Head of Design Germany

We are seeking an agile Engineering Location Lead for Germany to support our Delivery Team at Colt DCS, delivering technical excellence and leadership across Germany projects to ensure on-time and on-budget delivery. You will lead and manage a multi-disciplinary technical and design management team in Germany, delivering multiple Hyperscale data centre projects. You will be responsible for ensuring the technical delivery of these projects and be accountable for consistency and adherence to employer’s requirements and specific customers’ solutions on multiple projects in Germany. This shall be achieved through dedicated project design managers reporting directly to you or in the role of design manager for projects.

You will report to the Regional Engineering Manager (UK / EUR) of the Major Builds Delivery Team in Colt DCS, based in Germany with a focus on our Frankfurt portfolio.

You will play a leading role in the delivery of a multi-disciplinary design, managing external engineering consultants and contractors to meet programme, design, and budget for successful project delivery and to achieve cost-effective and resilient infrastructures in line with Colt’s Global design standards.

The successful candidate must take an agile approach to design, cost, and programme & project management, providing solutions to potential issues and having a direct input to business performance, ensuring that we, as a team, deliver on time and on budget, every time.

People Management Skills :

• Enable efficient communication, provide motivation, build trust among participants and stakeholders, and demonstrate a willingness to see others succeed.
• Lead, mentor, and manage a team of engineers working on data centre construction projects, ensuring alignment with project goals and objectives.
• Foster a positive team environment, encouraging collaboration, innovation, and professional development.
• Set clear performance expectations, conduct regular performance reviews, and provide constructive feedback to team members.

Job Summary

Outcomes :

Responsibility to ensure the outputs from the German-based engineering team meet business requirements at a technical level and provide ways of efficient delivery. Alignment and cross collaboration with other functions to input into a “one team” mentality from development to operations. Continuous support of Colt’s Design Managers and Engineers to ensure objectives’ alignment with agreed programme and costs, ensuring fast and responsive communication lines between engineering and project management for quicker and effective decisions.

At project level, you should manage the Design Programme to ensure on-time creation and review of Employers Requirements (ER’s), tender information, and design documentation issued for planning and construction.

You will be required to steer, guide, and challenge the external Design Consultants and Contractors when required, taking a ‘Trust but Verify’ approach, to ensure they deliver a design that meets the requirements of the Design Brief, periodically assessing and evaluating all project-related design decisions presented by consultants and contractors with support from Senior DCS staff if required.

You will apply a commercial approach in all aspects of the work including design, engineering, and construction, working with other engineering functions, Procurement, and Delivery to ensure that procurement of all items is conducted on the most cost-effective basis to drive reduction in costs, maximize speed to market, while obtaining the lowest PUE values that meet Colt’s sustainability and environmental targets.

You will be required to analyze, review, and comment on design proposals, specifications, manuals, and other data submitted for Colt DCS review on the BIM 360 Platform and evaluate the feasibility, cost, and maintenance requirements of designs or applications; actively participating in the team workload to ensure that all project documentation internal governance approvals are completed in detail and on time.

You will support the Project managers to drive project programmes / delivery while working closely with other design engineers and construction teams to ensure milestones and completion dates are met with successful handover to the client on time. You will also work on Sales requests and liaise with customers to develop specific project design requirements, together with senior staff and delivery managers, to deliver first-class projects to our customers.

The Team :

The Delivery Team, reporting to the VP of Real Estate, is formed by regional groups of Project Managers, Design Managers / Engineers, Specialists (namely BMS, Security, and Commissioning), Cost Managers, and Procurement Managers reporting to the Regional Head of Delivery.

The Design Managers are managed by a Regional Engineering Manager, who will assign a Design Manager and a supporting engineer (of opposite discipline) to each project. The Design Managers will interface daily with their peers of the Delivery team and also with the Development Team, which is responsible for site acquisition, power and connectivity searches, authorities' approval, preparation of the project’s Design Brief and Business Plan.

Job Description

The skills and Expertise Required :

• Excellent people management skills to enable efficient communication, provide motivation, build trust among participants and stakeholders, and demonstrate a willingness to see others succeed.
• Strong understanding of design consultants' appointments and processes.
• In-depth knowledge and experience in delivering mission-critical engineering, built environment design processes, MEP strategies and technologies, CSA disciplines and their dependencies, and construction works.
• Substantial experience in the built environment engineering industry.
• Experience performing commissioning, qualification & change control activities related but not limited to electrical systems, life safety and fire protection, HVAC, chiller plants, domestic and process water systems, building automation systems, etc.
• Experience working in Germany, including planning and development processes with experience in the RIBA stage gate delivery process.
• Deep understanding of the digital environment including BIM, levels of development in design and technology that can assist in the engineering and construction process.
• A thorough understanding of site planning and interdependent disciplines, such as civils, structures and architecture, demolition, site enabling works and project delivery processes needed to support our growing fleet of Data Centres, is strongly desired.
• This person shall be detail-oriented, possess strong organizational skills, and be a self-starter that can excel with little direction.

Ownership :

• Regularly checks with other areas of the business that they and their team are delivering on their part of any activity, working with them to resolve issues to ensure flawless delivery.
• Regularly reviews spend and identifies opportunities to drive down the cost or improve the return on investment of their personal / team’s activities.

Leadership :

• Looks at industry best practices and current trends / innovations for their role and applies these within Colt – sharing what has worked and what has not (and why) with others who hold similar roles within the business. Understands cultural differences and utilizes this understanding to ensure the successful completion of a task.

Technical Knowledge :

• Previous experience of working in a MEP data centre design role within mission-critical facilities
• General knowledge of CSA (Civils, Structural, Architectural) disciplines principles.
• Minimum Bachelor's degree in Engineering.
• Excellent written and verbal German and English skills.

Skills

Data Center Production Environment Planning

Building and Managing Teams

Supervisory Leadership

Engineering Standards and Procedures

Education

A degree preferably in Electrical Engineering / a technical discipline or relevant industry experience.