Director - Infrastructure

Buro Happold; Riyadh; On-site; SAR 600,000 - 900,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Senior leadership role

Attractive salary & benefits package

Exposure to leading consultants

Flagship luxury development in Riyadh

Job summary

Buro Happold in Riyadh is seeking a Design Director – Infrastructure to lead the infrastructure design across a landmark luxury development.

You will oversee multidisciplinary coordination, guide consultants, and ensure design excellence from concept through construction, with a focus on client and stakeholder alignment. This senior role offers a competitive salary and benefits in a dynamic, luxury project environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering; Master’s degree preferred.
• Extensive experience leading infrastructure design on major luxury developments.
• Strong multidisciplinary coordination and design management.
• Proven ability to lead consultant teams and engage executives.
• Experience in BIM-led environments and Saudi Arabia projects.

Responsibilities

• Lead infrastructure design strategy across the project lifecycle.
• Direct design consultants and internal teams to meet programme, budget and quality.
• Provide senior technical leadership across roads, utilities, and external works.
• Drive design integration across disciplines.
• Oversee design governance, reviews and approvals.
• Lead value engineering and cost validation.
• Manage design risks and dependencies to support on-time delivery.
• Establish design management protocols and reporting.
• Support procurement with scope definition and RFPs.
• Act as client-facing lead on infrastructure design.
• Collaborate with leadership to align outputs with delivery priorities.
• Mentor senior design managers and contribute to continuous improvement.

Skills

Leadership

Infrastructure design

Stakeholder mgmt

BIM

Mentoring

Saudi experience

Education

Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering

Master’s degree preferred

Tools

AutoCAD

Revit

Civil 3D

Job description

Want to work on one of the region’s most prestigious luxury developments? Your experience leading infrastructure design across complex, high-profile projects might make you our new Design Director – Infrastructure in Riyadh.

Here, expect the exceptional.

On this landmark luxury project in Riyadh, you will help shape a world-class destination through the leadership of integrated infrastructure design, coordination and delivery.

Your next role

The purpose of this role is to lead the infrastructure design function across a major luxury development in Riyadh, ensuring technical excellence, design integration, stakeholder alignment and successful delivery across all stages of design. You will act as the senior design authority for infrastructure packages, overseeing multidisciplinary coordination across utilities, roads, transport interfaces, external works and enabling infrastructure.

Your key duties

• Lead the full infrastructure design strategy and delivery across the project lifecycle, from concept and schematic design through detailed design, tender and construction support.
• Direct and manage design consultants, specialist subconsultants and internal teams to achieve programme, budget and quality objectives.
• Provide senior technical leadership across roads, grading, wet and dry utilities, sitewide infrastructure corridors and authority interfaces.
• Drive design integration across architecture, landscape, transport, utilities, structures and MEP disciplines to ensure coordinated project outcomes.
• Oversee design governance, design reviews, gateway submissions and technical approvals.
• Lead value engineering, buildability reviews and cost validation exercises without compromising design intent or operational performance.
• Manage design risks, changes, constraints and critical dependencies to support on-time delivery.
• Establish design management protocols, reporting structures, deliverable trackers and consultant performance standards.
• Support procurement activities including scope definition, RFP preparation, technical bid reviews and consultant appointments.
• Act as the key client-facing lead on infrastructure design matters and present recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Work closely with project leadership, planning, commercial and construction teams to align design outputs with delivery priorities.
• Mentor senior design managers and discipline leads and contribute to continuous improvement in design management practices.

Your Skills And Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering or a related engineering discipline; Master’s degree preferred.
• Extensive experience leading infrastructure design on major mixed-use, hospitality, destination or luxury developments.
• Strong understanding of multidisciplinary design management and complex interface coordination.
• Proven ability to lead consultant teams and manage client, authority and executive-level stakeholders.
• Strong knowledge of design stages, technical assurance, authority approvals and construction support processes.
• Demonstrated experience in value engineering, programme recovery and design risk management.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to write and review high-level technical reports.
• Highly organised, commercially aware and capable of managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced project environment.
• Experience operating within a BIM-led design environment is preferred.
• Middle East project experience, ideally in Saudi Arabia, is strongly preferred.

What We Offer You

• The opportunity to lead infrastructure design on a flagship luxury development in Riyadh.
• A senior leadership role with significant influence on project outcomes and long-term legacy.
• An attractive salary and benefits package.
• A collaborative, high-performance environment with exposure to leading consultants and stakeholders.
• The chance to contribute to a project that will set new benchmarks for luxury development in the region.

At Buro Happold, everyone else’s extraordinary is just our everyday.

A place for everyone

Buro Happold values individual's flexible approaches to working patterns as an important part of the way you work and achieve balance. We welcome applications from those who are seeking flexibility in their careers.

Our exceptional portfolio of projects is the result of the diversity of thought, identities, backgrounds and experiences that shape us. Appreciating each other’s differences is key, we want employees to feel they don’t have to mask elements of their identity to thrive.

We are working to change the lack of representation of marginalised groups in the built environment and are particularly keen to hear from anyone who feels they are underrepresented in the industry. We have much to learn from one another. Embracing difference allows us to develop the most innovative and elegant solutions.

Please let us know if there are any adjustments, we could make to the application process to make it easier and more comfortable for you. Contact [e-mail] so we can work with you to support you throughout your application.