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Design Manager
full-timeAbu Dhabi

Summary

Location

Abu Dhabi

Type

full-time

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About this role

  • Global consultancy with 16,500+ experts, delivering integrated design, engineering, and program management solutions across 40+ countries.
  • Lead high-impact landscape and public realm projects across the UAE and GCC, delivering sustainable and climate-responsive environments.
  • Mentor and guide a talented team of designers, driving creative excellence and multidisciplinary collaboration.

About SJ:
Surbana Jurong (SJ Group) is a global urban, infrastructure, and engineering consultancy with 16,500+ employees in 40+ countries. Our Middle East studios deliver transformative projects across landscape architecture, buildings & cities, infrastructure, and environmental planning.

Headquartered in Singapore, the group has a global talent pool of 16,000 in Surbana Jurong and its member companies AETOS, Atelier Ten, B+H, CHIL, KTP, Prostruct, Robert Bird Group, SAA and SMEC, based in more than 120 offices in over 40 countries. They include architects, designers, planners, engineers, facilities managers and other specialists driven by progressive thinking and creative ideas to shape a better future.

About the Role:
We are seeking an experienced Design Manager to lead and coordinate multi-disciplinary design activities across complex engineering projects. This role is critical in ensuring design quality, integration, programme alignment, and technical excellence from concept through delivery.

Working closely with project managers, technical leads, and external stakeholders, you will play a key role in delivering safe, efficient, and innovative design solutions within a highly collaborative consultancy environment.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Lead and manage the end-to-end design process across multi-disciplinary engineering projects
  • Coordinate design inputs from civil, structural, MEP, architectural, systems, and specialist disciplines
  • Develop and manage design programmes, deliverables, and design governance processes
  • Ensure designs meet client requirements, applicable codes, standards, and regulatory approvals
  • Manage design interfaces, risks, and change control throughout the project lifecycle
  • Chair design reviews, workshops, and technical coordination meetings
  • Ensure high standards of design quality, safety, and constructability
  • Support value engineering, innovation, and sustainability initiatives
  • Work closely with project controls, commercial, and construction teams to ensure alignment
  • Provide clear reporting on design progress, risks, and issues


Qualifications & Experience:

  • Proven experience as a Design Manager within a multi-disciplinary engineering or consultancy environment
  • Background in infrastructure, aviation, transport, or complex building projects preferred
  • Strong understanding of the full design lifecycle and interface management
  • Experience coordinating multiple disciplines and external consultants
  • Knowledge of relevant engineering standards, regulations, and approval processes
  • Strong planning, organisation, and stakeholder management skills
  • Ability to lead technical discussions and manage competing priorities


Education & Professional Membership:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Architecture, or a related discipline
  • Chartered or working toward chartered status (e.g., CEng, PE, RIBA) preferred

Why Join SJ?
Join a global, multidisciplinary consultancy shaping sustainable, people-centric environments across 40+ countries. Work with world-class teams and lead impactful landscape design across the region.

All recruitment activities are managed by our Talent Acquisition team. 

Unsolicited CVs will not be accepted.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

At Surbana Jurong, we put talent, hard work, teamwork and a fun workplace together to approach problems and solve them creatively and collaboratively. Join us in making a positive impact on the world!

Other facts

Tech stack
Design Management,Multi-Disciplinary Coordination,Engineering Standards,Stakeholder Management,Technical Excellence,Sustainability Initiatives,Value Engineering,Project Lifecycle Management,Risk Management,Change Control,Design Quality,Creative Excellence,Mentoring,Collaboration,Planning,Organisation

About Surbana Jurong Group

Surbana Jurong Group is a global urban, infrastructure and managed services consulting firm, with over 70 years of track record in successful project delivery. Headquartered in Singapore, the group has a global talent pool of 16,000 across Surbana Jurong and our member companies AETOS, Atelier Ten, B+H, KTP, Prostruct, RBG, SAA, Sino-Sun and SMEC, based in more than 120 offices in over 40 countries. They include architects, designers, planners, engineers and other specialists driven by progressive thinking and creative ideas to help shape a better future.

Our technical experts deliver sustainable solutions that cover the entire project life cycle from planning and design, through to delivery and management, as well as decommissioning and closure. We provide a full suite of multidisciplinary consultancy services across a diverse range of sectors that includes aviation, healthcare, hospitality, transport, energy, water and environment.

Surbana Jurong has built more than a million homes in Singapore, created master plans for more than 30 countries and developed over 100 industrial parks globally. Our tag line “Building Cities, Shaping Lives” expresses how every project or undertaking is, for the Group, an opportunity to fulfil aspirations and enrich lives. By designing and delivering quality housing, work spaces, roads, rail, hydropower, dams, underground and coastal protections and other critical infrastructure needed by our clients, we are redefining cities and transforming them into sustainable and liveable spaces where communities and businesses, present and future, can thrive.

Team size: 51-200 employees
LinkedIn: Visit
Industry: Architecture and Planning

What you'll do

  • Lead and manage the end-to-end design process across multi-disciplinary engineering projects while ensuring design quality and integration. Coordinate design inputs from various disciplines and manage design governance processes throughout the project lifecycle.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does a Design Manager do at Surbana Jurong Group?

As a Design Manager at Surbana Jurong Group, you will: lead and manage the end-to-end design process across multi-disciplinary engineering projects while ensuring design quality and integration. Coordinate design inputs from various disciplines and manage design governance processes throughout the project lifecycle..

Why join Surbana Jurong Group as a Design Manager?

Surbana Jurong Group is a leading Architecture and Planning company.

Is the Design Manager position at Surbana Jurong Group remote?

The Design Manager position at Surbana Jurong Group is based in Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates. Contact the company through Clera for specific work arrangement details.

How do I apply for the Design Manager position at Surbana Jurong Group?

You can apply for the Design Manager position at Surbana Jurong Group directly through Clera. Click the "Apply Now" button above to start your application. Clera's AI-powered platform will help match your profile with this opportunity and guide you through the application process. You can also learn more about Surbana Jurong Group on their website.