Description:
The Design Director will provide executive leadership across all design functions at MCE. This role ensures multidisciplinary coordination, technical excellence, regulatory compliance, and strategic alignment across the design portfolio. Serving as the senior-most authority on design delivery, the Design Director bridges the pre-award technical strategy, active project design oversight, and post-award milestone validation. The role also supports and mentors Project Managers and design leads to elevate firmwide design capability.
Key Duties and Responsibilities of a Design Director:
A. Strategic & Technical Design Leadership
- Define and implement the firm’s overarching design strategy, delivery standards, and excellence benchmarks.
- Develop standardized design planning frameworks, including milestone sequencing, coordination cycles, and authority submission integration.
B. Design Delivery Oversight & Risk Management
- Monitor and oversee design performance across the active project portfolio, ensuring progress aligns with planning benchmarks and quality thresholds.
- Lead resolution of escalated coordination challenges, technical design risks, and cross-discipline interface conflicts.
C. Resource Utilization & Planning
- Approve and optimize resource allocations across projects based on firmwide capacity and strategic priorities.
- Maintain a live view of discipline-level utilization and projected demand; address over/under-capacity.
D. Department & Team Development
- Mentor Project Managers, discipline leads, and senior designers to grow internal design leadership capabilities.
- Establish knowledge-sharing, training, and design leadership development programs across the organization.
E. Interdepartmental Collaboration
Tendering & Business Development:
- Define design input for technical proposals, including durations, narratives, layouts, and team structuring.
- Align design strategy with pursuit positioning and client expectations.
- Finance:
- Validate milestone completions and align with invoicing schedules.
Project Management:
- Review and validate project-level design schedules and planning strategies.
- Ensure alignment with QA checkpoints, milestone definitions, and resource availability.
HR / Talent Strategy:
- Participate in senior technical recruitment for design leads, BIM specialists, and key discipline heads.
- Define evolving skill set needs based on pipeline complexity and project typologies.
F. Innovation, Compliance & Continuous Improvement
- Lead R&D efforts in sustainable design, digital delivery, and healthcare innovation.
- Monitor authority requirement changes and ensure internal workflows are updated accordingly.
Qualifications and Years of Experience:
- Bachelor's degree in Architecture (Master’s preferred).
- 15+ years of experience in the engineering industry
- 10+ years of experience in multidisciplinary design leadership, with a strong focus on healthcare projects.
- Extensive experience with UAE regulatory frameworks and authority submissions. – Abu Dhabi preferred