Head of Engineering, Buildings and Industry-MEP

Do you want to lead one of COWI’s largest engineering teams and shape the future of MEP delivery across Buildings & Industry? Can you combine deep technical judgement with the people leadership needed to grow, engage and inspire a diverse team? And are you ready to act as a leader on complex, international projects while building the culture, capability and pipeline for tomorrow? Then, this could be the next step in your career.

Set the course for Buildings and Industry in EDC

In this position, you will head our MEP engineering group within Buildings & Industry at the COWI Engineering Design Centre (EDC) in Chennai. You will be responsible for the technical quality of what we deliver, the health and growth of the team, and the strategic partnership with our Business Line colleagues globally and across the wider COWI network. You will oversee a team of around 100 to 150 Engineers and BIM professionals, with 5 to 12 direct reports, across India and Lithuania and will report to the Head of Executing Unit, Buildings and Industry EDC (Lithuania and India)

The role is broad and strategic, and your day-to-day will typically include tasks such as:

• Leading and role-modelling COWI’s leadership behaviours and values across the MEP engineering group.


• Taking overall technical responsibility for the quality of MEP project deliverables – solving technical challenges on projects either through coordination or by participating directly as a technical specialist.


• Acting as a close collaboration partner within the relevant Business Line executing unit leadership team, working closely with Heads of Engineering and Heads of Discipline across locations.


• Providing leadership and direction to Head of Disciplines across India and Lithuania


• Ensuring optimal performance of the resource account as the single point-of-entry for all staffing requests from Heads of Projects, Project Managers, Head of Engineering, Head of Discipline and Resource Managers


• Driving high billability in close coordination with EDC Heads of Discipline and other executing units and enhance EDC share through strategic workforce planning,


• Partnering with the BD Leads in other executing units to enable robust technical inputs into project proposals and estimations.


• Promoting employee engagement and cultivating a high-performance, diverse and inclusive culture across your teams.


• Contributing directly to project delivery as a technical specialist alongside your leadership responsibilities – this is a billable role, with a target billability of 50%.

Your skills. Our team. Together we design the future

Like us, you believe that leadership success comes from building purpose and inspiring the leaders you lead. Developing your people, encouraging them to apply their strengths in their work, and moving their performance forward through dialogue are at the centre of what you do. So are attracting a diverse group of leaders and promoting an open, caring and trusting culture. And breaking down silos and collaborating across the organisation are inherent to the direction you set for your leadership team.

You hold a relevant Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in mechanical, electrical or a related MEP engineering discipline. You bring 15+ years of experience in engineering consulting on large-scale multi-disciplinary building projects, with a meaningful portion of that time working in GCCs (Global Competence Centers) and in leadership positions.

Furthermore, you should have:

• Deep technical knowledge across MEP disciplines for buildings – HVAC, plumbing, fire protection, electrical power distribution and low-voltage systems. Experience with MEP engineering for data centre projects, including critical power and cooling systems, will be beneficial


• Demonstrated success in leading engineering teams of scale (100+ FTEs) with multiple direct reports across disciplines.


• A comprehensive understanding of engineering consulting – project management, technical delivery, resource planning and client services.


• Demonstrated ability to achieve commercial outcomes such as billability, utilization and unit profitability, without compromising engineering quality.


• Experience partnering with Business Development to shape proposals, estimations and go-to-market strategy.


• Exposure to international markets within buildings, and experience working with Scandinavian, UK, North American or other international clients and standards.


• Good communication skills in English, suited to a multicultural, multi-time-zone leadership role.

A place to work and so much more

At COWI, we work together with our customers to shape a sustainable and liveable world. We do it by applying our knowledge and curiosity – and sometimes even our courage – to create the solutions the world needs today to enable a better tomorrow. We support our customers’ transition towards increased sustainability.

We strive to lead by example by embedding environmental management, social responsibility, and good governance into our business practices and the options we provide to our customers. We value differences and development and cultivate an environment of belonging and having fun. Because that is what brings out the best in you, at work and at home.

With offices primarily located in Scandinavia, the UK, North America, and India, we are currently 7,500 people who bring their expertise in engineering, architecture, energy, and environment into play.

Get to know us even better at our website, www.cowi.com, where you can learn more about our projects, our strategy, what we want to achieve, and what life is like at COWI.

Equal opportunity employer

COWI provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to ethnicity, colour, religion, gender, national origin, age, or disability. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

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