Head of Design and Technical Office

Al Lujain Group; Riyadh; On-site; SAR 420,000 - 720,000; Full time

Job summary

Al Lujain Group in Riyadh seeks a Head of Design and Technical Office to lead the department across concept to as-built, ensuring buildability and strict governance on every project.

You will coordinate MEP and coordination with external consultants, manage resources, and uphold a single standard for drawings and coding. Saudi market experience is preferred. Arabic and English are required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Architecture, Interior Architecture or Interior Design. Engineering acceptable where supported by substantial interior fit-out experience
• 10 to 15 years in fit-out or interior contracting, including at least 5 years leading a design or technical office team
• Must come from a design-and-build fit-out contractor, not a pure design consultancy. This is the filter that matters.
• Proven across the full chain: concept, design development, construction drawings, factory production drawings, site technical support, as-built
• Able to read and coordinate MEP services against ceilings and structure, and to challenge a coordination that does not work. Need not be an MEP engineer
• Experience appointing and managing external design consultants and holding them to a standard
• Saudi market experience, Riyadh preferred. Saudi Council of Engineers registration
• Arabic and English, both at working level
• AutoCAD

Responsibilities

• The department - resourcing, workload, standards and competence. Appoints a named design lead on every project, in writing, before design starts.
• The design program - agrees it with the project manager on every project and holds it. Raises in writing, before work continues, where the brief, the budget and the schedule cannot all be met.
• Review and issue - reviews and signs every drawing, schedule and specification before it leaves the department. Makes sure every design is checked by someone other than the person who produced it.
• Buildability - makes sure we design what Lujain can actually build. Any detail beyond the factory's or the site's capability is agreed with the factory and the project manager before issue.
• Standards - one set for the whole department: drawing coding, title block, layering, finish codes, drawing levels. No project invents its own.
• External designers - appoints, briefs and reviews them to our standards. We use external design services often; appointing one does not transfer our responsibility for what is issued.
• Cost - designs to the budget, and leads value engineering when a price returns above target while protecting the design intent.
• Change control - nothing actioned on a verbal instruction. Changes recorded, priced where they carry cost or time, re-issued under a new revision.
• Site support - answers technical queries and RFIs within the agreed response time, and owns the as-built record at closeout.
• People - assesses every member of the department against the capability register, with a named action and a date against every gap.

Skills

Arabic language

English language

MEP coordination

Education

Bachelor's degree in Architecture/Interior Design

Tools

AutoCAD

Revit

SketchUp

Autodesk Forma

Job description

Title: Head of Design and Technical Office

Department: Design and Technical Office

Reports to: Executive Director

Reports: 15, across five functions

Location: Riyadh

Type: Full time, permanent

WHAT THE DEPARTMENT DELIVERS

Concept and schematic interior design, space planning and zoning · design development including layouts, ceilings, elevations, finishes, joinery and furniture · mechanical, electrical and low-current design and coordination for fit-out scope · construction and shop drawings, and joinery and production drawings for our own factory · material and finish specification and schedules · three-dimensional visualization and client presentation material · technical support to site during construction · as-built records at closeout.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• The department - resourcing, workload, standards and competence. Appoints a named design lead on every project, in writing, before design starts.
• The design program - agrees it with the project manager on every project and holds it. Raises in writing, before work continues, where the brief, the budget and the schedule cannot all be met.
• Review and issue - reviews and signs every drawing, schedule and specification before it leaves the department. Makes sure every design is checked by someone other than the person who produced it.
• Buildability - makes sure we design what Lujain can actually build. Any detail beyond the factory's or the site's capability is agreed with the factory and the project manager before issue.
• Standards - one set for the whole department: drawing coding, title block, layering, finish codes, drawing levels. No project invents its own.
• External designers - appoints, briefs and reviews them to our standards. We use external design services often; appointing one does not transfer our responsibility for what is issued.
• Cost - designs to the budget, and leads value engineering when a price returns above target while protecting the design intent.
• Change control - nothing actioned on a verbal instruction. Changes recorded, priced where they carry cost or time, re-issued under a new revision.
• Site support - answers technical queries and RFIs within the agreed response time, and owns the as-built record at closeout.
• People - assesses every member of the department against the capability register, with a named action and a date against every gap.

AUTHORITY - this is the point of the position

The appointee has the authority to:

• Hold an issue, reject a drawing or require a re-check where it does not meet the design policy, including where a project deadline is pressing
• Stop a design going to the Client or to the site where it does not meet the standard
• Appoint the design lead on each project and allocate the department's resources
• Recommend the appointment of external design consultants and reject their output

Where holding an issue affects a commitment made to a Client, the appointee escalates to the Executive Director the same day.

QUALIFICATIONS - ESSENTIAL

• Bachelor's degree in Architecture, Interior Architecture or Interior Design. Engineering acceptable where supported by substantial interior fit-out experience
• 10 to 15 years in fit-out or interior contracting, including at least 5 years leading a design or technical office team
• Must come from a design-and-build fit-out contractor, not a pure design consultancy. This is the filter that matters most. A consultancy designer has never been accountable for what a factory and a site can actually deliver, and that is most of this job. A strong portfolio from a consultancy background will look convincing and will not survive the role - please treat this as essential, not preferred
• Proven across the full chain: concept, design development, construction drawings, factory production drawings, site technical support, as-built
• Able to read and coordinate MEP services against ceilings and structure, and to challenge a coordination that does not work. Need not be an MEP engineer
• Experience appointing and managing external design consultants and holding them to a standard
• Saudi market experience, Riyadh preferred. Saudi Council of Engineers registration
• Arabic and English, both at working level
• AutoCAD

PREFERRED

• Revit or another BIM platform, and the ability to lead the department into modelled delivery
• SketchUp or equivalent three-dimensional awareness
• Corporate and workplace fit-out, hospitality, or both
• Exposure to joinery manufacture
• Experience working to a documented design procedure set
• Familiar with Autodesk Forma or alternative.