Design Director - Utility Compounds

Overview

Join Parsons Corporation as a Design Director specializing in Utility Compounds, where your leadership will steer the entire design delivery lifecycle for critical utility infrastructure such as substations, switching/control compounds, hubs, and associated facilities. This senior role emphasizes managing projects and processes to ensure design efforts align perfectly with scope, schedule, budget, quality, and stakeholder expectations while harmonizing with construction, commercial, health & safety, and operational goals.

Core Responsibilities

• Establish and lead design governance by defining management strategies, plans, and procedures tailored for utility compound projects.
• Create and oversee comprehensive design delivery roadmaps featuring stage gates, milestones, and approval protocols.
• Develop and maintain responsibility matrices to clarify scopes, deliverables, and interfaces among all design parties.
• Ensure strict adherence to company and client design standards consistently across projects.
• Coordinate integrated design schedules with planning and control teams, monitor progress against baselines, and initiate corrective actions as needed.
• Manage design budgets collaboratively with commercial and finance teams, tracking resource allocations and fees.
• Lead multidisciplinary design integration encompassing civil, structural, architectural, MEP, power systems, control, SCADA, and site infrastructure components.
• Facilitate frequent design coordination meetings, documenting and resolving interface issues and actions.
• Align design outputs effectively with construction sequencing, procurement plans, and commissioning strategies.
• Drive harmonization between compound configurations and external networks including transmission and distribution systems.
• Implement rigorous design change control processes with impact assessments covering schedule, cost, quality, and risk factors.
• Maintain and manage a design risk register, promoting risk identification, ownership, and mitigation strategies.
• Ensure compliance with all review and approval workflows such as peer reviews, stage gates, technical validations, and constructability assessments.
• Manage quality assurance and document control with meticulous tracking of revisions, transmittals, and traceability.
• Serve as the principal design liaison with clients, utility owners, regulatory authorities, and stakeholders, leading workshops and coordination forums.
• Oversee BIM and digital engineering initiatives ensuring data, models, and documentation meet project information and common data environment standards.
• Collaborate closely with construction, procurement, commissioning, and operations teams to deliver practical and operationally sound design packages.
• Lead, mentor, and allocate resources for design management teams and external consultants, fostering a collaborative and solution-focused culture.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Architecture, Construction Management, or similar technical discipline.
• At least 20 years of significant experience in managing design processes for large-scale infrastructure, utilities, industrial, or complex building projects, including utility compounds or substations.
• Demonstrable success in coordinating multi-disciplinary design teams and external design consultants through all project phases up to IFC and handover.

Preferred Credentials

• Master’s degree in Project Management, Engineering, Architecture, or related fields.
• Professional credentials such as PMP or equivalent recognized design management certifications.
• Experience with utility or energy sector clients and familiarity with multi-contract or program management environments.
• Knowledge of standard contract conditions like FIDIC and their effects on design scope and deliverables.
• Proficiency in BIM and digital engineering tools and workflows, including use of Common Data Environments (CDEs).

Essential Skills and Competencies

• Advanced project and design management proficiency covering planning, coordination, risk and change control.
• Leadership capability to coordinate diverse design disciplines without direct detailed design involvement.
• Superior communication, negotiation, and stakeholder engagement skills targeting senior stakeholders.
• In-depth understanding of design interaction across civil, structural, MEP, and power systems tailored to utility compound applications.

Diversity and Inclusion

Parsons is committed to equal opportunity and welcomes applications regardless of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, disability, or genetic information.

Additional Information

The company invests significantly in employee well-being and development, offering continuous growth potential. Candidates should be cautious of recruitment fraud; Parsons provides resources to identify and report fraudulent practices.