Lead Designer – Contract Position
As a Lead Designer, you’ll play a key role in shaping and assuring high‑quality design across our projects. You’ll oversee and enhance technical assurance processes, ensuring all designs meet regulatory requirements, including CDM. Working closely with Senior Designers, you’ll support the development of robust, compliant design solutions while championing strong design principles throughout.
Responsibilities
* Strong understanding of statutory and regulatory obligations, with a focus on HSE requirements, including CDM, ensuring all designs are safe, compliant, and delivered to the highest standards.
* Lead and enhance technical assurance processes across projects, providing clear frameworks and guidance to Senior Designers while ensuring adherence to internal standards and wider regulatory obligations.
* Act as a key interface with internal stakeholders, including Major Projects and technical teams, supporting the delivery of high‑quality design packages for customers and delivery partners.
* Champion best practice design principles across the team, holding designers to account while coaching and mentoring to develop capability and confidence.
* Support the training and ongoing development of new starters, building strong, collaborative relationships across teams and with field colleagues to drive continuous improvement and right‑first‑time delivery.
* Maintain a strong focus on health and safety, quality, cost, and delivery ability, ensuring smooth end‑to‑end delivery of projects, including effective management of jeopardy jobs through the assurance process.
Qualifications
* Strong IT skills (e.g., MS Office), with good literacy, analytical thinking, and problem‑solving ability.
* Proven experience delivering results in a fast‑paced environment, with the ability to prioritise and adapt to changing workloads.
* Solid understanding of the water industry, design principles, and construction HSE requirements, including CDM.
* Highly organised and able to work independently, with a strong focus on compliance, quality, and deliverability.
* Confident working as part of a team, with the ability to coach, mentor, and support others.
* Proactive and driven, with strong planning skills and the ability to build positive relationships with a range of stakeholders.
Benefits
* Offering an annual salary from £41,000 per annum, depending on skills and experience.
* 24 days holiday per year, increasing to 28 with the length of service (plus bank holidays).
* Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
* Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing, and your finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling, to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.
Location & Working Arrangement
Based in our Clearwater Court office in Reading. This is a hybrid role with 2 office days per week.
Contract
12‑month fixed‑term contract.
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