- Externally the Practice Manager will raise Atkins’ market profile, Nationally, Regionally and Locally through specific client relationships and generally in the market.
- Develop and Implement work winning strategies with the Senior Leadership Team (SLT)
- Represent Atkins at the highest level in the Industry within the relevant Practice area.
- Work closely with the Director responsible for Business Development and the SLT to understand the Market Sector strategies and to develop resource strategies which respond and meet the needs of both current and future pipeline of work within the Practice.
- Work closely with the Director responsible for Operations to ensure that work delivered to the Clients within the Practice area fully meets Clients’ requirements in terms of quality of service and deliverables, and timeliness of delivery while achieving profitability targets as per the bid and as baselined in the Project Summary Report (PSR)
- Manage the deployment of relevant staff to support winning work and delivering work effectively
- Lead and direct the deployment of departmental resource and teams to support both regional and national projects, efficiently and effectively.
- Create an agile resource base in respect of the Practice that is aligned with the East Africa business strategy.
- Identify and manage the use of supply chain (subcontractors and other vendors) to effectively manage an agile and flexible workforce which can respond to work flows in the Practice and wider East Africa business
- Develop a learning culture, promote knowledge sharing and innovation and actively share and drive adoption of new ideas.
- Lead and support the technical development of staff within the practice teams to drive technical excellence, knowledge sharing, process standardisation and optimisation.
- Lead and direct the development, planning and identification of core competencies within the disciplines in the Practice. Develop and manage robust plans to respond to changing market trends and client demands
- Provide a technical mentoring and professional development focal point for the project’s engineers and other built environment professionals
- Engage with the wider Atkins business to lead and support the development of new ways of working and help drive innovation in service offerings; such as Building Information Modelling.
- Enthuse and motivate people through leadership, clear and effective performance objectives and development plans that align to their career aspirations
- Manage talent through the identification of people’s performance and potential and taking active decisions to drive optimum performance
- Lead and direct the recruitment, retention and development of people across the Practice in line with East Africa strategy
- Lead compliance across projects owned and run by the Practice to ensure they are strongly governed and comply to group standards; are commercially viable; are profitable; are delivered excellently; and maximise the promises made in the bid.
- Take an active role within Atkins community in the disciplines covered by the Practice to share best practice and pursue joint initiatives
- Provide any other support to the East African business as may be delegated and/or assigned by the SLT
Key performance indicators
- Meet or exceed productivity targets through the effective management of resources within the Practice.
- Overall good performance of the projects owned by the Practice with respect to profitability, lock-up minimization and risk management as reflected by monthly PSR’s.
- Maintain the Practice’s break-even rates as low as possible by adopting efficient and effective delivery methods that optimally utilise in-house and supply chain resources.
- Develop client relationships to win work through new, additional and repeat business.
- Maximize opportunities for internal trade within the Group in the discipline areas covered by the Practice and create and maintain effective networks with counterpart mangers within the Group
- Maintain positive Client feedback on projects owned by and run by the Practice.
- Adherence to Group compliance standards to manage commercial and project risk.
- Enhanced employee engagement and staff satisfaction within the Practice
- Integration of digital/ technology and innovation for services performed within the Practice
- Focus on driving sustainability into the culture of the business/ practice requirements
- High Emotional Intelligence
Professional and other Skills Requirements
- Degree Qualified to BSc, BEng BA or equivalent in any of the built environment professions as a minimum
- Professional Engineer, Consulting Engineer or equivalent and with a current practising Licence.
- Possess extensive experience (Minimum of 15 years of postgraduate experience) in the design and delivery of medium and large-scale projects
- Contractual awareness, particularly on common forms of consultancy contracts.
- Experienced in the management of the design process (financial, programme, resources)
- Self-motivated and capable of operating in an environment of empowerment
- Able to command respect within a professional organisation
- Proven business management and leadership skills within a multi-disciplinary design consultancy organisation and capable of managing a team and motivating others to achieve business targets.
- Strong service delivery orientation and a commitment to achieving technical excellence
- Demonstrable experience of working autonomously to generate business growth.
- Excellent communication and relationship management skills both internally and externally and at all levels
- Financially and commercially astute, with previous management experience of budgeting and forecasting and profit and loss management
- Strong negotiating skills coupled with strong commercial acumen
- Results oriented and extensive project management experience in ensuring work is delivered on time and to budget.
Rewards & Benefits
We offer an excellent package which includes:
- A competitive salary
- Accommodation allowance
- Transportation allowance
- Annual leave
- Medical and life insurance cover
- Company gratuity scheme
- Discretionary bonus scheme
- Annual flight allowance to point of origin
- Employee assistance Programme – 24 hour free advice on financial, legal and family care specialists and also access to personal health, fitness and nutrition consultants.
SNC Lavalin's Atkins business is one of the largest multidisciplinary, multi sector engineering design consultancies in the world and is part of the SNC Lavalin Group.
As one of the world’s most respected design, engineering and project management consultancies with a leading track record in the defence sector, Atkins are ideally placed to respond to this market. We have a broad establishment and proud, 50 year history throughout the Middle East region.
We provide a full range of design, engineering and project management services for buildings, transportation and other infrastructure programmes.
Atkins in the Middle East now employs around 2,000 staff serving Gulf clients across all market sectors from offices in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Doha, Dubai, Jeddah, Kuwait City, Manama, Muscat, Riyadh, and Sharjah.
