Director - Water and Wastewater Utilities

Parsons; Riyadh; On-site; SAR 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Parsons Corporation seeks a Director to lead Water and Wastewater Utilities in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This executive role centers on governance, reliability, and lifecycle management of potable water and wastewater networks for a major city-scale development.

The role requires extensive leadership in water utilities, regulatory compliance, and multidisciplinary coordination, with a focus on recycling, metering, and digital integration. Strong strategic and financial acumen is essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Civil/Environmental Engineering or closely related field.
• Master’s degree preferred (Environmental/Engineering Management or MBA).
• Minimum 20 years of progressive leadership experience in water, wastewater, sanitation, or utilities.

Responsibilities

• Direct strategic operation and asset integrity across potable water, wastewater, and treated sewage effluent networks.
• Oversee standards for city-wide water distribution, sewage collection, and treatment systems.
• Lead maintenance strategies and ensure uninterrupted water supply across high-demand districts.
• Collaborate with regulators, utilities, and stakeholders to ensure compliance and sustainability.
• Provide executive reporting on operational risk, infrastructure performance, and capital requirements.

Skills

Leadership

Water/Wastewater experience

Executive leadership

Strategic governance

Education

Bachelor's in Civil/Environmental Engineering

MBA or Master's preferred

Tools

SCADA

SAP EAMS

AMI

Job description

Director - Water and Wastewater Utilities Job Snapshot

Role: Director - Water and Wastewater Utilities

Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Industry: Utilities

Function: Operations-Plant Management

Experience: Minimum 20 years of progressive water, wastewater, sanitation, or utility leadership experience, including at least 8 years in a senior executive or director-level role

Job Type: Full-time

Position Overview

Director - Water and Wastewater Utilities in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is a senior Utilities opportunity responsible for the strategic governance, operational reliability, environmental performance, and long-term lifecycle management of potable water, wastewater, and Treated Sewage Effluent networks across a major city-scale development. Parsons is hiring an executive utility leader to oversee water security, wastewater treatment, recycling, smart metering, SCADA integration, asset lifecycle planning, regulatory compliance, financial cross-charging, and the transition of major water infrastructure into live operations.

Job Details

Country: Saudi Arabia

City: Riyadh

Industry: Utilities

Function: Operations-Plant Management

Salary: 65000-90000 Estimated salary range based on similar jobs in the job city; please confirm the final offer with the employer.

Gender: Any

Candidate Nationality: Any

Job Type: Full-time

Role Context

The Director - Water and Wastewater Utilities will act as the senior technical, environmental, and operational authority for the complete urban water cycle across the development. The position will coordinate potable water distribution, wastewater collection, recycled water networks, treatment plants, reservoirs, pumping stations, smart metering, and operational technology within one integrated utility framework. Its business impact will be measured through uninterrupted supply, reliable sanitation, high wastewater reuse, controlled lifecycle cost, regulatory compliance, accurate utility recovery, and successful transfer of infrastructure from construction into long-term operation.

Key Responsibilities

• Direct strategic operation and asset integrity across potable water, wastewater, and Treated Sewage Effluent networks.
• Establish operating standards for city-wide water distribution, sewage collection, recycled water, pumping, storage, and treatment systems.
• Oversee preventive, predictive, and condition-based maintenance strategies for critical water infrastructure.
• Maintain reliable water supply across residential, commercial, hospitality, entertainment, and other high-demand districts.
• Develop network redundancy and emergency supply strategies to reduce service interruption risk.
• Establish strategic reserve requirements for potable and operational water.
• Define contingency procedures for major supply disruptions, treatment failures, pumping outages, or network incidents.
• Serve as the principal executive interface with national water utilities, municipal sanitation authorities, environmental regulators, and other government stakeholders.
• Lead negotiation and governance of bulk water supply arrangements.
• Support development and review of utility tariffs, supply conditions, and operational agreements.
• Coordinate discharge compliance pathways with environmental and municipal authorities.
• Oversee operational performance of major Wastewater Treatment Plants.
• Monitor mechanical integrity and process reliability across treatment facilities.
• Ensure biological treatment processes remain stable and compliant with required performance criteria.
• Direct operational governance of reservoirs, pumping stations, filtration facilities, and associated mechanical systems.
• Monitor hydraulic performance and network capacity across potable and recycled water systems.
• Establish pressure zone management requirements for major water distribution networks.
• Monitor wastewater collection performance and identify risks associated with blockages, surcharging, infiltration, or system overload.
• Lead implementation of water security policies across the development.
• Drive the objective of maximizing wastewater recycling and reuse.
• Ensure treated effluent is safely and efficiently reused for district cooling, irrigation, landscaping, and other approved non-potable applications.
• Develop water conservation strategies suitable for arid climate conditions.
• Establish low-evaporation and high-efficiency water use policies for lagoons, aquatic attractions, golf courses, and other intensive-use assets.
• Coordinate water reuse requirements with public realm, district cooling, landscape, and operational teams.
• Support circular economy objectives through high levels of treated wastewater reuse.
• Direct governance of SCADA systems supporting water and wastewater operations.
• Oversee integration of automated flow, pressure, tank level, pump status, treatment, and water-quality information.
• Support deployment of Advanced Metering Infrastructure across customer and district utility networks.
• Establish smart-meter requirements for consumption monitoring and leak detection.
• Coordinate acoustic leak-detection technologies and other digital monitoring solutions.
• Work with technology teams to integrate utility information into smart city platforms.
• Ensure SAP Enterprise Asset Management captures relevant maintenance, condition, and lifecycle data.
• Establish data-quality requirements for water flow, consumption, discharge, maintenance, and asset performance records.
• Oversee integration of smart-meter data with corporate finance systems.
• Support automated allocation and recovery of potable water, wastewater, and recycled water costs.
• Provide audited consumption and discharge models for service charge calculations.
• Coordinate utility cross-charging across commercial entities, operators, residents, and sub-developments.
• Ensure billing models are supported by accurate metering and operational data.
• Collaborate with Asset Lifecycle Planning teams on long-term replacement and refurbishment strategies.
• Develop lifecycle requirements for pipelines, pumps, valves, treatment equipment, reservoirs, meters, and utility control systems.
• Support 10-to-30-year Capital Asset Replacement Plans for water and wastewater infrastructure.
• Assess asset depreciation, condition, remaining life, and replacement timing.
• Coordinate long-term CAPEX and OPEX requirements with Finance and Asset Management teams.
• Support establishment of sinking fund requirements for major future utility replacement events.
• Ensure lifecycle planning reflects inflation, asset degradation, and operational risk.
• Serve as senior technical authority on Stage-Gate handover committees.
• Define operational acceptance criteria before water and wastewater assets are vested into live operations.
• Review testing and commissioning plans for pipelines, pumps, reservoirs, treatment systems, and control infrastructure.
• Verify pressure testing, flushing, disinfection, and hydraulic test results.
• Review chemical and biological safety commissioning records for treatment systems.
• Confirm drinking water systems satisfy applicable health and quality requirements before acceptance.
• Verify wastewater facilities meet environmental and process performance criteria before operational handover.
• Review hydraulic models and pressure performance before network adoption.
• Ensure as-built documentation and asset data are complete before formal vesting.
• Confirm O and M manuals, warranties, test certificates, maintenance requirements, and operational procedures are in place.
• Coordinate with construction, engineering, commissioning, operations, digital, finance, and asset management teams during transition.
• Challenge incomplete or non-compliant infrastructure before operational acceptance.
• Monitor utility performance through KPIs covering supply reliability, water quality, leakage, treatment efficiency, recycling, energy use, and system availability.
• Provide executive reporting on operational risk, infrastructure performance, sustainability, and capital requirements.
• Lead continuous improvement programs focused on reliability, water conservation, recycling, and lifecycle efficiency.
• Maintain alignment with Saudi regulatory requirements and applicable international water and environmental standards.
• Provide executive leadership to multidisciplinary utility teams and operating partners.
• Support strategic procurement and governance of specialist water and wastewater service providers.
• Promote resilient, sustainable, and data-driven water utility operations across the development.

Ideal Profile

• Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Water Resources Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
• Master's degree in Environmental Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering, Engineering Management, or an MBA is highly preferred.
• Minimum 20 years of progressive leadership experience in water supply, wastewater, sanitation, utilities, major developments, or smart city infrastructure.
• At least 8 years of senior executive, director-level, or equivalent leadership responsibility.
• Proven experience managing multidisciplinary water and wastewater utility teams.
• Strong background overseeing significant OPEX and CAPEX infrastructure budgets.
• Extensive experience with potable water distribution systems.
• Deep knowledge of wastewater collection and treatment infrastructure.
• Strong experience with Treated Sewage Effluent and recycled water systems.
• Proven track record leading operational handover of major water infrastructure.
• Demonstrated experience with large wastewater treatment plants, reservoirs, pumping stations, and distribution networks.
• Strong understanding of clean-water hydraulics and pressure management.
• Knowledge of sewage collection logistics and wastewater network behavior.
• Deep technical understanding of biological treatment processes.
• Experience managing water scarcity and sustainability requirements in arid environments.
• Strong background in environmental compliance and water-quality assurance.
• Experience implementing circular economy and water reuse strategies.
• Executive-level familiarity with SCADA systems and operational technology.
• Knowledge of smart metering, AMI, leak detection, and digital water systems.
• Working knowledge of SAP Enterprise Asset Management or comparable EAMS platforms.
• Experience connecting physical utility performance with financial and billing systems.
• Strong understanding of asset lifecycle planning and replacement strategies.
• Chartered Engineer, Professional Engineer, or equivalent senior professional registration is strongly preferred.
• I AM Diploma, CAMA, or another advanced asset management credential is advantageous.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to engage national utilities, regulators, corporate executives, and operating partners.
• Excellent executive communication and decision-making capability.
• Strong commercial awareness regarding bulk water purchase, tariffs, utility cost recovery, and long-term infrastructure funding.
• Proven ability to balance technical reliability, sustainability, operational risk, and financial performance.

Skills Set

• Water Utility Operations
• Wastewater Utility Operations
• Potable Water Networks
• Wastewater Collection Networks
• Treated Sewage Effluent
• TSE Networks
• Water Distribution Systems
• Wastewater Treatment Plants
• WWTP Operations
• Reservoir Management
• Pumping Stations
• Water Filtration Systems
• Hydraulic Engineering
• Pressure Zone Management
• Fluid Dynamics
• Sewage Collection
• Biological Treatment
• Water Quality Management
• Wastewater Recycling
• Water Reuse
• Circular Economy
• Water Conservation
• Arid Climate Water Management
• Leak Detection
• Acoustic Leak Detection
• SCADA
• Advanced Metering Infrastructure
• AMI
• Smart Metering
• Smart Water Networks
• Utility Data Integration
• SAP EAMS
• Enterprise Asset Management
• Asset Lifecycle Planning
• Capital Asset Replacement Planning
• Total Cost of Ownership
• CAPEX Planning
• OPEX Planning
• Sinking Fund Planning
• Utility Cross-Charging
• Service Charge Integration
• Water Billing Integration
• Wastewater Billing
• Utility Tariff Coordination
• Hydraulic Modeling
• Pressure Testing
• Pipeline Testing
• Flushing
• Disinfection
• Chemical Safety
• Biological Safety
• Testing and Commissioning
• Operational Readiness
• Stage-Gate Handover
• Asset Vesting
• Water Security
• Emergency Water Reserves
• Network Redundancy
• Regulatory Compliance
• Environmental Compliance
• Drinking Water Standards
• Wastewater Compliance
• Utility Performance KPIs
• Infrastructure Asset Integrity
• Executive Reporting
• Sustainability Strategy

Why Join Us

This position offers executive responsibility for the complete water and sanitation lifecycle of a major Riyadh development, combining utility operations, wastewater recycling, smart infrastructure, lifecycle planning, environmental governance, and financial sustainability. The role provides direct influence over water security, treatment performance, resource recovery, digital utility management, and capital investment across decades of city operations. For a senior utility professional, it offers a rare opportunity to shape one of the most critical infrastructure systems supporting Saudi Arabia's next generation of urban development.

About the Company

Parsons Corporation delivers engineering, infrastructure, program management, construction management, technology, and operational solutions for major developments worldwide. In Saudi Arabia, Parsons supports giga-projects, smart cities, utilities, transportation, and large-scale infrastructure programs through multidisciplinary engineering, asset management, digital systems, operational readiness, and long-term project delivery expertise.