Senior MEP Manager

Job Summary

The Senior MEP Design Manager will lead and coordinate the multi-discipline MEP design team through all RIBA/project stages. This includes supervising technical design reviews, tracking long-lead equipment procurement, managing statutory connections with regional authorities, driving value engineering exercises, and overseeing the complete field testing and operational handover workflows.

Qualification

• Mandatory Educational Background: A formal Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or Electrical Engineering is required.
• Mandatory Professional Standing: Active Chartered Engineer (CEng) status with the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), or an equivalent globally recognized engineering council.
• Design Framework Literacy: Deep mastery of multi-discipline MEP engineering principles from conceptual stages up to final IFC (Issued for Construction) documentation.
• Contractual Awareness: Commercially aware professional with a firm functional understanding of NEC or FIDIC contract administration practices.

Experience

Candidates must bring a distinguished, progressive record of technical assurance on heavy capital builds:

Infrastructure Longevity & Asset Scale

• Overall Industry Tenacity: A minimum of fifteen (15) years of direct, hands-on MEP project delivery and design experience.
• Aviation Hub Portfolio: Must possess documented experience delivering at least one international airport or major transport hub project operating at a senior engineering level.
• Geographic Preference: Direct experience delivering MEP packages within Sub-Saharan Africa or East Africa is preferred.
• Utility Integration Advantage: Prior familiarity or a direct professional track record dealing with local African utility connection frameworks and regulatory approval steps is an advantage.

Design Management & Leadership Capability

• Multi-Discipline Coordination: Strong design management capability spanning mechanical, electrical, and plumbing disciplines, with a proven ability to critically review, challenge, and approve designs from specialist consultants.
• Team Leadership: Highly developed leadership skills with a history of managing complex, multi-discipline consultant panels and contracting teams.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Design Coordination & Technical Assurance

• Lead the MEP Design Team: Coordinate and direct the MEP design team through all project and RIBA stages from inception to final IFC documentation, ensuring outputs match the client brief, statutory parameters, and project schedule.
• Govern Review Workflows: Manage rigorous MEP design reviews, technical submittals, Requests for Information (RFIs), and engineering drawing approvals, systematically maintaining a live MEP design tracker.
• Provide Construction Technical Assurance: Supervise field construction to verify that MEP contractor designs, installations, and system testing procedures comply strictly with employer specifications and finalized IFC drawings.
• Drive Value Engineering: Contribute data-driven insights to value engineering exercises, identifying cost efficiencies without sacrificing overall system performance or life-cycle costs.
• Mitigate Technical Risks: Identify and proactively manage MEP technical risks, raising formal early warnings where design or construction deviations may impact project costs or master schedules.

Procurement, Utilities Integration & Commissioning

• Track Long-Lead Equipment: Manage the procurement processes for high-value, long-lead MEP equipment packages in tight coordination with the commercial team, tracking international delivery schedules against the master programme.
• Liaise with Statutory Bodies: Interface directly with the Rwanda Energy Group (REG), national water utilities, and other local statutory authorities to secure official network connections, permits, and operational approvals.
• Oversee Commissioning Strategies: Develop and govern the overarching MEP commissioning strategy, monitoring pre-commissioning phases, system flushing protocols, testing matrices, and witness testing sessions led by clients or authorities.
• Govern Handover Packages: Manage the compilation and verification of the final MEP handover package, carefully organizing Operations & Maintenance (O&M) manuals, finalized as-built drawings, commissioning records, equipment warranties, and operator training modules.

Skills Required:

• Electrician / Electronics / Electrical / Engineering
• Mechanics / Mechanical / Engineering