Roles and responsibilities
A Senior Design Engineer is an experienced engineering professional who leads the design and development of systems, products, or structures in various industries such as manufacturing, construction, aerospace, automotive, electronics, and more. This role combines technical expertise with leadership skills, overseeing design projects from concept through to completion. Senior Design Engineers are responsible for ensuring that designs meet both functional and regulatory requirements, are cost-effective, and are produced within the project timeline.
Key Responsibilities of a Senior Design Engineer:
1. Design Development and Innovation
- Conceptual Design: Leading the creation of new designs or improvements to existing products or systems. This includes brainstorming, sketching, and evaluating different design concepts.
- Detailed Design: Creating detailed technical drawings, specifications, and 3D models (using CAD software) that describe the final design.
- Prototyping: Overseeing or participating in the development of prototypes to test the design concepts in real-world conditions and refine them before full-scale production or construction.
- Innovation: Researching new materials, technologies, and manufacturing techniques to improve design quality, efficiency, and performance.
2. Project Management and Leadership
- Project Planning: Leading the design phase of a project, including setting timelines, budgets, and resource allocation to ensure timely and efficient completion.
- Team Leadership: Managing and mentoring junior engineers, design teams, and cross-functional teams, providing guidance and support in technical issues and design choices.
- Collaboration: Working closely with other departments, such as manufacturing, quality assurance, procurement, and marketing, to ensure that design goals align with production capabilities and customer needs.
- Client Interaction: Communicating with clients, stakeholders, or end-users to understand their requirements, provide design recommendations, and manage expectations regarding design outcomes.
3. Technical Analysis and Problem Solving
- Feasibility Studies: Conducting feasibility studies and risk assessments to ensure that designs are technically viable, safe, and cost-effective.
- Engineering Calculations: Performing necessary calculations, simulations, and analysis (e.g., stress analysis, fluid dynamics, heat transfer) to validate the design’s performance and ensure safety.
- Troubleshooting: Diagnosing design-related issues during testing or production and proposing effective solutions to improve performance or resolve problems.
- Compliance and Standards: Ensuring that all designs meet relevant regulatory and industry standards (e.g., ISO, OSHA, CE, or local building codes) and are environmentally sustainable.
4. Design Documentation and Reporting
- Technical Documentation: Preparing and maintaining detailed documentation, including design specifications, reports, testing protocols, and change requests.
- Design Reviews: Leading or participating in design review meetings, presenting design concepts, progress updates, and key decisions to stakeholders, and responding to feedback.
- Change Management: Overseeing and documenting any design changes or modifications throughout the project lifecycle to ensure proper version control and traceability.
5. Cost Control and Optimization
- Cost Estimation: Estimating the cost of design and development, including material costs, labor, manufacturing, and production processes, and working within the project budget.
- Design Optimization: Identifying opportunities to reduce costs, improve performance, or enhance manufacturability without compromising quality or safety.
- Supplier and Vendor Coordination: Collaborating with suppliers and vendors to source materials or components, ensuring that they meet design specifications, quality standards, and cost targets.
6. Testing and Quality Assurance
- Prototype Testing: Overseeing or conducting tests on prototypes to ensure the design works as intended under various operating conditions (e.g., stress testing, environmental testing).
- Quality Control: Ensuring that the final design is aligned with quality assurance standards, conducting inspections or audits, and ensuring that products are fit for purpose and compliant with safety standards.
Desired candidate profile
- Performs specific and moderate portions of a broader assignment of an experienced engineer.
- Gathers and correlates basic engineering data using established and well-defined procedures.
- Works on detailed or routine engineering assignments involving calculations and relatively simple tests.
- Proposes approach to solve new problems encountered using modifications of standard procedures or methods developed in previous assignments.
- Identifies discrepancies in results.
- Provides guidance to entry level engineers.
- Performs work in accordance with agreed upon budget and schedule with little supervision.
- Independently performs all the tasks necessary to complete primary design
elements for engineering works.
- Performance at this level requires developmental experience in a professional position.
Qualifications
- Bachelor Degree in Civil, Marine, Coastal or Ocean engineering
- Middle east experience
- Minimum of 8 years experience
- Experience with the planning and design of coastal and marine structures.
- Experience with coastal modelling tools such as MIKE, Telemac, Litpack, etc.
- Experience with structure software such as StaadPro, Geo5, Plaxis etc.
- Experience in a consultancy environment