Procurement Lead - Transport Infrastructure

Parsons; Riyadh; On-site; SAR 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

Parsons is seeking a Procurement Lead for Transport Infrastructure in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The role leads procurement strategy for rail/high-value projects, coordinating with design, engineering, and program management to secure value-for-money contracts across multi-package infrastructure programs.

The ideal candidate has 20+ years in transport infrastructure procurement, with deep experience in major procurements, tendering, and supplier governance within GCC/Middle East markets.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related field.
• 20+ years procurement experience within rail/high-value infrastructure.
• GCC/Middle East experience; knowledge of Saudi market preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop and manage procurement strategy for major infrastructure packages.
• Lead tender development, evaluation, and contract award.
• Coordinate with legal, finance, risk, and delivery teams.
• Establish supplier performance frameworks and governance.

Skills

Strategic procurement

Transport infrastructure procurement

Procurement strategy

Strategic sourcing

Category management

Procurement planning

Procurement master scheduling

Market engagement

Market sounding

Supplier prequalification

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related discipline

Master's degree in Project Management or related discipline

CIPS/ISM/RICS certification (desirable)

Job description

Procurement Lead - Transport Infrastructure Job Snapshot Role: Procurement Lead - Transport Infrastructure Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Industry: Construction Function: Purchasing Experience: 20 years in transport infrastructure procurement and complex contract sourcing Job Type: Full-time

Job Details Country: Saudi Arabia City: Riyadh Industry: Construction Function: Purchasing Salary: 50000-70000 Estimated salary range based on similar jobs in the job city; please confirm the final offer with the employer. Gender: Any Candidate Nationality: Any

Role Context

The Procurement Lead will serve as the principal procurement authority for the PUA-VST corridor within the DMO, translating program delivery requirements into executable sourcing and contracting strategies. The role spans procurement planning, market engagement, tender development, evaluation, negotiation, governance, supplier performance, and post-award commercial support across complex infrastructure and transport systems packages. Its contribution is critical to maintaining the program critical path, protecting value for money, strengthening competition, and ensuring commercial models are aligned with design maturity, funding requirements, construction sequencing, and operational readiness.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, own, and continuously improve the procurement strategy for the PUA-VST corridor within the DMO framework.
• Translate program objectives into clear sourcing strategies for major works, systems, and consultancy packages.
• Define procurement approaches for civil and structural corridor works.
• Establish sourcing strategies for rail and road systems, signaling, telecommunications, control systems, and rolling stock interfaces.
• Lead procurement planning for stations, depots, hubs, transport buildings, and related infrastructure.
• Develop sourcing strategies for professional services covering design, supervision, project management, and specialist advisory assignments.
• Align procurement activities with funding constraints, delivery priorities, commercial objectives, and program risk appetite.
• Maintain the procurement master schedule and ensure award dates support design, approvals, construction, and operational milestones.
• Coordinate procurement lead times with the integrated program schedule.
• Identify long-lead procurements and intervene early where delays could affect the critical path.
• Lead pre-market engagement with local and international contractors, systems suppliers, consultants, and specialist service providers.
• Organize industry briefings, market sounding exercises, and prequalification processes.
• Assess market capability, competitive tension, capacity, and supplier readiness before major tenders are launched.
• Direct preparation of Expressions of Interest, Requests for Qualification, Requests for Proposal, and Invitations to Tender.
• Ensure scopes of work, commercial requirements, pricing schedules, evaluation methodologies, and tender instructions are complete and internally aligned.
• Oversee quality assurance of procurement documentation before issue to the market.
• Manage the complete tender lifecycle from issue through clarification, addenda, evaluation, negotiation, and recommendation for award.
• Coordinate responses to bidder clarifications and ensure all tenderers receive consistent and controlled information.
• Lead technical and commercial evaluation processes with appropriate separation of duties and governance.
• Establish defensible evaluation criteria and scoring methodologies for complex procurements.
• Consolidate evaluation findings and prepare evidence-based recommendations for contract award.
• Ensure procurement records provide a complete audit trail for each sourcing decision.
• Recommend suitable contracting and commercial models based on package characteristics and risk allocation.
• Evaluate options including EPC, Design and Build, DBFM, PPP, concession, and framework arrangements.
• Work with legal, finance, risk, engineering, and delivery teams to develop balanced contractual terms.
• Review commercial risk allocation and identify provisions requiring negotiation or management intervention.
• Lead bidder negotiations on pricing, contractual terms, delivery commitments, risk positions, and commercial qualifications.
• Reconcile technical, legal, and financial issues before final award recommendations are submitted.
• Protect value for money while maintaining realistic and deliverable contractual obligations.
• Develop a competitive supplier base capable of supporting the scale and complexity of the transport program.
• Maintain market intelligence covering contractor capacity, pricing trends, supply chain pressures, technology developments, and emerging procurement risks.
• Identify opportunities to introduce innovation and competition into major infrastructure packages.
• Establish supplier performance frameworks, KPIs, scorecards, and review mechanisms.
• Monitor strategic supplier performance and coordinate improvement actions where required.
• Facilitate resolution of significant supplier issues affecting delivery, quality, schedule, or commercial performance.
• Implement DMO procurement governance requirements consistently across all corridor procurements.
• Ensure sourcing activities comply with applicable procurement regulations, audit standards, internal procedures, and funding conditions.
• Support compliance with public-sector procurement requirements where relevant.
• Identify procurement and commercial risks and incorporate them into the program risk management process.
• Develop mitigation strategies for market capacity, tender delays, supplier failure, inflation, procurement interfaces, and contract award risks.
• Prepare procurement dashboards, management reports, evaluation summaries, and executive papers.
• Present procurement recommendations to steering committees, executive leadership, and decision-making forums.
• Provide concise supporting evidence for major sourcing and award decisions.
• Coordinate closely with program management, design, engineering, planning, cost management, and construction teams.
• Align procurement packaging with design maturity and approval status.
• Verify procurement strategies remain consistent with approved budgets and cost plans.
• Sequence contract awards to support construction access, interfaces, testing, and operational readiness.
• Support procurement aspects of contract variations, amendments, claims, re-tendering, and major scope changes.
• Advise program leadership where procurement changes could affect cost, schedule, risk, or contractual exposure.
• Act as the principal procurement interface between the PUA-VST program and wider DMO functions.
• Coordinate procurement activities with national and regional transport priorities where required.
• Lead and mentor category leads, buyers, analysts, and other procurement professionals.
• Develop team capability in strategic sourcing, complex tender evaluation, negotiation, and infrastructure contract management.
• Standardize procurement templates, processes, evaluation tools, and governance practices.
• Capture lessons learned and embed improvements into future procurement cycles.

Ideal Profile

• Bachelor 's degree in Engineering, Quantity Surveying, Supply Chain Management, Business, or a related discipline.
• Minimum 20 years of procurement experience within rail, metro, highways, regional transport links, or multimodal infrastructure.
• Demonstrable leadership of procurement on major multi-package transport programs or infrastructure corridors.
• Extensive experience managing end-to-end procurement for high-value construction and systems contracts.
• Strong knowledge of civil construction methodologies and transport infrastructure interfaces.
• Good understanding of rail and road systems, signaling, telecoms, control systems, stations, depots, and related packages.
• Proven capability developing procurement strategies for complex infrastructure programs.
• Advanced experience in tender development, prequalification, evaluation, commercial negotiation, and contract award.
• Strong understanding of EPC, Design and Build, DBFM, PPP, concession, and framework contracting models.
• Experience with public-sector Clients, regulated procurement environments, or international funding requirements is highly desirable.
• GCC or Middle East experience is required, with Saudi Arabian market knowledge strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with local procurement regulations, market structures, and contractor capability.
• Strong commercial judgment and the ability to evaluate competing technical, financial, and contractual considerations.
• Advanced negotiation capability for complex and high-value procurements.
• Deep understanding of procurement methodologies and evaluation techniques.
• Strong knowledge of standard contract forms commonly used for major transport projects.
• Experience managing multiple concurrent procurement packages within a program environment.
• Ability to assess supplier and market risk using evidence-based analysis.
• Strong executive-level stakeholder management and presentation capability.
• High standards of integrity, transparency, and procurement governance.
• Strong analytical and risk-based decision-making ability.
• Excellent attention to procurement documentation, evaluation records, and auditability.
• Master 's degree in Project Management, Infrastructure Management, Supply Chain, Public Administration, or a related discipline is advantageous.
• CIPS, ISM, RICS, or equivalent professional certification is highly desirable.
• Experience with PPP or concession structures is advantageous.
• Experience working with international financial institutions or major government transport bodies is beneficial.
• Proven ability to lead, mentor, and develop multidisciplinary procurement teams.

Skills Set

• Strategic procurement
• Transport infrastructure procurement
• Procurement strategy
• Strategic sourcing
• Category management
• Procurement planning
• Procurement master scheduling
• Market engagement
• Market sounding
• Supplier prequalification
• Expressions of Interest
• Request for Qualification
• Request for Proposal
• Invitation to Tender
• Tender management
• Tender evaluation
• Commercial evaluation
• Technical evaluation coordination
• Bid clarification
• Commercial negotiation
• Contract award
• Procurement governance
• Public procurement
• Supplier management
• Supplier performance management
• Procurement KPIs
• Market intelligence
• Supply chain risk
• Commercial risk
• Procurement risk management
• EPC contracts
• Design and Build
• DBFM
• PPP
• Concession structures
• Framework agreements
• Rail systems procurement
• Highway procurement
• Signaling procurement
• Telecommunications systems
• Control systems
• Rolling stock interfaces
• Station and depot procurement
• Professional services procurement
• Pricing schedules
• Contract risk allocation
• Procurement reporting
• Board papers
• Executive presentations
• Procurement audit trails
• Change management
• Contract amendments
• Re-tendering
• Supplier negotiations
• Cost and schedule alignment
• CIPS
• ISM
• RICS

Why Join Us

Saudi Arabia's expanding rail, road, and multimodal transport portfolio is creating sustained demand for procurement leaders capable of structuring and awarding complex infrastructure and systems contracts. This role provides significant influence over contracting strategy, supplier markets, commercial risk, and critical-path procurement across a major Construction program in Riyadh. It offers an experienced procurement professional the opportunity to shape high-value sourcing decisions while developing procurement capability within a large and strategically important transport delivery environment.

About the Company

Parsons Corporation delivers engineering, infrastructure, program management, and technology solutions for major transportation and development programs worldwide. In Saudi Arabia, its teams support complex transport investments through procurement leadership, engineering management, commercial strategy, project controls, technical assurance, and integrated program delivery.