Design Manager

Our collective future depends on carbon-free transportation. To forge that future, Voltera develops, owns, and operates the infrastructure that enables companies to succeed at scale with zero-emission vehicles. We’re looking for innovative, people-first team members who understand that culture is critical in our effort to positively impact the world’s transition to a carbon-free transportation future.

We are looking for an experienced

Design Manager to own a portfolio of purpose-built fleet charging hubs from site control through permits in hand and long-lead equipment on order. This role will carry each project through design, utility coordination, permitting, and procurement, directing A&E consultants and specialty vendors, owning cost and schedule, delivering to our customers’ design standards, and developing a Construction a package our team’s can build from.

The ideal candidate will work day-to-day with Sales Engineering, Real Estate, Engineering, Construction, Operations, and Finance, and will be measured on what our autonomous vehicle and large fleet customers depend on most: speed to market.

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

• Act as the single accountable owner for a portfolio of fleet charging hubs from site control through permit approval and handoff to Construction, driving each project from due diligence and conceptual design to permitting and IFC and reviewing and redlining design sets to meet Voltera’s and our Customer’s requirements.
• Learn customer design standards in depth (vehicle and charging specifications, site layout and circulation, security, O&M requirements), reconcile them against Voltera’s site standards, utility specifications, and local code, and represent Voltera with customer engineering and operations teams to secure sign-off at each milestone.
• Select and manage third-party A&E consultants and specialty design vendors such as canopies, guard booths, and signage: scope and issue RFPs, level proposals, respond to RFIs, give clear design direction, and hold them to agreed scope, fee, and delivery dates.
• Own the utility application from submission onward and run AHJ permitting end to end, assembling complete packages, tracking review cycles, resolving comments, and raising utility-driven cost and schedule exposure early enough to act on.
• Own project budget, schedule, and business case through permit approval, manage project costing, and work with internal Engineering to source long-lead procurement against the construction schedule and budget.
• Support Real Estate as a technical resource during due diligence, partner with Construction for a smooth transition and ongoing engineering/permitting support, and bring lessons learned back to make the design manager workflow faster and more repeatable.
• Coordinate with our Sales Engineering team to ensure key Customer requirements are met, and that the projects are delivered on schedule and on budget.
• Perform additional responsibilities as assigned
• MUST-HAVE: 4-7 years in design management, project management, engineering, or construction, including a track record of leading site designs from intake through IFC.
• Electrical, Civil, or Architectural background and/or experience with site development, planning, and construction.
• Hands-on experience with utility coordination and municipal permitting on land development, site civil, or heavy civil projects.
• Ability to read, markup, and give substantive feedback on civil, electrical, and structural drawing sets.
• Comfort running several projects at once at different stages, with the organizational habits to keep all of them moving.
• Working proficiency with tools such as AutoCAD, Bluebeam, Procore, and standard project tracking software.
• NICE-TO-HAVE: Demonstrated proficiency with AC and DC power systems including utility service configurations, transformers, protective devices, and single-line diagrams.
• Delivery experience on EV charging, substation, or other electrical infrastructure projects, or on fleet depots, logistics yards, transit facilities, or other assets that must operate around the clock.
• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, civil engineering, architecture, construction management, or a comparable technical field.
• Familiarity with utility interconnection processes and permitting.
• Experience delivering projects against a customer’s published design standards.
• LOCATION: Preference for candidates based in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, including Arlington, VA. Other locations may be considered for the right candidate.
• Expect to travel to sites and customer offices roughly 25% of the time.