At Kent Data Centres, we unite the heritage of Sudlows Consulting with Kent's global scale and ambition to ignite the next era of digital infrastructure.
We power the digital foundations of modern life, keeping the world connected with resilience, responsibility, and trust.
Our people are the spark. They're our engineers, Designers, and infinite thinkers. They deliver living systems of connection, solving problems that others can't and creating solutions that stand the test of time
The Senior Design & Engineering Manager is a site-based leadership role operating across Riyadh and Dammam, responsible for providing strategic direction and technical leadership across all Design & Engineering activities within the related project(s) / Department
The role is accountable for driving engineering excellence, innovation, quality throughout the project lifecycle, ensuring that all design and engineering deliverables meet client expectations, regulatory requirements, industry best practices, and business objectives.
Leading multidisciplinary teams, the Senior Design & Engineering Manager will oversee the successful delivery of complex projects, foster collaboration between design, operations, and commercial functions, and ensure the effective implementation of engineering standards, governance, and continuous improvement initiatives.
ADMINISTRATION/MANAGEMENT AND STAFFING
- Lead and manage the Design & Engineering team across Riyadh and Dammam projects, ensuring effective deployment of resources to meet project and client requirements.
- Oversee workforce planning, resource allocation, and redeployment of engineering personnel in coordination with Project Directors and Project Managers to support changing project demands.
- Assess resource capacity and capability to determine the feasibility of undertaking new projects, variations, and accelerated delivery programmes.
- Conduct regular performance reviews, mentoring, and development planning for engineering staff, supporting succession planning and professional growth within the team.
- Chair engineering management meetings and provide regular updates to senior leadership on resource utilization, operational performance, project support requirements, and key risks.
- Support the commercial management of the Design & Engineering function by monitoring resource efficiency, utilization rates, and forecast staffing requirements to ensure profitability and sustainable growth.
- Lead the coordination and management of external consultants, specialist subcontractors, and third-party engineering reviewers to ensure adequate support and quality of deliverables.
- Develop and maintain resource forecasts, workload planning, and recruitment requirements to ensure the department is appropriately staffed to meet current and future business needs.
- Promote collaboration and effective communication between project delivery teams, site supervision teams, commissioning teams, and the Centre of Excellence to support efficient project execution.
- Represent the Design & Engineering function in management meetings, client engagements, and business planning activities, contributing to the overall growth and strategic objectives of the business.
ENGINEERING
- Lead and oversee the engineering function across assigned projects, ensuring timely delivery of high-quality engineering services in accordance with project schedules, client requirements, and company standards.
- Review and coordinate engineering deliverables, technical submittals, design packages, shop drawings, RFIs, technical queries, and design change requests throughout the project lifecycle.
- Provide senior technical leadership and support in resolving complex engineering, construction, commissioning, and interface-related issues arising during project execution.
- Act as the primary engineering focal point between the client, contractors, vendors, consultants, commissioning teams, and project management teams.
- Chair engineering coordination and design review meetings, ensuring all disciplines are aligned and technical risks are identified and mitigated in a timely manner.
- Review engineering information issued for tendering, procurement, construction, and commissioning activities to ensure technical accuracy, completeness, and compliance.
- Ensure all engineering activities comply with client requirements, applicable codes and standards, local authority regulations, and project-specific technical specifications.
- Oversee the implementation and maintenance of engineering quality assurance processes, ensuring that company procedures and governance requirements are consistently applied.
- Evaluate and manage engineering design changes, value engineering proposals, and technical deviations, ensuring that project objectives for cost, programme, quality, and operability are maintained.
- Coordinate multidisciplinary engineering teams including CSA, Mechanical, Electrical, ICT, ELV, Security, and Commissioning disciplines to ensure fully integrated project delivery.
- Support project teams during authority approvals, technical workshops, factory acceptance testing (FAT), integrated systems testing (IST), commissioning, and project handover activities.
- Provide technical input into project proposals, bids, methodologies, schedules, and engineering execution plans where required.
- Promote engineering innovation, standardisation, and continuous improvement by implementing best practices, lessons learned, and emerging technologies relevant to data centre and mission-critical facilities.
- Maintain awareness of industry developments, engineering standards, and technological advancements to ensure the organisation remains at the forefront of data centre engineering delivery.
- Support client presentations, technical workshops, and senior stakeholder engagements relating to engineering strategy, project delivery, and technical solutions.
- Undertake any other engineering-related duties reasonably required to support project delivery and business objectives.
COMMUNICATION
- Communication in words and writing to all parties involved, in a clear and concise manner internally/externally.
- Enhancing Companies reputation by word and in written communication.
- Maintain an open policy of communication in the company within confidentiality limits.
- Question Design & Engineering practices to improve performance.
- Listen - understand where Design & Engineering teams/divisions concerns are coming from.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
- Develop and maintain liaison from a business development perspective with our existing Client base.
- Lead presentations for new project opportunities and coordinate with other offices where required.
- Carry out after-sales and client reviews, periodically.
- Liaise with clients regularly and ensure their requests are dealt with efficiently.
- Help to ensure bid deadlines are met.
- Monitor competitor activity – and report on it.
- Prepare and issue all relevant paperwork required to monitor the Business Development leads (best bets); such as status reports, etc.
- Active involvement in marketing and corporate events.
- Assist in the process of updating and improving the marketing materials.
- Ensure all business development opportunities are maximized.
- Handle pre-qualification documents, tenders and or presentations as required.
EXPERIENCE, SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS
- Degree in Engineering, Industrial Design, or a related discipline
- Professional registration or chartership (where applicable)
- Postgraduate qualifications are advantageous
- Worked in Europe – has connections with AoR's in various countries / has experience working with AoR's.
- Managed remote teams / centre of excellence / back-office Design & Engineering delivery.
- Familiar with RIBA and BIM LOD levels.
- Data centres experience a benefit but not essential - similar large type heavy industrial / power types of projects also provide suitable experience.
- Strong project management skills / worked on multiple projects concurrently, has had project managers reporting into them previously.
- Strong creativity skills and the vision to turn briefs into creative projects.
- Excellent leadership, organization, and analytical skills.
- Good collaboration and communication skills.
- Great time management and multi-tasking skills.
- Familiarity with common Design & Engineering tools and software
- Achievement and action orientated; solutions focused.
- Good relationship and interpersonal skills; a strong collaborator.
- Ability to adapt style to work effectively across geographic and cultural boundaries
