🏗️ Design Manager – Rail
📍 Salford / North West (Hybrid + Nationwide Project Travel)
💰 £DOE + Car/Allowance + Enhanced Benefits
🤝 Confidential Tier 1 Contractor | Major Projects £10m–£200m
🌍 About the Role
I’m representing a Tier 1 contractor with a strong national footprint who are looking to appoint an experienced Design Manager to support major rail projects across the North West and wider UK.
You’ll be embedded within a dedicated design and engineering function, overseeing design assurance from tender stage through delivery, and ensuring seamless interface management between design consultants, specialist suppliers, and on-site teams.
This is a great opportunity for someone who enjoys the variety of multi-disciplinary project leadership, buildability input, technical assurance and design governance on complex infrastructure schemes.
🔧 Key Responsibilities
Manage design consultant appointments, scopes, deliverables, design programmes and compliance checks.
Lead design development and optioneering, ensuring buildability, value engineering, sustainability, and safety-by-design are embedded.
Produce and maintain design responsibility matrices, design scopes, schedules and documentation.
Oversee surveys and investigations required for both permanent and temporary works design.
Chair and document design reviews, interdisciplinary checks (IDC), integration meetings and interface resolutions.
Review and interrogate design submissions to ensure compliance with standards, briefs and contractual requirements.
Maintain registers for TQs/RFIs, driving timely close-out and managing design change control.
Work closely with construction delivery teams to ensure design remains aligned with site requirements, programme targets and quality standards.
Collaborate with specialist suppliers during tender and delivery stages to support technical solutions and innovation.
💡 About You
Degree in Civil Engineering (or similar design-related discipline).
Strong background in design management or engineering within civil engineering, rail or large infrastructure projects.
Experience managing multidisciplinary design teams and external consultants.
Familiar with electronic document control systems and modern design workflows.
Excellent communicator capable of influencing design direction and coordinating multiple stakeholders.
Full driving licence — project/site meetings will be required.
🎁 What’s on Offer
£DOE + car/allowance.
Industry-leading pension scheme and flexible benefits package.
Option to buy/sell holidays and participate in company-wide reward/share initiatives.
Career development within a major national contractor delivering flagship UK rail projects.
Supportive team culture with hybrid working and progression opportunities.
🚀 Interested? Let’s Talk
If you’re a Design Manager looking to take a lead on major infrastructure bids and delivery, I’d love to discuss this confidentially.
📞 Sam Wakley
Recruitment Consultant – Built Environment
📧 samuel.wakley@anderselite.com
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