The Opportunity
Our client, an established M&E engineering specialist based in Warrington, is looking for an Electrical Design Manager to lead their electrical design function.
A leadership role, not a senior designer’s job with a manager’s title.
The work is electrical design for industrial, food and drink, FMCG and pharmaceutical projects. Designing into a production environment is a different discipline from designing an office block. The installation has to survive washdown, sit correctly within a hygiene regime, and stay maintainable inside a plant that cannot be stopped for long. Those constraints shape a design from concept rather than being worked around at the end of it.
This is a permanent role in Warrington, £70,000 to £80,000 depending on experience, plus a full benefits package.
About the Business
Designing into somebody else’s working plant moves the centre of gravity of the job. The client’s process is the fixed point rather than the building, and the electrical design has to serve it: panel positions that suit a maintenance regime, isolation that fits a shutdown plan, containment that survives being hosed down every night. That is why this role sits close to pre-construction and delivery instead of upstream of them, and why design input is wanted at bid stage rather than after award.
Managing designers is only half of it. The function also runs external consultants, which means holding one standard across people who do not sit in your office and have not absorbed how this business works. Setting and maintaining those standards is what makes that possible, which is why they belong to the role rather than sitting beside it as a side project.
What You'll Be Doing
Leading the electrical design function and setting design standards across projects
Managing in-house designers and Revit/CAD technicians, including allocation, reviews and development
Appointing and managing external electrical design consultants
Reviewing and approving electrical design output before it is issued
Ensuring compliance with BS 7671, client specifications and the standards that apply in regulated environments
Representing the design function to clients and project teams
Supporting pre-construction and estimating with design input and design risk reviews
Coordinating with mechanical design colleagues so M&E solutions are properly integrated
Supporting delivery teams through construction, commissioning and handover
Maintaining and developing BIM and CAD standards across the design team
What We're Looking For
A strong electrical building services design background, with experience leading or approving other people’s work
Sound knowledge of BS 7671, and design experience in industrial or process environments
Experience managing designers, external consultants, or both
Confident and credible in front of clients, including presenting design decisions
Working knowledge of Revit, AutoCAD, BIM coordination and electrical design software such as Amtech
Degree, HNC or HND in Electrical or Building Services Engineering
Full UK driving licence
Food, pharmaceutical or industrial design experience is a strong advantage, and chartership or working towards it is welcomed, though neither is essential. Senior Electrical Design Engineers ready to step into management are encouraged to apply.
•Ownership of electrical design quality, standards and output across every project
•Managing in-house designers and Revit/CAD technicians, and external consultants alongside them
•The senior electrical design contact for clients and project teams
•Design input at bid stage, and support through commissioning and handover
•Design that stops at issue and never sees a commissioning sheet
•Standard commercial building services, where process is never the constraint
•A function that runs separately from estimating and delivery
•A role where BIM and CAD standards are somebody else’s problem
What's on Offer
Industrial, food and pharmaceutical process work, which most electrical design careers never touch
Technically demanding projects where a design has to work inside a live process, not only pass review
In-house estimating and delivery alongside the design team, so design input lands early and is supported through construction
How to Apply
Apply using the button below, or contact Mike Halliwell directly for a discreet conversation.