Project Design Lead

Location: Falmer

## Project Design Lead Apply locations:
FALMERtime type:
Full time posted on:
Posted Todaytime left to apply:
End Date:
August 16, 2026 (15 days left to apply) job requisition :
JR8692
** Closing Date
*
* Job Title:

Project Design Lead

Location:

Hybrid working between Falmer (approximately 2 days pw) and home.

Contract Type:
Permanent

Hours:

Our standard week is 37 hours Mon-Fri but we welcome applications from those seeking flexible working arrangements too.

Salary:
Up to circa £65,000, commensurate to experience, qualifications and skills.
** About the role
** We’re looking for a Project Design Lead to join Southern Water, playing a key role in the technical assurance and delivery of engineering design across a broad portfolio of infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects.

This is not a purely hands-on design role. While you’ll bring strong technical engineering judgement, the real focus is on assuring a high volume of designs, providing authoritative input, challenging solutions, and making sure the right technical decisions are made at the right time. You’ll work across project, programme, operational, supply chain and engineering teams to ensure designs are robust, safe, sustainable, affordable and fit for purpose.

You’ll lead and coordinate design activity from early needs identification and optioneering through to outline design, detailed design, construction and commissioning. A key part of the role will be making sure that the lowest whole-life cost solution is selected, without compromising on safety, quality, environmental outcomes or long-term operational performance.

This is a great opportunity for an experienced engineering professional who enjoys working in complex, regulated environments and wants to influence the delivery of major water and wastewater investment programmes t you’ll be responsible for:
* Providing authoritative technical input across the identification of needs, optioneering, design, construction and commissioning stages
* Assuring the quality of design deliverables across multiple projects, ensuring designs are technically robust, compliant and fit for purpose
* Leading in-house outline design and optioneering activity to support the selection of lowest whole-life cost, best-value solutions
* Managing and coordinating multi-disciplinary design teams, including Southern Water colleagues, suppliers and delivery partners
* Ensuring designs comply with Southern Water technical standards, health and safety requirements, environmental expectations and relevant regulations, including CDM
* Holding yourself and others to account for strong health, safety and environmental behaviours throughout the design process
* Driving consistency, rigour and efficiency across design delivery, including the use of standardisation, digital design concepts and best practice
* Managing design scope, cost, quality, resources and change control across your projects
* Preparing design plans, design cost estimates and monthly cost forecasts, working closely with Project Managers and Programme Design Managers
* Working with Asset Strategy & Planning, Operations and delivery teams to develop practical solutions for emerging needs, operational incidents and business planning activity
* Providing early warning of design risks, blockers, cost pressures or programme delays, and working with senior stakeholders to resolve them
* Supporting continuous improvement by challenging existing standards and ways of working where better, safer or more efficient solutions are possible
* Coaching and mentoring junior colleagues, helping create an environment where people feel able to challenge, innovate and learn
* Ensuring customer, regulatory and environmental expectations are properly reflected in design decisions and delivery outcomes
** What you’ll bring to the role:
***** Essential
* *** Strong experience in an engineering design, design management or technical assurance role within a complex project delivery environment
* Experience supporting or assuring design across infrastructure and/or non-infrastructure projects, ideally within the water, wastewater, utilities or wider regulated sector
* Strong technical engineering…