Design Manager
| Posting date: | 23 January 2026 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 22 February 2026 |
| Location: | EX1 3QS |
| Company: | Kier Group |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 9780 |
Summary
We're looking for a Drainage and Water Design Manager to join our Design team based in Exeter, Ipswich, Salford, Speke, or Wymondham. Kier Design are a top-25 engineering consultancy, delivering a wide range of services across all sectors of the built environment, providing construction-focused, innovative and sustainable solutions. We have preferential access to Kier's £11bn+ project pipeline, including mega projects like High Speed 2 and Hinkley Point C, frameworks with national and local government and other public bodies, and a range of other interesting projects in every sector of the built environment.
We believe in building teams around our people, rather than squeezing people into our teams, we want to help you carve out a role in which you'll grow and thrive for many years to come. Offering market-leading development opportunities, supporting our graduates through the early stages of their careers, enabling our people to become professionally qualified, providing management training and qualifications, and supporting ongoing technical development throughout our people's careers. Actively promoting, so you can keep pushing and stretching yourself.
Location: Exeter, Ipswich, Salford, Speke, or Wymondham - remote working available, with occasional travel to the office required.
Hours: 37.5 hours per week - some flexibility on hours available if desired, just let us know when you speak to us.
We are unable to offer certificates of sponsorship to any candidates in this role
What will you be responsible for?As a Design Manager, you'll be working within the Drainage and Water team, supporting them in delivering a £3m portfolio of Drainage & Water services. You'll lead a talented 35-person team across multiple locations, ensuring we deliver high-quality solutions that nurture client relationships and foster growth across our Building & Development, Transportation, and Water projects.Your day to day will include:
• Leading and nurturing multiple design teams across different locations, providing mentorship and fostering collaboration• Managing programmes, budgets, and risks across complex project portfolios• Building and maintaining strategic client relationships to supporting growth and service development• Ensuring design outputs meet quality standards, regulations, and client expectations• Driving innovation and improvement initiatives, enhancing our capabilities and efficiency
What are we looking for?This role of Design Manager is great for you if:
• You have experience leading and developing design teams, with a caring and supportive leadership style• You're skilled at managing programmes, budgets, and risks across complex engineering projects• Have excellent relationship-building abilities and communication skills• Delivered or delivering high-quality engineering solutions in Building & Development, Transportation, or Water sectors• Hold a full UK driving licence and can travel to our various team locations when needed
Rewards and benefitsWe're proud to be able to offer our brilliant people a wide variety of benefits that you can tailor to your needs. You can see more information of benefits here.
Diversity and inclusionMaking Kier a diverse and inclusive place to work is a huge priority for us. We're proud of the steps we've taken so far, but we know we must always do more. Our employees are key in shaping Kier's diversity and inclusion initiatives and our people have made a huge impact on how we work, by using their experiences to shape our policies. You can see our D&I action plan here. As a Disability Confident employer, we will ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this role will be offered an interview.
We look forward to seeing your application to #joinkier
We believe in building teams around our people, rather than squeezing people into our teams, we want to help you carve out a role in which you'll grow and thrive for many years to come. Offering market-leading development opportunities, supporting our graduates through the early stages of their careers, enabling our people to become professionally qualified, providing management training and qualifications, and supporting ongoing technical development throughout our people's careers. Actively promoting, so you can keep pushing and stretching yourself.
Location: Exeter, Ipswich, Salford, Speke, or Wymondham - remote working available, with occasional travel to the office required.
Hours: 37.5 hours per week - some flexibility on hours available if desired, just let us know when you speak to us.
We are unable to offer certificates of sponsorship to any candidates in this role
What will you be responsible for?As a Design Manager, you'll be working within the Drainage and Water team, supporting them in delivering a £3m portfolio of Drainage & Water services. You'll lead a talented 35-person team across multiple locations, ensuring we deliver high-quality solutions that nurture client relationships and foster growth across our Building & Development, Transportation, and Water projects.Your day to day will include:
• Leading and nurturing multiple design teams across different locations, providing mentorship and fostering collaboration• Managing programmes, budgets, and risks across complex project portfolios• Building and maintaining strategic client relationships to supporting growth and service development• Ensuring design outputs meet quality standards, regulations, and client expectations• Driving innovation and improvement initiatives, enhancing our capabilities and efficiency
What are we looking for?This role of Design Manager is great for you if:
• You have experience leading and developing design teams, with a caring and supportive leadership style• You're skilled at managing programmes, budgets, and risks across complex engineering projects• Have excellent relationship-building abilities and communication skills• Delivered or delivering high-quality engineering solutions in Building & Development, Transportation, or Water sectors• Hold a full UK driving licence and can travel to our various team locations when needed
Rewards and benefitsWe're proud to be able to offer our brilliant people a wide variety of benefits that you can tailor to your needs. You can see more information of benefits here.
Diversity and inclusionMaking Kier a diverse and inclusive place to work is a huge priority for us. We're proud of the steps we've taken so far, but we know we must always do more. Our employees are key in shaping Kier's diversity and inclusion initiatives and our people have made a huge impact on how we work, by using their experiences to shape our policies. You can see our D&I action plan here. As a Disability Confident employer, we will ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this role will be offered an interview.
We look forward to seeing your application to #joinkier
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.