Associate Project Director

About Mace

Mace combines construction expertise with consultancy to unlock potential in every person or project and redefine the boundaries of ambition. The company's values shape its approach to consulting and define the individuals sought to join its team.

The Role: Associate Project Director

Mace is seeking an Associate Project Director for a full-time position in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This role involves providing senior project management leadership and control across the full project lifecycle for a major mixed-use development. The successful candidate will bring strong front-end, design, and development experience, alongside proven construction delivery capability, focusing on a significant new-build residential development from design through construction and handover.

Key Responsibilities

• Overseeing end-to-end project management and delivery of major new-build residential assets from concept design through pre-contract, procurement, construction, commissioning, and handover.
• Establishing robust project governance, controls, reporting, and decision-making processes from early design stages.
• Taking ownership of the overall project program, with a focus on establishing, controlling, and maintaining the design program.
• Providing early project management oversight across development and design functions, ensuring development objectives are translated into clear and deliverable project requirements.
• Coordinating with PMC design managers, architects, design consultants, specialist consultants, and the wider multidisciplinary project team to achieve design deliverables against key milestones.
• Challenging design progress, identifying program risks, and driving consultants and stakeholders toward timely decisions and resolution.
• Managing the integration of design, approvals, procurement, and construction programs to maintain a clear route to delivery.
• Supporting and coordinating the project's residential sales launch strategy, ensuring critical design and delivery milestones support required commercial launch dates.
• Supervising the fast-track delivery of the sales center, managing interfaces between design, procurement, approvals, and construction to achieve an accelerated program, followed by the delivery of high-end residential apartment buildings.
• Developing and maintaining the project execution plan, master program, risk register, governance structure, and project reporting requirements.
• Managing procurement strategy and contractor appointment activities, ensuring appropriate consideration of packaging, sequencing, program, and project risk.
• Transitioning the project effectively from pre-contract into construction and maintaining continuity of project leadership throughout delivery.
• Managing consultants, contractors, and specialist suppliers while driving accountability against program, cost, quality, and contractual requirements.
• Monitoring project performance, identifying emerging risks, and implementing recovery or mitigation measures where required.
• Providing clear, concise reporting to senior stakeholders on program, design, commercial matters, risks, decisions, and delivery status.
• Maintaining stakeholder relationships and fostering strong collaboration between development, design, commercial, procurement, and construction teams.
• Maintaining strong project management discipline throughout delivery while ensuring Mace's safety, quality, and governance requirements are achieved.

Qualifications and Experience

• 5-10 years of relevant project management and construction industry experience, with significant experience in senior project leadership positions.
• Demonstrable experience successfully delivering large-scale new-build residential developments of comparable size and complexity, ideally more than one major residential project.
• Strong evidence of managing residential projects across the complete lifecycle from early design/pre-contract through procurement, construction, and handover.
• Significant front-end and design management experience, with the ability to establish control of complex design programs and drive multidisciplinary design teams against demanding milestones.
• Strong understanding of residential development requirements and the relationship between development strategy, design, sales and marketing milestones, procurement, and physical delivery.
• Proven ability to manage and coordinate with architects, designers, engineering consultants, cost consultants, contractors, and specialist stakeholders within complex project environments.
• Strong program management skills with experience identifying program risk, challenging consultant performance, and implementing recovery strategies.
• Demonstrable procurement, contract, commercial, risk, and change-management experience.
• Strong client-facing and senior stakeholder-management capability, including the confidence to operate effectively within a high-profile project subject to significant executive scrutiny.
• Experience delivering major projects within a PMC, client-side, or development-management environment.
• Professional membership such as RICS, CIOB, APM, or equivalent is advantageous.
• Previous experience delivering major residential developments in Saudi Arabia or the wider Middle East is advantageous.

Company Values

• Safety first - Going home safe and well: Championing a safe, diverse, and inclusive working environment, understanding the importance of wellbeing in every team.
• Client focus - Deliver on our promise: Owning the quality of deliverables, strategic outcomes, and building long-term relationships with clients.
• Integrity - Always do the right thing: Influencing positive outcomes within the industry, while aligning with compliance obligations.
• Create opportunity - For our people to excel: Championing a continuous improvement culture throughout all activities, inspiring people and teams to develop.

Application Information

Mace is an inclusive employer and welcomes interest from a diverse range of candidates. Applicants are encouraged to apply even if they do not fulfill all criteria, as they may still be suitable for this role or another within the organization. Discussions regarding part-time, flexible, and hybrid working options are open if suitable for the role.