Senior Design Manager

About Suffolk

Suffolk is a national enterprise that provides construction management services, real‑estate investment, design, self‑perform construction, and technology investment. Through data, AI, and advanced technology, we connect design, construction, and operations to deliver smarter, more predictable results.

The Senior Project Design Manager will lead integrated design and construction teams through Illuminate’s optimized, end‑to‑end design‑build management process from inception to completion. The candidate will enhance efficiency, accuracy, completeness, and speed of the design, documentation, and construction process.

• Responsible for the successful realization of client's project vision, including performance, programming, cost, and schedule objectives.
• Lead the interface between design teams, Suffolk Operations, industry professionals, trade partners, regulatory agencies, and other project stakeholders to achieve project goals, embracing a culture of authentic collaboration and technical competence.
• Maintain and support client relationships during all project phases, ensuring a client‑first mentality that encourages active engagement in and ownership of all design decisions.
• Lead project team meetings, workshops, and other collaborative communications throughout a project's life cycle.
• Hold self and teams accountable for meeting deadlines; troubleshoot challenges by leveraging the full capacity of interdisciplinary project teams.

• Lead the development and management of optimized design processes for each project, supporting the efficient, linear delivery of fully coordinated and buildable drawings prior to the start of construction.
• Build upon Suffolk’s world‑class construction planning and execution capabilities by strategically aligning design and documentation development with construction sequencing, supporting streamlined workflows.
• In association with Illuminate VDC and Suffolk preconstruction experts, lead the execution of rigorous, real‑time project constructability reviews during the design process, ensuring that all documentation is complete, coordinated, and buildable prior to the start of construction.
• De‑risk project construction by identifying design gaps early in the design process and enabling active remediation before construction workflows are disrupted.
• At key project design milestones, liaise with preconstruction teams to evaluate and validate cost and schedule alignment with project objectives.

• With Suffolk field operations team, prioritize design issue resolution in alignment with optimal construction sequencing, expediting responses to maintain pace of construction.
• Collaborate with key project stakeholders to ensure design decisions are made in step with project schedule and lead‑time requirements.
• Establish effective working relationships with the project design team to collaboratively identify, resolve, and complete design issues, serving as the liaison between the Architect of Record and the project team.
• Bring Suffolk and Illuminate’s full technical expertise to bear on project design challenges to rapidly produce solutions for review with architect and project team.

• Track and report progress towards project milestone completion, staffing allocations, and project financial health.
• In collaboration with Illuminate leadership and the project team, analyze, refine, and test design construction workflow assumptions in real‑time to optimize Illuminate's process moving forward.
• Leverage and grow Suffolk’s proprietary constructability knowledge database, which serves as a critical input to a proactive QA/QC process throughout design.
• Support Illuminate’s design technology staff in the introduction of automated design and documentation processes and workflows.

• Certification as licensed architect or professional engineer is preferred.
• Professional degree in Architecture or Engineering; an advanced degree is preferred.
• Significant experience in the professional design services industry, with relevant design project‑management experience and…