Design Director: Estate Management | City Assets Management (Urban Planning)

In a world of possibilities, pursue one with endless opportunities. Imagine Next! At Parsons, you can imagine a career where you thrive, work with exceptional people, and be yourself. Guided by our leadership vision of valuing people, embracing agility, and fostering growth, we cultivate an innovative culture that empowers you to achieve your full potential. Unleash your talent and redefine what’s possible. Job Description: Parsons are recruiting for a highly experienced Design Director to join their team! The Design Director is responsible for providing operational design leadership and assurance across city and district developments, representing the future operator, maintainer and asset owner throughout planning, design development, design reviews and asset delivery activities. The role ensures operational requirements, maintainability considerations, logistical needs, support facilities and service delivery requirements are appropriately reflected within asset designs and associated development proposals. Acting as the design authority for operability and maintainability, the Design Director provides independent review, challenge, assurance and recommendations across all assets that will require future operations, maintenance, management or service delivery. The position develops and maintains operational design requirements, coordinates stakeholder alignment, supports district and development teams, and manages specialist consultant activities relating to operational design assurance. The role works closely with Development, Delivery, City Operations, Community Management, Asset Management, Utilities, Mobility, Security, Digital and other operational stakeholders to ensure assets are designed for safe, efficient and sustainable operation throughout their lifecycle. The position also coordinates operational aspects of asset handover activities with City Asset Management to facilitate a smooth transition from development into operations. What You'll Be Doing; - Lead operational design reviews of city and district assets to assess operability, maintainability, functionality and long-term serviceability. - Review asset designs throughout planning, concept, schematic, detailed design and pre-handover stages. - Challenge design proposals to ensure assets can be safely, efficiently and sustainably operated and maintained. - Assess asset layouts, operational functionality, maintenance strategies and service delivery requirements. - Identify operational risks, maintenance constraints, accessibility challenges and service delivery issues that may impact future operations. - Provide evidence-based recommendations to improve asset operability, maintainability and operational performance. - Support governance and stage-gate reviews through technical review comments and assurance recommendations. - Promote whole-life thinking within design reviews to support long-term operational sustainability and value. - Develop, maintain and continuously improve operational design standards, guidance documents and review criteria. - Define operability, maintainability and service delivery requirements for use by development and design teams. - Develop operational requirements relating to maintenance access, serviceability, support facilities and operational infrastructure. - Establish design review frameworks and assurance processes to support consistent assessment of developments. - Ensure operational design requirements are embedded within development processes and governance frameworks. - Collaborate with stakeholders to maintain current and future operational requirements across asset classes. - Promote alignment between operational objectives, user requirements and design solutions. - Provide subject matter expertise relating to operational readiness and operational design assurance. - Review and provide assurance on the sizing, location and functionality of facilities required to support city operations and asset management activities. - Assess operational support facilities, maintenance compounds, workshops, storage areas, waste facilities, logistics areas and staff support infrastructure. - Evaluate proposed facility capacities against forecast operational requirements and service delivery needs. - Ensure operational facilities are appropriately located to maximize efficiency, accessibility and service performance. - Review space planning requirements associated with operational support activities and future city growth. - Coordinate with stakeholders to validate operational assumptions and facility utilization requirements. - Identify opportunities to optimize operational infrastructure and support facilities. - Ensure asset support facilities align with long-term operating models and maintenance requirements. - Review and provide assurance on operational logistics requirements associated with city and district assets. - Assess asset access arrangements, servicing routes, loading facilities, deliveries, refuse c