Global Design Manager in England

We are seeking an experienced Global Design Manager to lead and support our teams across the UK and globally. Reporting into the Creative Design leadership team, you will play a critical role in driving creative excellence, operational efficiency, and strategic alignment across our global function. You'll oversee quality of output, strengthen stakeholder relationships, and ensure consistency in delivery across regions. This is a high-impact role, offering the opportunity to shape how we work globally, enhance collaboration, and expand the value we bring to a diverse portfolio of international clients. We’re looking for a proactive and inspiring leader who can bring teams together, navigate complexity, and ensure seamless, high-quality delivery across multiple locations. This role can be based in Bristol or Birmingham, with travel to London, Epsom, Manchester, Glasgow throughout the year as well as occasional international travel as required.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and support a high-performing global design team.
• Work in close partnership with Principal Creatives to maintain high standards of delivery, whilst driving team development, performance, and wellbeing across the function.
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and high-quality creative culture.
• Support team growth, development, and capability building across regions.
• Oversee and ensure consistently high standards of creative output.
• Drive alignment with global design principles, processes, and expectations.
• Enable seamless delivery across teams, ensuring consistency and efficiency.
• Contribute to and help deliver the global Creative Design strategy.
• Balance creativity with strong operational and commercial awareness.
• Identify opportunities to improve processes, workflows, and ways of working.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with internal stakeholders and project teams.
• Confidently scope and oversee delivery across multiple complex, global projects.
• Act as a key connector across teams, ensuring clear communication and alignment.
• Contribute to the evolution of Creative Design's offering.
• Identify opportunities to enhance client value through innovation and technology.
• Drive continuous improvement across creative output and team performance.

Qualifications and Experience

• Experience working in a creative environment, with broad understanding of creative disciplines and effective collaboration with specialist teams.
• Proven leadership experience in a creative or design environment within a multi-disciplinary team, working with a close sub-leadership team.
• Strong understanding of design principles, creative processes, and delivery.
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, with the confidence and previous experience of pitching to clients both face to face and virtually.
• Exposure to working with global or cross-cultural teams.
• Strong commercial acumen, with previous experience in project planning, scheduling, and budgeting.
• Understanding of commercial impact and growth, making decisions with this in mind.
• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously.
• A proactive, positive, and collaborative approach.
• Excellent attention to detail and a willingness to learn from others.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities.
• Strategic mindset with the ability to drive improvements and outcomes.
• Experience managing operational aspects of a creative function.
• High attention to detail and commitment to quality.

About AtkinsRéalis

We’re AtkinsRéalis, a world‑class engineering services and nuclear organization. We connect people, data and technology to transform the world’s infrastructure and energy systems. Together, with our industry partners and clients, and our global team of consultants, designers, engineers and project managers, we can change the world. We are committed to leading our clients across our various end markets to engineer a better future for our planet and its people. We seek to hire individuals with diverse characteristics, backgrounds and perspectives. We strongly believe that world‑class talent makes no distinctions based on gender, ethnicity or national origin, sexual identity and orientation, age, religion or disability, but enriches itself through these differences.

Benefits and Rewards

Explore the rewards and benefits that help you thrive at every stage of your life and your career. Enjoy competitive salaries, employee rewards and a brilliant range of benefits you can tailor to suit your own health, wellbeing, financial and lifestyle choices. Make the most of a myriad of opportunities for training and professional development to grow your skills and expertise. And combine our hybrid working culture and flexible holiday allowances to balance a great job and fulfilling personal life.