Senior Design Manager (Bristol)

Sweet Projects; Bristol; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

A dynamic construction firm, Sweet Projects, is seeking a Senior Design Manager to lead design delivery from bid stage to project completion. The ideal candidate will ensure compliance, quality, and safety in all designs while managing obligations and timelines effectively. This role requires experience in construction phases, strong technical knowledge, and a commitment to client satisfaction within a supportive and rewarding work environment.

Qualifications

• Proven experience managing the design process during pre-construction and construction phases.
• Strong design and engineering construction knowledge.
• Familiarity with current Building Regulations and Health & Safety/CDM Regulations.

Responsibilities

• Lead design delivery from bid stage to project completion, ensuring alignment with design philosophy.
• Ensure designs meet client requirements, compliance standards, and safety.
• Manage the contract change process and mitigate risks.

Skills

Proactive Problem-Solving

Attention to Detail

Strong Communication Skills

Collaboration Skills

Organisation Skills

Leadership Skills

Client-Focused

Results-Driven

Education

Relevant industry qualification (RIBA, ICE, CIOB)

Job description

At Sweet Projects, we work with the data, defence and energy sectors. We are a comprehensive design, construction and engineering provider, offering services spanning site acquisition, architecture and refurbishment to client occupancy. In our world, there are no simple projects, only specialist needs and clever solutions.

We are a general contracting business, drawing on over forty years of specialised industry experience to provide excellent service, sustain long-term partnerships and achieve the highest quality outcome for key clients, whilst maintaining financial commitments.

Built around you is Sweet Project’s approach to business. It is our brand promise, not just to our clients, but to our people. From the inside out, built around you is in our DNA.

Our team is the cornerstone of our firm, and we take pride in nurturing their talents and fostering their professional growth.

We proudly invest in all the people our success rests on. Building our company around our people and their wellbeing, safety and work/life balance – these vitally important values act as the standards against which we must judge ourselves. That’s why we’re constantly working to do things better tomorrow than we do today.

We look for a lot of elements when we’re hiring at Sweet Projects – skills, character. But above all else, it is your behaviours that shine through. Regardless of how many years of experience, or who you have worked for previously, if you have the drive and the passion, there is nothing you can’t achieve here.

Our Values

When you work with us, you’ll be getting to know us personally. Our shared company values are built around our client work, and our people are foundational to this – embodying everything we stand for.

• Create Confidence – Enabling and Empowering Teamwork
• Go Beyond – Evolving and Developing, Every Day
• Add Value – From the First Moment, We Take the Initiative
• Be Respectful – Long-Term Relationships with Integrity
• Focus on the Mission – We Work Together, Focussing on Our Collective Strengths

“We’ve hired some of the best in the business, to come here, bring their expertise with them, but leave their industry frustrations behind. We’re all about empowering our people to do things the right way, not simply the conventional way, enabling the environment and culture to excel and thrive in”- Gareth Sweet – CEO.

• Proactive Problem-Solving
• Attention to Detail
• Strong Communication and Collaboration Skills
• Organisation and Time Management Skills
• Leadership and Management Skills
• Client-Focused
• Results-Driven
• Commitment to Compliance and Standards

About the Role

The Senior Design Manager leads design delivery from bid stage to project completion, ensuring alignment with Sweet Projects’ “Perfect Delivery” philosophy. The role ensures designs meet client requirements, compliance standards, safety, sustainability and cost-effectiveness while supporting procurement and construction timelines.

This position holds full accountability for design-related contract obligations, programme coordination, procurement, construction, cost management, quality, HSE and business processes. Acting as the key liaison between the Design Team, internal teams and subcontractors, the Senior Design Manager combines technical expertise, leadership and commercial awareness to deliver successful project outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Ensuring all design-related contract obligations are met.
• Understanding the contract and Sweet Projects obligations for design delivery, ensuring compliance with all terms.
• Managing the contract change process, following controls and procedures to mitigate risks.
• Gaining a thorough knowledge of Employers’ Requirements (ERs) and Contractual Provisions (CPs), ensuring designers align with these obligations without exceeding them at Sweet Projects expense.
• Ensuring designs meet ERs and CPs without unnecessary elaboration and producing detailed Information Required Schedules for timely delivery to the Employer and designers.
• Advising on provisional sum instruction dates to meet project timelines and obtaining necessary Employer approvals for design details.
• Managing planning matters, securing Building Control approvals on time and mitigating risks to Sweet Projects.
• Addressing historical design issues with novated designers and ensuring inherited responsibilities are understood.
• Discharging all other design-related obligations under the contract.
• Complying with policies, processes and procedures outlined in the Integrated Management System and Information Security Management System.

Experience

• Proven experience managing the design process during pre-construction and construction phases.
• Strong design and engineering construction knowledge, with technical expertise in building construction.
• Familiarity with current Building Regulations and Health & Safety/CDM Regulations.
• Experience interrogating enquiry documents, such as Employer’s Requirements.
• Ability to produce Contractor’s Proposal documents in collaboration with internal teams.
• Demonstrated experience in coordinating, managing and providing technical guidance.
• Strong understanding of the planning process, ideally with proven success working with various London authorities.
• Experience identifying and managing value engineering and value creation opportunities.

Qualifications

• Hold a relevant industry qualification (RIBA, ICE, CIOB)
• Valid CSCS Card

Key Relationships (internal and external)

The role will interface with the following key people:

• Managing Director
• CEO
• Bid Director
• Project Delivery Team
• Health & Safety Professionals
• Sub-Contractors and Suppliers

Sweet Projects is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe that our success is built on the success of our employees. We are committed to providing a supportive and rewarding work environment that helps our employees to achieve their personal and professional goals.

Our policy is clear: there shall be no discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, race, religion or belief, gender reassignment, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity, or sexual orientation.

We are an inclusive organisation and actively promote equality of opportunity for all with the right mix of talent, skills and potential. We welcome all applications from a wide range of candidates. Selection for roles will be based on individual merit alone.

Download our recruitment brochure below to find out more about us as a company, hear from colleagues about what it’s like working at Sweet Projects, and understand our application and interview processes.