Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets.
We are more than 34,000 people, in over 30 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.
Role description:
As a Design Lead within the Global Excellence Center (GEC), you are responsible for directing, coordinating, and assuring the quality of integrated design activities within multidisciplinary projects. You work in close collaboration with the client-facing design leads in the Lead countries, who act as the primary point of contact for the client and local stakeholders. From within the GEC, you ensure efficient, high-quality, and consistent delivery of design outputs, while safeguarding technical quality, progress, cross-disciplinary alignment, and compliance with project requirements.
The purpose of your role is to act as the single point of contact on behalf of your (multidisciplinary) GEC team in coordination with the client-facing design lead in the local team, which manages the client relationship and the overall assignment. You ensure smooth coordination and are driven to fully understand the end client’s needs. You have a realistic view of how the GEC can make the maximum possible contribution to achieving project results.
Role accountabilities:
- Direct and coordinate design activities within the GEC for one or more projects, sub-projects, or work packages.
- Translate project scope, client needs, and technical requirements provided by the client-facing design lead into clear design principles, tasks, and deliverables for the GEC team.
- Ensure integrated alignment between disciplines and interfaces so that design choices remain consistent and technically feasible.
- Monitor planning, progress, quality, and productivity of design activities within the GEC.
- Identify technical risks, deviations, missing input, and scope changes, and proactively align these in a timely manner with the client-facing design lead and project manager.
- Prepare, coordinate, and technically review design deliverables, calculations, design notes, models, and drawings before release.
- Organize and facilitate internal design reviews and contribute to external reviews, verifications, and validations.
- Ensure that design activities comply with applicable standards, guidelines, project specifications, and quality processes.
- Support the client-facing design lead in technical coordination with clients, partners, suppliers, and other stakeholders by providing clear substantiation, analyses, and solutions.
- Ensure transparent communication on progress, issues, dependencies, and decision points between the GEC and the Lead region.
- Coach and guide designers and engineers within the GEC and contribute to knowledge development, standardization, and continuous improvement.
- Stimulate innovative, digital, and efficient design approaches, for example in BIM, automation, parametric design, and data-driven engineering.
Qualifications & Experience:
- We are looking for a design lead with a strong technical foundation and proven experience in coordinating multidisciplinary design processes within civil engineering projects. You are able to work effectively in an international project environment, balancing content, process, and collaboration. You understand the dynamics between a central engineering model and local client interaction, and you know how to be a reliable and proactive partner to the client-facing design leads in the Lead countries.
- Completed Bachelor’s or master’s degree in civil engineering/Structural Engineering
- At least 15 years of relevant experience in design, engineering, or project environments, including several years in coordinating or leadership role.
- Experience with underground infrastructure construction and a sound basic understanding of geotechnics, concrete structures, and steel structures.
- Experience with multidisciplinary infrastructure or civil engineering projects.
- Demonstrable experience in leading design teams, managing deliverables, and controlling technical interfaces.
- Good knowledge of relevant standards, guidelines, design processes, and quality procedures, preferably based on the Dutch context. If your experience originates from another country, you are willing to quickly familiarize yourself with the applicable local standards and guidelines.
- Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with colleagues across countries, disciplines, and organizational levels.
- Proactive, structured, and solution-oriented mindset.
- Affinity with digital design tools, BIM, systems engineering, and/or parametric design is an advantage.
- Excellent command of English; proficiency in Dutch is an advantage.
Measurement of Success:
- Timely and high-quality delivery of design outputs in line with project agreements.
- Effective collaboration and clear division of responsibilities between the GEC and the client-facing design leads in the Lead countries.
- Control of technical risks, interfaces, and design dependencies.
- High level of predictability in progress, quality, and resource deployment.
- Positive contribution to client satisfaction, team development, and continuous improvement of design and collaboration processes
Why Arcadis?
We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It’s why we are pioneering a skills-based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.
You’ll do meaningful work, and no matter what role, you’ll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark, on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.
Together, we can create a lasting legacy.
Join Arcadis. Create a Legacy.
Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day, which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people.
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