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.
- 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.
