Design Manager

Our Design Manager will play a key role in the successful delivery of the Strategic Pipeline Alliance,

Responsible for the delivery of a specific sub-programme area's - production engineering programmes of work. A programme focused mindset that takes ownership of the developed programmes and leads the production engineering team to deliver to these agreed milestones. Accountable through programme management and commercial controls to ensure that the non infra team are providing affordable, sustainable, value adding solutions, which will ultimately provide the clients outcomes to time and budget.

A little bit about your skills, experience and behaviours….

The ideal candidate will have experience of leading large multi-disciplinary teams within the utilities or infrastructure environment. Strong evidence of consistent high performance in the management and delivery complex programmes of work. An understanding of complex Pumping station MEICA designs / delivery through their own technical expertise or that of a technical design team is a necessity. Awareness and ideally technical experience of working in clean water (drinking) water projects would benefit the candidate and an understanding of client's minimum asset standards and industry standards would be useful.

Ultimately this role is a senior management role and the candidate needs to be able to drive programmes and results through others, understand and manage project deliverables which they can confidently take from weekly look aheads and build into detailed programmes, which they manage weekly and report monthly. Is commercially and contractually astute and will be responsible for working with their design team, estimators, and planners.

• Managing the technical delivery ensuring deliverable quality through an OCRA process


• Performance management of staff within the design team


• Owns and manages the design programmes in their region and feeds into collaborative sessions to understand the impacts and needs of other disciplines in the ultimate project delivery.


• Leads the programme interaction with the different SPA disciplines including delivery, commercial, EIA, digital etc.


• Working with Technical Assurance Leadership to ensure design achieve SHEQ responsibilities and in accordance with CDM Principle Designer duties


• Works closely on a daily basis with Project Area Managers and programme planners to ensure contractual water into supply dates are achieved.


Qualifications & Experience….

• Engineering Degree (Essential)


• Chartered Engineer/Project Manager (Desirable)


The importance of the work we do in SPA cannot be understated. We need the highest caliber of Engineers to be part of this unique project and relish the opportunities and challenges that you can expect from a project of this stature.

At SPA, we are working to combat the impact of climate change and keep fresh, clean water flowing across our region for generations to come. We are now at the pivotal 'delivery' milestone of the project, which is a very exciting time to join our team.

We are industry leading and will always be bold and ambitious in our efforts to do things differently.

The project is fast paced and changing rapidly from one day to the next, which is why we need the most ambitious team of Environmental Managers.

Our ambition is to build a more inclusive environment. We are committed to celebrating and promoting diversity.

We must start with recruitment and we want to attract all candidates.

Sometimes it's all too easy to be held back from applying for a job, whether it be lack of confidence or checking that you tick all the boxes.

But, here at SPA we are looking for extraordinary people who want to help create a place where everyone can thrive and where people are excited to be part of the team. So, whatever your background and however you identify, please apply if you think this role was made for you.

We support and encourage flexible working where possible, including remote working, part time hours and open discussion on working hours. Our office is based in Peterborough, but we also have several operational hubs across the length of the programme.

Here at SPA, we embrace continuous development and aspire to do better. If you have feedback or suggestions regarding diversity and inclusion in our recruitment process, please do get in touch.

Here at SPA our purpose is to 'Make the East of England Resilient to the Effects of Drought'.

Utilising the unique skill sets of our partners, Anglian Water, Costain, Farrans, Jacobs, Mott MacDonald and JN Bentley, our strategic pipeline will enable our water resource to move more freely across the Anglian region. Embracing innovation, digital technology, and new ways of working, we operate as a fully integrated and collaborative alliance.

To help us work in this way, we look for individuals that demonstrate our key behaviours, aligning with our embedded values and beliefs. Our behaviours are:

We do the right thing by:

• Being Inclusive


• Caring


• Living LIFE


• Challenging the Status Quo


We build trust by:

• Being Open & Honest


• Working Collaboratively


• Delivering on our Promises


• Coming together over a common purpose


We are always exploring by:

• Deliberately Delivering Differently


• Remaining open to challenge


• Searching for learning opportunities


• Demonstrating continuous improvement


Programme Description

The programme forms a key part of our Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP), which sets out how we will manage the water supplies in our region to meet current and future needs over 25 years.

Our five partners, Costain, Farrans, Jacobs, Mott MacDonald Bentley bring a wealth of experience, new mindsets, thinking and innovation to what is an incredibly exciting programme.

The entire network has been designed to have the lowest carbon footprint possible in line with Anglian Water's pledge to reach net zero carbon by 2030 and is committed to protecting the environment.

Inclusion at Anglian Water and our Alliances:

Inclusion is for everyone and we are an equal opportunity employer, which means we'll consider all suitably qualified applicants regardless of gender identity or expression, ethnic origin, nationality, religion or beliefs, age, sexual orientation, disability status or any other protected characteristic. We recruit and develop our people based on merit and their passion for creating better outcomes, and we're committed to creating an environment where all our colleagues feel they belong.