Principal Public Health Engineer

Mott MacDonald; Riyadh; On-site; SAR 420,000 - 680,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave in line with local policy

Maternity leave above local provisions

Professional membership support

Medical and life insurance as per plan

Learning and career development

Inclusive culture and equality

Employee ownership and bonus potential

Job summary

Mott MacDonald in the Middle East seeks a Principal Public Health Engineer to lead the design and delivery of public health systems across multidisciplinary building and infrastructure projects in Saudi Arabia.

You will provide technical leadership from early design through construction support, mentor engineers, and ensure compliance with local regulations and international codes. This role blends hands-on engineering with client engagement and project development within an employee-owned firm.

Qualifications

• Degree in mechanical engineering or building services engineering.
• Minimum 12 years of experience, local experience preferable.
• Strong public health engineering and building services design background.
• Experience in water supply, drainage and public health systems.
• Gas and fire protection systems design experience.
• Delivery through multiple project lifecycle stages.
• Ability to review designs and provide technical assurance.
• Experience in multidisciplinary design teams.
• Strong communication and stakeholder engagement.
• Chartered status or progress toward professional qualification.
• Experience in Middle East projects and regional standards.
• Experience with BIM-led and digitally integrated design.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and technical delivery of public health systems across multidisciplinary projects.
• Develop and review designs for fire protection, gas and LPG systems.
• Undertake calculations, sizing, equipment selection, drawings and reports.
• Support design coordination and modelling with the engineering team.
• Ensure compliance with local regulations and international codes.
• Provide technical assurance and design reviews to meet project requirements.
• Lead public health input from concept through IFC designs with construction support.
• Coordinate with mechanical, electrical, structural and other disciplines.
• Mentor engineers and support staff, guide less experienced team members.
• Contribute to bids, proposals and client development activities.

Skills

Public health engineering

Building services design

Water supply

Drainage

Gas & fire protection systems

Engineering calculations

Technical drawings

Technical assurance

Multidisciplinary teamwork

Communication skills

Mentoring

Chartered Engineer

Education

Degree in mechanical engineering

Building services engineering

Chartered Engineer status / professional qualification progress

Job description

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Mott MacDonald is a global engineering, management and development consultancy committed to delivering impactful work that shapes the future. We are a team of over 20,000 experts working across more than 50 countries. As an employee-owned business, we invest in creating an environment where everyone feels valued, supported and empowered to do their best work.

Whether you want to deepen your expertise or broaden your experience across different projects and disciplines, you’ll be connected to a global community of specialists and have opportunities to shape your career.

About the role

We are looking for a Principal Public Health Engineer to join our Buildings team in the Middle East.

You will take a leading role in the design and delivery of public health engineering solutions across multidisciplinary building and infrastructure projects. Working closely with clients, architects and engineering teams, you will provide technical leadership from early design through detailed design and construction support.

This is an opportunity to combine hands-on engineering expertise with technical assurance, client engagement and the development of engineers within the team.

Key responsibilities

As Principal Public Health Engineer, your responsibilities will include:

• Lead the design and technical delivery of public health engineering systems across multidisciplinary projects.
• Develop and review designs for fire protection systems including sprinkler, standpipes, foam, clean agent and specialised fire protection systems.
• Develop and review designs for natural gas and LPG systems associated with buildings.
• Undertake and review engineering calculations, system sizing, equipment selection, technical drawings, specifications, technical reports and design documentation.
• Support engineering team in design, design coordination and modelling.
• Shall be experienced in local authority regulations and design approvals.
• Shall be experienced in using national and international codes and standards associated with the public health engineering.
• Provide technical assurance and undertake design reviews to ensure outputs meet project requirements and relevant standards.
• Lead the public health engineering input from concept and feasibility through detailed , tender and IFC designs, with construction support as required.
• Coordinate public health systems with key disciplines including mechanical, electrical, structural, landscape, pool, interior design and architectural disciplines.
• Identify design constraints, interfaces, risks and opportunities and develop practical engineering solutions.
• Work closely with clients and project stakeholders, providing clear technical advice and representing the discipline at project and design meetings.
• Support project managers with scope, programme, resource planning and delivery.
• Review technical submissions and respond to technical queries during project delivery.
• Provide guidance, mentoring and technical support to engineers and other members of the team.
• Contribute to proposals, bids and technical inputs for new opportunities where required.
• Support continuous improvement and digital ways of working, sharing technical knowledge and lessons learned.
• Demonstrate safe, ethical and inclusive behaviours aligned with Mott MacDonald values.

Candidate specifications

We are looking for someone who can bring strong public health engineering capability together with the judgement and collaborative approach expected at Principal level.

• Degree in mechanical engineering, building services engineering or a relevant engineering discipline.
• Minimum experience of 12 years, local experience would be preferable.
• Strong professional experience in public health engineering and building services design.
• Demonstrable experience designing water supply, drainage and associated public health systems.
• Demonstrable experience designing gas and fire protection systems.
• Experience delivering designs through multiple stages of the project lifecycle.
• Strong understanding of engineering calculations, specifications, drawings and technical documentation.
• Ability to review engineering designs and provide effective technical assurance.
• Experience working within multidisciplinary design teams.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to explain technical matters clearly to clients, colleagues and project stakeholders.
• Ability to organise and prioritise work across multiple project requirements.
• Ability to guide and develop less experienced engineers.
• Chartered Engineer status, or progress towards an appropriate professional qualification.
• Experience delivering major buildings or infrastructure programmes in the Middle East.
• Experience across sectors such as healthcare, commercial, hospitality, residential, education, aviation, transport or major mixed-use developments.
• Knowledge of regional authority requirements alongside relevant international standards and codes.
• Experience of BIM-led and digitally integrated multidisciplinary design.
• Experience supporting bids, proposals and client development activities.

Our benefits vary by country and are subject to eligibility and local policy. We’ll confirm the details relevant to you as part of the offer process.

• Annual leave in line with local policy (competitive within the market).
• Maternity leave above and beyond local provisions and paternity leave provisions where applicable
• Professional membership/ institution subscription support
• Medical insurance and life insurance as per local plan (standard and enhanced coverage may vary by country and policy).
• Learning and career development through project variety, technical networks, and structured development opportunities.
• An inclusive culture: we’re committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, and creating a workplace where everyone feels valued and supported.
• Rewards and bonuses: we are owned by our people (no external investors) and through our employee ownership model success is shared through annual bonus opportunities and longer-term participation as your career grows (subject to local plan, eligibility and business performance)