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 setting —
where you successfully translated user behaviours and customer feedback into scalable
structural
solutions.
• Strong 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.

. Skillset Required: Structural Engineering, PEB, LGSF, Modular Systems, Foldable Systems, BIM, STAAD Pro, ETABS, Revit, DFMA, PFMEA, Lean Construction, IS 800, IS 456, IS 875, IS 1893, Composite Panels, High-Tensile Steel, Specialized Coatings, First-Principles Thinking, Product Mindset, Customer-Centric Design, Value Engineering, Design-to-Cost, Structural BOMs, BOQs, Estimation, Procurement Integration, Agile Engineering, ISO 19650, Fabrication Tolerances, Connection Design, Structural System Behaviour, Quality Systems, Digital Thread, BIM-to-Factory, Factory-First Strategy, Rapid-Deploy Structures, Modular Construction, Material Science, Industrialized Building Technology, Leadership, Mentorship, Innovation

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