience in managing multidisciplinary LDC projects, overseeing financial and technical performance, and creating and managing programmes.
• Experience in developing long term relationships with clients and collaborators, and leading fee estimates, proposals, and negotiating terms and conditions.
• Familiarity with Project Management information systems (e.g., Aconex).

What we offer you

• Bring your knowledge and expertise to one of the world’s most respected consultancies. 
• Hybrid working arrangements
• Attractive salary and benefits package
• A strong commitment to your continuous development. Whatever stage in your career, we have a learning and development programme that will enable and empower you 
• Entitlement to two memberships to professional bodies or subscriptions  
• An international culture that wherever your career takes you at Buro Happold, you won’t be far from the exceptional. 

At Buro Happold, everyone else’s extraordinary is just our everyday. 

Apply today and be a part of our legacy.  

A place for everyone 

Buro Happold values individual's flexible approaches to working patterns as an important part of the way you work and achieve balance. We welcome applications from those who are seeking flexibility in their careers.   

Our exceptional portfolio of projects is the result of the diversity of thought, identities, backgrounds and experiences that shape us. Appreciating each other’s differences is key, we want employees to feel they don’t have to mask elements of their identity to thrive. 

We are working to change the lack of representation of marginalised groups in the built environment and are particularly keen to hear from anyone who feels they are underrepresented in the industry. We have much to learn from one another. Embracing difference allows us to develop the most innovative and elegant solutions.

Please let us know if there are any adjustments, we could make to the application process to make it easier and more comfortable for you. Contact recruitment@burohappold.com so we can work with you to support you throughout your application.

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