Head of Engineering - Design Team

Location: Chennai, IITM Research Park | Department: Engineering & Design

Role in the Team

- Report directly to the CTO / Founder and serve as the single point of technical leadership

across all engineering and design functions — structural design, BIM, estimating, and site execution interfaces.

- Own and lead a multidisciplinary engineering design team — Lead Engineers, BIM Lead,

Sr.

Structural

Designers, and Detailers — setting technical standards, design culture, and delivery accountability across all active projects.

- Act as the primary technical interface with IIT Madras (IITM) for design validation, structural

vetting, and cutting-edge R&D; collaboration on next-generation modular building systems.

- Partner with procurement, factory, and site execution teams to drive the BIM-to-Factory

pipeline — ensuring every design is translated into fabrication-ready, erection-ready, and site-executable outputs.

- Collaborate with sales, estimation, and contracts teams to provide technical authority in

client engagements, bid clarifications, and value engineering reviews.

- Drive cross-functional initiatives in DFMA, PFMEA, and Lean Construction —

buildingengineering systems that reduce on-site skill dependency and increase factory-completion percentages toward 99%.

Required Qualifications

Education

- Master's degree (M.Tech / M.E.) in Structural Engineering — mandatory. Preference for IIT

/ NIT graduates.

- Additional qualifications in DFMA, Lean Construction, Agile Engineering, or Product

Management are a strong advantage.

Technical Skills & Experience

- 12+ years of experience in structural/construction engineering, with at least 3-5 years in a

senior leadership role overseeing multidisciplinary engineering teams.

- Proven track record in designing and scaling PEB, LGSF, and modular / industrialised





building systems — from concept through to mass-produced, multi-geography deployment.

- Deep expertise in IS codes — IS 800, IS 456, IS 875, IS 1893 — and strong understanding

of structural system behaviour, connection design, and fabrication tolerances.

- Expert proficiency in STAAD Pro, ETABS, and Revit / BIM tools — with clear understanding

of how these integrate with manufacturing ERPs and BIM-to-factory digital pipelines.

- Hands-on experience implementing DFMA and PFMEA methodologies in a construction or

prefab/modular manufacturing context.

- 3-5 years of experience in a modular, prop-tech, or startup engineering environment —

where you successfully translated user behaviours and customer feedback into scalable structural solutions.

- Robust knowledge of modern building materials: composite panels, high-tensile steel,

specialised coatings, and structural systems for foldable or rapid-deploy applications.

- Familiarity with Lean Construction, Agile engineering methodologies, and advanced

procurement integration.

Behavioural DNA & Mindset

- First-Principles Thinker — you don't do things because that's how it's always been done.

You break problems down to their fundamental physics and rebuild from there.

- Product Mindset — you view a building as a high-performance machine, not just a static

structure. You design for the user, not just the code.

- High Agency — you see a bottleneck in the factory or on site and you own the solution,

regardless of your job title.

- Startup DNA — scrappy, intense, and comfortable building systems from scratch in

environments with limited legacy infrastructure.

- Scale Thinking — you have taken concepts from single prototypes to mass-produced,

geography-agnostic structural systems.

- Driven by Purpose — motivated by the vision of making high-quality, sustainable, rapidly

deployable housing accessible to all of humanity.

📌 Head of Engineering (Chennai)
🏢 Whitefield Careers
📍 Chennai