Associate Director, Energy & Environmental Design

We’re an innovative multidisciplinary firm of environmental design consultants, building services engineers and lighting designers focused on delivering high-quality, award-winning building services and sustainable design within the built environment sector.

Atelier Ten is an international environmental design and building services consultancy and lighting design firm creating high-performance, sustainable, award-winning buildings. Our projects give back to the wider environment, conserve resources and foster innovation. Our London office has an immediate opening for a full-time Associate Director as part of our integrated team of environmental designers.

In this role, your overarching goal will be to support Atelier Ten’s continued success as we cover a wide range of building services engineering disciplines and provide cutting-edge sustainability and environmental design consultancy. As an Energy Analyst who loves architecture and building science, you will be responsible for delivering environmental and sustainability advice on projects for both internal teams and external collaborators and clients. This will involve consulting on sustainability, environmental design, compliance with building regulations, thermal comfort, measurable operational energy use reduction, and design and delivery of net zero carbon and net zero energy buildings.

Your consultancy will be demonstrated through sound analytics using a suite of analytical and computer science tools such as IES-VE, Rhino and Grasshopper, EnergyPlus, Open Studio, Design Builder, MS Excel and bespoke, typically python-based, analysis tools. Your projects will range from regional-scale master planning to detailed design of specific buildings across all typologies and locations of the globe. With a robust understanding of building servicing systems and strategies and proven skills to simulate their operation, your work will inform optimal building services design and controls developed often in collaboration with our in-house engineers.

Your report writing and result presentation skills will reflect the strength of your analytical work and communicate your advice clearly and concisely. As a member of the senior management team, you will also be responsible for leading and maintaining a range of project workstreams relating to energy and thermal analysis, leading and maintaining design inputs for internal teams, and providing specialist knowledge to other projects/teams. Using industry benchmarks and internal standards, you will ensure the timely delivery of considered and accurate project information.

Where projects are being delivered to external collaborators and clients, you will be our key point of contact for your workstreams. You will be responsible for leading and co-ordinating the internal efforts of junior staff across Atelier Ten, providing appropriate frameworks and tools, agreeing appropriate standards, and co-ordinating delivery against these standards. You will also be responsible for developing and disseminating our knowledge to your local peers, to our international offices, and beyond, furthering our reach and impact in the wider industry.

Your role as a member of the senior management team also includes supporting the Technical Directors in understanding current and likely future resource requirements on ‘live’ projects and planning for the future project pipeline for all energy, thermal comfort and decarbonisation scope of works. In supporting the allocation and management of resources across projects, you will also be responsible for overseeing and managing the energy specialists’ profitability and technical capabilities, alongside identifying and reporting any technical and financial shortfalls.

As a leader of the energy analysts, you will conduct regular meetings with the team to discuss staff matters, technical issues, delivery and issues arising from the team’s interaction with external parties together with encouraging knowledge share across the business. In turn, we will foster the building simulation and environmental design expert in you within our highly dynamic and collaborative team of sustainability experts. We will encourage you to take part at industry-wide initiatives, review and implement the latest standards and industry best practices, push the limits of best practice in analysis and design, and engage with relevant institutions to advance our position as the leading-edge consultancy in this area.

Role specific technical abilities and accountabilities

As an Associate Director Energy Analyst you will be expected to:

• Demonstrate specialist knowledge in building physics, energy analysis, operational carbon, thermal performance of architectural and building service systems, and thermal comfort.
• Have at least seven years of expertise and experience in carrying out compliance assessments with the Part L of the building regulations for all building types, and develop energy strategies with a focus on driving optimal low-carbon design compliant with requirements of various planning authorities in the UK.
• Be intimately familiar with thermal comfort standards and requirements, including the Part O of the building regulations, CIBSE TM52, CIBSE TM59 and other relevant ASHRAE and ISO standards.
• Be an expert on standard and best practice operational energy performance assessments, including intimate familiarity with CIBSE TM54, NABERS UK, and/or ASHRAE Standard 90.1.
• Have a proven track record of providing consultancy, setting targets, and advising project teams with ambitious low-energy design goals, including sound understanding of industry-wide net zero carbon targets on operational energy.
• Remain abreast with the changes to these and other emerging practices and standards as they evolve.
• Be an expert in use of relevant software such as IES-VE including detailed HVAC modelling through the ApacheHVAC module (preferred) or other similar tools (e.g. EnergyPlus, Open Studio, Design Builder, etc.).
• Coordinate inputs to and outputs from complex calculations in a consistent, verifiable, and replicable manner.
• Critically review energy use, operational carbon, and thermal comfort related deliverables developed by others by managing initial framing and final review of analytical work across projects.
• Develop and standardise new methods and tools to improve the quality and effectiveness of energy-related workstreams, and further our leading-edge position in the industry.
• Supervise on unusual or challenging project tasks.
• Be knowledgeable about specialism-relevant requirements in sustainability benchmarking systems such as BREEAM, LEED and Living Building Challenge.
• Lead knowledge growth and knowledge exchange by engaging with local and international counterparts in other Atelier Ten offices.
• Work towards and maintain professional accreditation in your field of specialism, with Level 5 Low Carbon Energy Assessors accreditation expected.
• Have a working knowledge of operation, control, and metering of key building service systems, preferably with verification and/or operation experience.

Project and team management abilities

Be committed to upholding the integrity of project management within Atelier Ten. Liaise with client, architect and other members of the design team without day-to-day Director or Technical Director level support. Confidently represent all disciplines. Organise team, disseminate information and clearly explain technical requirements, deliverables and programme. Be able to delegate and maintain control of project timelines and budgets. Manage professional relationships with clients, peers, team and administration staff. Financially aware of project costs and programme of projects in the team, the need for additional services and financial control. Be able to provide update and current status of projects at any point in time clearly, concisely and accurately to Directors and Technical Directors. Manage any feedback or issues concerning a project and escalate as necessary. Be able to develop a thorough knowledge of our fee agreements and the contractual status and relationships on the project. Be able to prepare fee arrangements for projects with energy, thermal comfort and decarbonisation scopes. Be able to recruit staff to resource projects as necessary in line with project budgets. Programme the energy workstream in the team; forecasting resource, identifying the requirement for external contractor support and liaising with other specialist input teams within the organisation to ensure profitable and timely delivery of projects.

Active support for long-term involvement growth of the team members by: easing introduction to ATen philosophy and workflows, investing into continued technical progress of members through rolling training and reviews, providing support where skills and tasks are misaligned, expanding the available room for career progression and technical growth, lifting team profile externally to simultaneously reinforce sense of pride and increase appeal to new talent.

Marketing

Appreciate and assist in the need to generate business. Foster relationships with potential clients and fellow professionals, while maintaining good relationships with existing clients and fellow professionals. Generate leads. Secure external speaking / lecturing opportunities. Support Directors and Associate Directors in following leads; be available to prepare submissions, make presentations, entertaining and preparing marketing material.

Who are you?

You have proven track record and practical knowledge of:

• Successfully developing, co-ordinating, implementing, and delivering low-energy strategies for projects covering a wide variety of scales and typologies located around the world.
• Engaging and negotiating with senior management and peers on projects.
• Engaging with and influencing peers outside of formal management relationships.
• Committing to and effectively implementing consistent standards and metrics.
• Managing project teams coupled with the understanding to select frameworks/tools that are appropriate to circumstances.

Qualifications and skills

Master’s or Bachelor’s degree in Architectural Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Architecture, Sustainable Building Design, or related field.

General skills

• Natural leader but can operate as part of a team.
• Ability to work with limited supervision.
• Ability to prioritise and think strategically about the timing and delivery of project information.
• Ability to structure the delivery of project information against evolving client briefs in such a way as can be clearly explained to senior managers at the start of a project.
• Strong interpersonal skills.
• Business acumen.
• Effective IT skills for producing relevant material, including knowledge and application of appropriate software to develop new and bespoke assessment methods for project specific tasks and rendered in a manner that allows re-use.

Preference will be given to applicants with:

• Understanding and application of relevant CIBSE (such as CIBSE Guides, TM39, TM52, TM54, TM59, TM61, TM63, CP1, AM10, AM11, AM13, AM16, AM17), ASHRAE (such as Handbooks and Standards 55, 62.1, 90.1, and 189) and other international standards.
• Additional skills in CFD and/or FEM modelling, programming languages (such as python or VBA).
• HVAC systems design.
• BREEAM AP, LEED AP, BEMP or similar.
• Chartership in a relevant discipline.

Atelier Ten reserves the right to alter the content of this job description to reflect changes to the job, without altering the general character or level of responsibility.