Arada | Design Director, Riyadh

Role purpose

Key responsibilities

• Lead design and delivery of large-scale residential, hospitality, retail, commercial, mixed-use, and master-planned developments across Saudi Arabia.
• Oversee projects from feasibility and concept through detailed design, construction support, and completion.
• Drive design excellence, innovation, sustainability, and ESG while maintaining commercial viability and operational success.
• Coordinate architectural, engineering, landscape, infrastructure, and specialist consultants across multiple projects.
• Align design with business objectives by partnering with Development, Commercial, Procurement, Legal, Infrastructure, and Sales & Marketing.
• Establish design governance, quality assurance, value engineering, and technical compliance processes.
• Ensure compliance with Saudi regulations, authority requirements, and international best practices.
• Lead design reviews, stakeholder presentations, authority approvals, and multidisciplinary coordination workshops.
• Support procurement, tendering, contractor selection, and construction delivery with technical leadership.
• Mentor Design Managers and Architects and champion collaboration, innovation, and ARADA’s design vision across the KSA portfolio.

Qualifications and experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, Architectural Engineering, or a related discipline.
• A master’s degree in Architecture, Urban Design, Construction Management, or Business Administration is desirable.
• Professional registration or chartered membership of a recognized professional architectural institution is advantageous.
• PMP or a project/design management certification and/or LEED AP or Mostadam sustainability accreditation is desirable.
• 18+ years of progressive client-side design management experience at leading real estate developers or international architectural practices.
• Experience managing large-scale residential, hospitality, retail, commercial, mixed-use, and master-planned developments.
• Experience coordinating multidisciplinary consultants across project phases and working with Development teams on feasibility, product definition, and execution.
• Experience delivering projects in Saudi Arabia or the GCC is highly desirable.
• Experience managing design budgets, consultancy fees, and value engineering for significant, complex projects.
• Strong knowledge of KSA authority approval processes, the Saudi Building Code, local design standards, and construction methodologies.

Technical and leadership competencies

• Design management from feasibility and concept through detailed design, construction support, and handover.
• Coordination of architecture and multidisciplinary engineering, including structural, MEP, civil, and infrastructure.
• Urban planning and master planning, including land use, density, and phasing optimization.
• Sustainability, ESG, green-building certification, and climate-responsive design.
• Knowledge of Saudi and international design standards, codes, and authority approval requirements.
• Materials, specifications, mock-up review, durability assessment, design review, technical compliance, and design risk management.
• Strategic thinking, commercial awareness, negotiation, sound judgment, stakeholder management, team leadership, mentoring, and talent development.
• Excellent communication and executive presentation skills in English; Arabic is an advantage.

Working hours

• Working hours are 40 hours per week.

Application assessment

• Candidates are asked to complete assessments and interviews independently without generative AI assistance.

Why join Arada

• The company describes opportunities to contribute to community-transforming projects in a collaborative culture focused on innovation and growth.