Design Manager (Mechanical Electrical Engineer) | Data Centres (MCF)

Zutari is a leading buildings engineering and advisory firm with over 90 years of experience across Africa and the Middle East. Within our Buildings practice we design resilient sustainable and high-performance spaces that shape how people live work and connect.

From structural and civil engineering to façade fire and building services we bring together integrated expertise to deliver environments that are intelligent future-ready and built for lasting impact.

We are looking for individuals who are passionate about shaping spaces that go beyond function and create environments that inspire enable and endure.

What kind of talent do we pursue
We employ people with the right attitude and a positive mindset who are motivated by doing the right thing getting things done and share a sense of urgency. People who have an impact in our teams and broader community. People who think differently and connect with those around them to co-create new opportunities and leave a meaningful legacy.

Were seeking a high-performing professional with a passion for excellence innovation and collaboration. Youre someone who thrives in fast-paced environments leads with purpose and brings deep technical expertise to complex challenges. You think differently connect meaningfully and leave a legacy through your work.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Design Manager to join our Data Centre team to be located in our Cape Town or Tshwane offices.

As part of our Data Centre team you will be a key member of the delivery team virtually designing and constructing a wide range of projects. Your experience ability to see the greater picture accuracy drive for standardisation and eye for detail will assist our team to co-create an engineered impact on our clients.

Your Design Management experience will see you heading leading dynamic project teams to co-create engineering solutions digitally. You will bridge the gap between the various design and execution teams ensuring that our designs are:

• Holistically delivered at high quality

• Feasible

• Within budget

• Meet client requirements

Key Role Responsibilities

Design Delivery Ownership:

• Own the full design lifecycle from concept to IFC ensuring complete coordinated compliant and constructionready outputs.

• Maintain scope clarity design intent continuity decision tracking and disciplined change control.

• Drive design progress issue resolution and information flow to protect delivery velocity and programme certainty.

• Ensure all design packages align with client performance requirements commercial assumptions and procurement strategy.

2. MultiDisciplinary Integration & Technical Assurance:

• Lead technical and design-side integration across Architectural Structural Mechanical Electrical CSA OEM and specialist disciplines ensuring system-level alignment and coherent engineering outcomes.

• Resolve technical interfaces sequencing issues and engineering dependencies early ensuring functional alignment between cooling power structural fire/life-safety and architectural systems.

• Provide technical assurance by reviewing engineering assumptions design narratives basis of design inputs and discipline deliverables for completeness correctness and alignment with project requirements.

• Collaborate with BIM Manager and BIM Coordinator on digital/model coordination activities ensuring that BIM outputs support design intent while not performing BIM model QA clash detection or CDE administration.

3. Programme Cost Scope & Risk Control:

• Own the design schedule deliverable sequencing and milestone readiness to maintain programme certainty under fasttrack conditions.

• Control design scope fee alignment and change management escalating commercial or design risks early with recommended actions.

• Evaluate design decisions and changes for cost programme risk constructability and operability impacts maintaining clear decision logs.

• Maintain a live risk register and drive proactive mitigation actions to safeguard delivery quality budget and reliability outcomes.

• Ensure all material technical programme and cost risks are escalated in line with the Data Centres escalation framework irrespective of Business Unit or project pressures.

4. Client & Stakeholder Leadership:

• Act as the primary design interface for clients OEMs consultants authorities and contractors securing timely decisions and approvals.

• Facilitate workshops and technical reviews translating complex requirements and risks into clear design direction and options for decision-making.

• Communicate technical implications trade-offs and risks concisely ensuring full client understanding and sustained confidence.

• Build strong working relationships that support repeat business bid positioning and long-term pipeline stability.

• Protect Data Centres sector reputation and client confidence by ensuring technical positions are consistent defensible and aligned with enterprise DC standards.

5. Quality Constructability Sustainability & Innovation:

• Own engineering quality assurance for design deliverables ensuring all technical documents (drawings reports specifications schedules) meet accuracy compliance integration and performance requirements.

• Drive constructability and maintainability within the design ensuring safe access replacement routes serviceability installation feasibility and operational resilience in line with data centre best practice.

• Promote sustainable energy efficient scalable and modular solutions ensuring mechanical/electrical resilience philosophies align with client performance objectives.

• Coordinate with BIM roles for digital QA/QC ensuring BIM outputs reflect design decisions without performing BIM coordination tasks digital audits or clash management responsibilities.

6. Design Authority & Governance:

• Act as the appointed technical authority for Data Centre projects.

• Confirm and lock technical assumptions scope dependencies and standards compliance at bid and preaward stages.

• Exercise mandatory escalation where deviations from approved DC standards contracted assumptions or agreed risk thresholds occur.

• Support the Lead: Data Centres by surfacing systemic design capability or delivery risks impacting sector performance margin or reputation.

• Operate within the defined DC decision authority and escalation model inclusive of Business Unit reporting lines.

Minimum Requirements

Qualifications:

• BEng/BSc Eng in in Engineering (Mechanical Electrical Mechatronic Industrial or other relevant engineering discipline)
• Professional registration: with ECSA
• Postgraduate qualification in Mechanical/Electrical Engineering / Building Services / Project Management would be advantageous.
• Continued professional development in cooling technologies data centre engineering energy efficiency or related specialisations.
• Uptime Institute Accredited Tier Designer (ATD) certification would be advantageous.

Experience:

• Minimum of 6 years of engineering experience with substantial exposure to multidisciplinary building services or complex engineered systems.

• Minimum of 3 years in design management senior design coordination or technical leadership roles within consulting EPC/EPCM or developer environments.

• Proven experience delivering mission critical or high complexity projects (data centres industrial plants hospitals labs clean rooms or equivalent

• Demonstrated track record managing multidisciplinary design across Architectural Structural Mechanical Electrical Fire/Life Safety CSA OEM and specialist vendors.

• Experience managing design risk scope programme dependencies change control and deliverable sequencing under fasttrack conditions.

• Experience leading or supporting client technical interactions design workshops approvals and decisionmaking processes.

• Exposure to design governance frameworks (stagegates QA/QC risk logs design signoff processes).

Skills:

• Strong engineering foundation with the ability to understand interrogate and integrate mechanical electrical structural architectural and vendor inputs in a missioncritical context.

• Skilled in design planning design sequencing deliverable management and structured design governance (stagegates design reviews risk and decision logs).

• Strong crossdisciplinary interface management ability - aligning cooling power structure architecture fire strategy CSA and site constraints into a unified buildable solution.

• Excellent programme management capability - critical path control early escalation design bottleneck resolution and maintaining delivery velocity.

• High commercial awareness - understanding the impact of design decisions on cost risk procurement operability and programme.

• Excellent communication and facilitation skills - presenting options framing risks leading workshops and driving decision closure across senior client teams.

• Digital and BIM Coordination the ability to review and interpret models drawings and clash detection outputs without performing handson modelling.

• Leadership Presence and Influence the ability to influence multi-disciplinary teams and guide technical schedule and riskrelated decisionmaking.

Competencies:

• Design Governance Leadership: Drives structured design processes stagegates risk management and disciplined change control across all design workstreams.

• CrossDisciplinary Technical Integration: Understands the interactions between cooling power structure architecture fire/lifesafety CSA and operational requirements to deliver coherent datacentre designs.

• Engineering Judgement & ProblemSolving: Challenges assumptions evaluates technical tradeoffs and ensures all design decisions support resilience maintainability cost and programme objectives.

• Delivery Reliability & Accountability: Maintains programme certainty anticipates bottlenecks resolves blockers and ensures consistent predictable design outcomes.

• Client Leadership & Technical Communication: Builds trust facilitates decisions communicates risks and design options clearly and sustains strong client relationships and satisfaction.

• Commercial Discipline: Ensures scope clarity fee alignment risk control technical feasibility and commercially viable design decisions throughout the lifecycle.

• Constructability Operability & Sustainability Mindset: Ensures designs are buildable maintainable energyefficient and operationally reliable over the assets lifecycle.

• Professional Integrity & Team Collaboration: Demonstrates ownership discipline strong documentation practice and effective collaboration across multidisciplinary teams and vendor ecosystems.

We believe that a diverse workforce is key to our business success. We seek the best people for our jobs based on their skills qualifications and experience. We embrace the principle of equal opportunity in employment and we work towards eliminating all forms of unlawful discrimination in our employment support of diversity and the equal opportunity principle preference will be given to individuals from designated groups within South Africa.