Design & Projects Manager – Interior Design

Role

Purpose:

To lead and manage NK Interiors' interior design projects and design team from project initiation through final design handover, ensuring quality, technical accuracy, coordination, and on-time delivery while reducing the need for daily follow-up by senior management.

• Team Leadership:
  Lead, organize, and distribute work among interior designers, senior/junior designers, and drafters based on project priorities and team capacity.
• Project Planning:
  Prepare and maintain a clear project timeline for every project, outlining milestones, responsibilities, deadlines, and required approvals.
• Proactive Monitoring:
  Follow up on daily and weekly project progress and proactively address delays, workload issues, and dependencies before they affect delivery.
• Design Workflow Management:
  Manage the complete design workflow, including mood boards, space planning, 2D drawings, 3D design, materials, FF&E, BOQ coordination, and technical drawings.
• Quality Assurance:
  Review drawings and design packages for dimensions, technical accuracy, coordination, completeness, and constructability before issue or handover.
• Design Consistency:
  Ensure consistency between approved 3D visuals, plans, elevations, details, specifications, and selected materials.
• Revision Control:
  Control and track client comments, revisions, and approvals to ensure no instruction or modification is missed or duplicated.
• Cross-Department Coordination:
  Coordinate closely with Procurement and Execution teams to ensure the design package is complete and clear before purchasing or site execution.
• Documentation:
  Confirm that materials, samples, specifications, and client approvals are properly documented before procurement or execution.
• Risk Management:
  
  Identify project risks and technical issues early, propose solutions, and elevate only decisions that require senior management approval.
• Review Meetings:
  Conduct design/team review meetings and ensure clear action items, owners, and deadlines are assigned and followed up.
• Reporting:
  Provide a concise weekly project status report to management covering progress, delays, risks, team workload, and decisions required.

• Education:
  
  Bachelor's degree in Interior Design, Interior Architecture, Architecture, or a related field.
• Experience:
  
  Approximately 7-10 years of relevant interior design experience, with proven responsibility for project and team management.
• Management
  
  Skills:
  
  Proven experience directly managing designers and drafters, and handling multiple projects simultaneously.
• Technical Knowledge:
  Strong technical understanding of interior drawings, dimensions, detailing, materials, finishes, FF&E, and site execution requirements.
• Analytical
  
  Skills:
  
  Ability to review design packages and identify missing information, coordination conflicts, and execution risks before site handover.
• Core Competencies:
  
  Strong project planning, prioritization, communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills.
• Software Proficiency:
  Proficiency with relevant design/project tools; strong working knowledge of AutoCAD and project tracking tools is expected.
• Languages:
  
  Professional communication skills in both Arabic and English, written and spoken.

• Projects and design stages delivered according to approved timelines.
• Reduction in technical errors, missing information, and repeated revisions before execution.
• Clear team ownership, balanced workload distribution, and consistent follow-up.
• Complete and coordinated design handover to Procurement and Execution teams.
• Early identification and resolution of project risks and delays.
• Reduced dependency on the Managing Director/Owner for routine project follow-up and operational decisions.

Ideal Candidate Profile: A technically strong interior design professional who has progressed into team and project leadership. The ideal candidate is organized, proactive, accountable, detail-oriented, decisive, and able to manage people and deadlines without constant senior-management supervision.

• Independent Authority:
  Expected to resolve routine design, coordination, scheduling, and team-management issues independently within approved company policies and project scope.
• Escalation Path:
  Escalates major design-direction changes, significant client disputes, material budget impacts, contractual scope changes, or decisions requiring owner approval.

• End-to-End Management:
  Manage and follow the…