Design Manager for Sign Works LLC, Dubai

Sign Works LLC is a leading custom fabricator of architectural signage, retail units, visual displays, signage design and wayfinding. Fulfilling all aspects of design and way finding requirements.  The company is the Dubai extension of Project Visual, a well-known 30 year experienced signage and vi sual display manufacturer based in New York, and is a division of the Albwardy Investment Group.  With a 145,000 sq ft in-house facility and a team of 300 professionals, skilled and innovative individuals, our end products display superior artistry and exceptional craftsmanship.   Visit www.signworks.ae for more information.   Our team is currently growing and we are looking for the right candidates to join us today!

Sign Works is looking for a Design Manager, to join our Design team. We are a growing company, and need a trained and experienced Design Manager who is interested in applying his/her enthusiasm, skill and talent in the development and design of large projects for our clients. This position requires senior level design capabilities and management skills. The right person for this position will be confident and fully capable of overseeing the day-to-day operations of design teams and associated project works. He/she should possess a bachelor’s degree in related fields of design or architecture with previous relevant work experience.

The Design Manager is responsible for carrying through the creative aspects of the project as well as making sure it is completed on time and under budget. This professional is expected to work on designing, scheduling, and overall productivity of designers with oversight from the Head of Department and Management team. The Design Manager will supervise, mentor and communicate project expectations to all team members and ensure that project expectations are met.

Required Skills:
• Senior design level experience in graphic arts and ability to manage the overall design process and team members.
• Clear articulation of ideas to facilitate clear design and project direction to the project team.
• Ability to communicate well with Clients and Consultant teams.
• Works well with team atmosphere and capable of leading team brainstorming sessions.
• Capable of story-boarding for design presentations and packages to meet Client deliverables.
• Effective supervisory, planning and organizational skills.
• Proactive, responsive, detail oriented and good communicator.

• Ability to plan, manage and work to project deadlines and design budgets.
• Be excited to teach and mentor junior design staff.
• Able to adapt, learn on the job, and develop and apply new skills well.
• Fully capable of conceptualizing for the entire project and motivating self and team members.
• Be able to produce quality projects consistently and able to make good judgment decisions for the successful completion of projects.
• Flexible and dependable with the ability to work in multifaceted working environments.
• Demonstrate a passion for design and specifically related to signage, retail display elements and graphics. 

Required Duties:
• Attends project kick off meetings and analyzes project information.
• Develops work strategy, story-boards, and design and technical drawings for review and comments by client and consultants.
• Works in collaboration with Project Coordinator throughout entire project.
• Works with Project Coordinator to understand all aspects of the project in order to make design choices congruent with the overall project goals.
• Creates design concept ideas and technical solutions with senior level involvement and leads project team forward within these guidelines.
• Mentors junior staff in extrapolating all design directions.
• Leads junior designers to create supporting documents as needed for the project.
• Reviews design progress and deliverables with the Management team at key stages for feedback, direction and approvals.

• Attends coordination meetings as necessary with Project Coordinator or delegates appropriate staff attendance when appropriate.
• Plans design team work schedule and reviews the schedule with the Head of Department and Management team.
• Evaluates job cost reports to track project budgets and flag projects that are not on track to Head of Department and Management team.
• Review weekly design team work load, progress and performance.

• Always strives to manage projects under budget and with superior deliverables to exceed Client expectations.
• Able to discern necessary technical details for unique production situations and design solutions, which fit the given context.
• Responsible and accountable for personally creating and leading design team to complete all necessary design documents on time.
• Contribute from project shop drawings phase thru to production, to see design through to completion.
• Monitor and enforce day-to-day policies and procedures of the company within your team.
• Provide review of junior level staff for Head of Department and Management team information.

Required Experience:
Must be experienced and knowledgeable in:
• Architectural plans, elevations & sections drawings.
• Drawing to scale (Imperial / Metric) in AutoCAD and Adobe Illustrator.
• Creating 2D and 3D design and technical shop drawings.
• All phases of the design and implementation process.
• Dimensioning and annotation of design and technical and production shop drawings.
• 3D rendering, finish quality design drawings, hand sketching, and researching of materials and fabrication techniques to justify design.
• Knowledge of materials and signage production methods.
• Managing, mentoring and teaching project teams.

Requirements:
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in managing teams and designing with an architectural, interior design, planning, graphic design, or related background.
• Applicants should be proficient on Mac or Windows Operating Platforms.
• Competency using Adobe Acrobat, AutoCAD, MS Word, MS Excel, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and any 3D rendering software (e.g. Studio max).
• Desire to learn to assist in presenting design deliverables effectively with high-quality.

Please email your CV to hr@signworks.ae