Senior Manager, Design Delivery - USA

About Volta

Volta is the category-defining, fully vertically integrated AI infrastructure platform – from capital to clusters to software, under a founder-led enterprise. Our mission is The Utility of Compute™: AI infrastructure as dependable and available as electricity, for every organization that needs it. Launched with a $10B strategic partnership with one of the leading frontier AI labs, a Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz, and a $5B AI Infrastructure Fund, Volta is building the infrastructure layer of the AI era from the ground up. We are 100+ people across London, Palo Alto, and New York, with rapid growth expectations to hundreds.

The Role

We are looking for a Senior Manager, Design Delivery to own and lead the delivery of coordinated, multidisciplinary designs for Volta’s AI factory projects in NA.

You will be accountable for project design delivery throughout the design stage and remain closely engaged with the Delivery team through procurement, construction, commissioning and handover. You will manage the design scope and associated programme, interfaces and deliverables, ensuring the right information and decisions are available when needed to support successful project delivery.

Working closely with the Volta Product, Technology, Corporate Development, Engineering, Operations and Delivery teams, you will translate requirements into a clear project design brief and lead external design partners in applying Volta’s Reference Design to each site. You will move easily between technical detail and the wider project picture, balancing performance, reliability, cost, speed of delivery and operability. The role will also involve liaising with customer teams to incorporate their requirements into the project design brief.

What You Will Do

› Own the delivery of the project design from initial brief through to detailed design, ensuring design deliverables meet the agreed scope, quality, budget and programme requirements.

› Provide ongoing design support through procurement, construction, commissioning and handover, assisting the Delivery team during these stages.

› Establish and maintain the project design brief with customers, Product, Engineering, Operations and Delivery, capturing requirements, scope boundaries, acceptance criteria and responsibilities.

› Develop and manage the design delivery programme, aligning design packages, reviews, approvals and information release with key project milestones.

› Coordinate design inputs to planning, permitting and statutory approvals with local design partners and the relevant Volta teams, ensuring requirements and approval conditions are incorporated into the design and delivery programme.

› Lead and coordinate external design partners across all disciplines, setting clear scopes, deliverables and accountabilities and managing performance against agreed quality, programme and budget expectations.

› Manage the application of Volta’s Reference Design and engineering standards to each project, coordinating site-specific adaptations and securing approval from the relevant technical authorities for departures.

› Lead multidisciplinary design coordination reviews, resolving interfaces between civil, structural, architectural, mechanical, electrical, controls and GPU compute infrastructure to ensure the overall design works as one integrated AI factory.

› Act as the principal point of coordination for project design matters, working closely with customers and internal stakeholders to resolve requirements, secure timely decisions and maintain alignment as the design develops.

› Plan and lead design reviews and stage gates, ensuring deliverables are complete, coordinated and appropriately reviewed, with comments, actions and approvals tracked to closure.

› Work with the Project Controls, Delivery and Procurement teams to define design package boundaries and release priorities, support technical tender evaluations and incorporate supplier and contractor design information into the coordinated project design.

› Embed construction sequencing, prefabrication, modular delivery, access, logistics and maintainability into the design, working with the teams that will build and operate the facility.

› Manage design changes through a clear change control process, assessing their impact on scope, cost, programme, capacity and performance and securing the required approvals before implementation.

› Remain closely engaged during construction, coordinating responses to technical queries, design clarifications, submittals and proposed changes with designers and engineering, so site teams receive timely, approved information.

› Work with Operations and commissioning teams to incorporate testing, commissioning, maintenance and handover requirements into the design, including the information needed for safe and effective operation.

› Champion best practice health and safety throughout design delivery, leading multidisciplinary reviews to eliminate foreseeable hazards and reduce H&S risks through design.

› Maintain clear visibility of design risks, assumptions, interfaces and outstanding decisions, escalating issues early and reporting design delivery status to project leadership.

What You Will Bring

› A degree in engineering, architecture, construction or equivalent relevant experience.

› Significant experience managing multidisciplinary design delivery for large scale data centres, AI factories or similarly complex infrastructure.

› A track record of taking projects from concept through detailed design and supporting procurement, construction, commissioning and handover.

› Strong understanding of the interfaces between building infrastructure, power, cooling, controls and compute, including the requirements of high-density AI and GPU facilities.

› Experience translating customer, product and operational requirements into clear design briefs and coordinated project deliverables.

› Proven ability to lead external consultants and coordinate internal technical specialists, suppliers and contractors around a common delivery programme.

› Experience managing design programmes, consultant scopes and fees, stage gate reviews, design changes and technical information release.

› An understanding of how reference designs are adapted to site conditions, local requirements and project-specific needs while maintaining consistency across a portfolio.

› Strong commercial judgement, balancing design quality, capex, schedule, constructability, reliability and operability.

› Familiarity with BIM coordination, common data environments and document control processes that support effective multidisciplinary design delivery.

› Experience integrating offsite manufacturing, prefabrication and DFMA into coordinated project designs and delivery programmes.

› Confident communication, able to explain design issues, trade-offs and decisions clearly to customers, technical teams and senior stakeholders.

› A collaborative and accountable approach, with the ability to resolve competing priorities, challenge incomplete information and drive decisions through to closure.

› Willingness to travel to project sites periodically, customer meetings and design partner locations across NA.

What We Offer

At Volta, we believe people do their best work when they feel supported, trusted and able to grow. We're building a company where you can make an impact, keep a healthy balance between work and life, and build a career you're proud of.
As a global team, we do our best to provide great benefits wherever you're based. While some benefits vary by country due to local regulations, we believe looking after our people is simply the right thing to do.

• Competitive salary based on the work you do here, not your previous salary

• Equity in Volta, giving you the opportunity to share in the company's long-term success

• Retirement/pension contributions

• Comprehensive health, wellbeing and insurance benefits

• Generous number of vacation days each year

Additional Information

Background Checks

All offers of employment at Volta are conditional on the satisfactory completion of pre-employment screening, which includes confirmation of your right to work, verification of your employment history and a criminal record check, where this is permitted by local law. Screening is carried out by Zinc, an accredited third-party provider, after an offer is made and all information is handled confidentially and in accordance with applicable data protection law.

Equal Opportunity

Volta is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive team and make employment decisions based on skills, qualifications, experience and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or any other legally protected characteristic.

Accessibility

Candidate Privacy Notice

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Note to Recruitment Agencies

Volta does not accept unsolicited CVs or candidate profiles from recruitment agencies. Any unsolicited submissions, including those sent directly to hiring managers or employees, will be treated as the property of Volta. No agency fees will be payable unless a valid, signed recruitment agreement is in place, and the agency has been specifically engaged for the relevant vacancy.