Senior Design Manager in London

The Design Delivery Principal is responsible for design decisions related to a portfolio of datacentre projects which can include: new construction, phased expansion, retrofits and upgrades, acquisition conversions, mechanical and electrical equipment selections, and standards upgrades in either a specific region or globally. They are an exceptional industry professional progressing towards becoming a recognised expert on datacentre design. The Design Senior Manager critically assesses design decisions with consultation with more senior staff across disciplines and applies required Equinix standards and country specific regulations to make the best design choices. They manage the relationship and output of key design partners and equipment suppliers for their assigned projects and critically assess and escalate issues where the relationship with such partners is not meeting expectations.

Responsibilities

• Design Process
  • Owns and leads a design process, interacting with Architectural, Mechanical and Electrical Partners (MEPs), and other design partners to deliver a portfolio of world class datacentres with a strong focus on technical excellence, mission critical resilience and cost management.
  • Reviews and contributes to the development of globally standardised tools, techniques and processes for the management and reporting of the design process.
  • Works with peers in other regions to drive consistency and technical excellence on design and delivery practices and methodologies.
  • Thinks and acts in a global manner, considering the applicability of any design decision, innovations or standards changes for all regions.
• In the regional role:
  • Obtains site-specific conditions, utility and infrastructure design, costs and availability of utilities, liaison with planning authorities and local logistics including site logistics during construction and phasing.
  • Provides locally informed and compliant infrastructure design, supply information to and collaborate with the master planning function.
  • Provides local design engineering to support site specific changes to templates.
  • Reviews the masterplan for delivery and submits to senior staff for approval.
• In the Center of Excellence role:
  • Conducts the master planning of expansion portfolio using global design standards and templates; incorporating regional information to apply these to the inception of projects.
  • Generates project visualisation, initial model using reference design templates and cost estimate for business case inception.
  • Liaises with regional team to incorporate local infrastructure into the design.
  • Liaises with construction cost team regionally and globally to assist business case generation.
• Cross-Functional Coordination
  • Maintains interpersonal relationships with internal technical staff, external design consulting partners, construction management, commercial management, and regional P&L holders to ensure appropriate stakeholder exposure and buy in to data centre projects.
  • Appropriately leverages the center of excellence teams and more senior Design staff to augment their individual technical expertise to ensure all facets of the datacentre design are adequately considered and approved.
  • Manages internal and external resources via their influence and outstanding competencies.
• Project Management
  • Indirectly manages experienced electrical and mechanical engineering staff in the Independent Technical Review and Innovation & Development teams to deliver a portfolio of world-class datacentre designs on time and to budget.
  • Directly responsible for managing the design schedule for assigned projects to ensure on time creation and review of Basis of Designs (BODs), Real Estate Investment Committee (REIC) Submissions, and design documentation for Issued for Permit (IFP) and Issued for Construction (IFC) sets.
  • Works hand-in-hand with construction managers, general contractors and subcontractors to deliver projects during construction once the design phase is completed and ensure projects are fully documented and closed out.
  • Manages, with the aid of the commercial management team, design budgets and controls change management requests during the construction phase, in consultation with the Construction Manager.
  • Works hand-in-hand with the regional design teams and Construction Managers to deliver Concept Designs and Standards that support the delivery of world class datacentres.
  • Manages, with the aid of the commercial management team, the costs of the designs to ensure appropriate balancing of cost flexibility and global standardisation.
• Design Oversight
  • Stays up-to-date on advancements in design being investigated by the centers of excellence teams to ensure technologies support future IBX design and construction needs and feeds back information to construction for incorporation of changes.
  • Ensures designs meet Equinix’s Global Design Standards and the business needs for capacity, density, and function.

Qualifications

• Proven years experience in a Design MEP Firm or in the design team of a Mission Critical Building operator or subcontractor, OR 7+ years experience as an Architectural lead in a Mission Critical Architectural Design Practice preferred.
• MSc in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering OR MSc in Architecture is preferred, BSc acceptable or extensive and demonstrable experience in role, Architects to hold RA or AIAPE desirable but not essential.