Al Ghurair
Senior Manager - Design
- Permanent
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Experience 5 - 10 yrs
Job expiry date: 13/05/2026
Job overview
Date posted
30/03/2026
Location
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Salary
AED 30,000 - 40,000 per month
Compensation
Job description
Senior Manager - Design responsible for leading and coordinating the development of urban design strategies and small to mid-scale master plan design across real estate development projects in the UAE. The role involves ensuring cohesive integration of architecture, landscape, mobility, and public realm to create high-quality, people-centric environments aligned with UAE regulatory frameworks, climate conditions, and cultural context. The position oversees placemaking initiatives across projects, shaping vibrant destinations through strong narrative development, activation strategies, alignment with development vision, and responsiveness to local market expectations and lifestyle trends in the UAE. Responsibilities include supporting development and refinement of design briefs, RFPs, consultant scopes, conducting design benchmarking and market research, and creating internal reference documentation to inform design direction. The role includes evaluating and prequalifying architectural and specialist consultants, maintaining consultant performance insights, providing input on design strategies to enhance quality, efficiency, and sustainability, and ensuring adherence to internal design processes, standards, and governance frameworks. The Senior Manager coordinates multidisciplinary design activities, manages design documentation using Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC), ensures version control and timely distribution, reviews consultant submissions including drawings, reports, and presentations, and provides structured feedback. The position supports technical reviews of construction documents, specifications, and schedules, conducts site visits to monitor design compliance, resolves issues, tracks progress, liaises with consultants, contractors, and vendors, maintains project files and design trackers using ACC platform, prepares meeting agendas, schedules, and manages design-related correspondence. The role requires strong proficiency in BIM, Autodesk Construction Cloud, Microsoft Office, AutoCAD, Revit, SketchUp, Adobe Suite, and experience managing external design consultants, overseeing design processes from concept to completion, managing consultancy agreements, design deliverables, value engineering, cost optimization, and mitigating design risks across development lifecycle.
Required skills
Key responsibilities
- Lead and coordinate development of urban design strategies and small to mid-scale master plan design ensuring integration of architecture, landscape, mobility, and public realm aligned with UAE regulatory frameworks, climate conditions, and cultural context
- Oversee placemaking initiatives across development projects by shaping destination narratives, activation strategies, and alignment with development vision while responding to local market expectations and lifestyle trends within the UAE
- Support development and refinement of design briefs, request for proposals (RFPs), and consultant scopes ensuring alignment with project objectives, business goals, and development strategy
- Conduct design benchmarking and market research while developing internal reference documents to guide design direction, quality standards, and best practice implementation
- Evaluate and prequalify architectural and specialist consultants, maintain consultant databases, track performance insights, and manage relationships with external design consultants
- Coordinate multidisciplinary design activities across architecture, landscape, mobility, and infrastructure teams ensuring alignment and consistency across consultant deliverables
- Manage design documentation using Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC), ensuring accuracy, version control, organized project files, and timely distribution of design deliverables
- Review consultant submissions including drawings, reports, presentations, construction documents, specifications, and schedules while providing structured technical feedback and supporting site visits to monitor compliance and resolve design issues
Experience & skills
- Hold a Bachelor’s degree in architecture or related field with professional experience in architecture, urban design, or design management within real estate or construction development environments
- Demonstrate 7-10 years of experience in architecture or design management including managing external design consultants and overseeing full design lifecycle from concept to completion
- Show strong proficiency in BIM, Autodesk Construction Cloud, Microsoft Office, AutoCAD, Revit, SketchUp, and Adobe Suite for design coordination, documentation, and reporting
- Demonstrate strong understanding of architectural design principles, master planning methodologies, placemaking strategies, and urban design best practices
- Possess experience managing consultancy agreements, design deliverables, and cost implications of design decisions including value engineering and cost optimization initiatives
- Demonstrate ability to manage cross-functional design teams, coordinate multidisciplinary consultants, and resolve complex design challenges across development lifecycle
- Show expertise in identifying and mitigating design risks, monitoring compliance, and implementing proactive design management strategies
- Demonstrate experience liaising with external consultants, contractors, vendors, and stakeholders while managing design governance, documentation control, and project delivery coordination