Project Manager

dream of the desert; Saudi Arabia; On-site; SAR 420,000 - 540,000; Full time

Job summary

Dream of the Desert is seeking a Project Manager to own end-to-end project management for a luxury rail launch. You will oversee operational readiness across departments, the project financing and legal structuring workstream, and performance reporting to the Arsenale shareholder.

The role is the single point of accountability for the integrated plan, its interdependencies, and delivery on time and on budget.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of project management experience in a consultancy firm or innovative startups.
• Proven ability to build and run complex project plans (Gantt with interdependencies, critical path, budget tracking) across multiple departments.
• Hands-on experience with agentic AI tools and the drive to roll them out across the company.
• Fluent in Arabic and English, written and spoken.
• Based in Riyadh or willing to relocate.

Responsibilities

• Own the integrated project plan for Dream of the Desert, covering all departments.
• Build and maintain the master Gantt with interdependencies, critical path and milestones; single source of truth.
• Track progress against timeline and budget; flag slippages and drive corrective actions with heads of departments.
• Run project governance: weekly workstream check-ins, committee materials, logs, and action tracking.
• Coordinate cross-functional dependencies to avoid department blocks.

Skills

Project management

Stakeholder management

Agentic AI tools

Bilingual Arabic/English

Tools

MS Project/Smartsheet

Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

The Project Manager owns the end-to-end project management of Dream of the Desert: operational readiness across all departments, the project financing and legal structuring workstream, and performance reporting to the Arsenale shareholder. The role is the single point of accountability for the integrated plan, its interdependencies, and delivery on time and on budget.

About Dream of the Desert

Role overview

The Project Manager owns the end-to-end project management of Dream of the Desert: operational readiness across all departments, the project financing and legal structuring workstream, and performance reporting to the Arsenale shareholder. The role is the single point of accountability for the integrated plan, its interdependencies, and delivery on time and on budget.

Dream of the Desert is Saudi Arabia's first ultra-luxury rail experience, launching in 2027 on the Saudi Railway Company (SAR) Northern Line between Riyadh, Hail, Al Jouf and beyond. The project combines an Italian-crafted train, a dedicated lounge at Riyadh North Station, desert stations and signature off-board experiences, in line with Vision 2030.

The project is developed in partnership with Arsenale S.p.A., an Italian luxury hospitality group with a portfolio spanning trains, hotels and F&B. The next 18 months cover train delivery and testing, financial close, licensing, infrastructure delivery, hiring and commercial launch - a multi-stream programme with tight interdependencies.

Key responsibilities

1. Operations project management (all departments)

• Own the integrated project plan for the launch of Dream of the Desert, covering IT, Marketing, Product, Finance, HR, Operations, infrastructure and off-board experiences.
• Build and maintain the master Gantt with interdependencies, critical path and milestones; keep it as the single source of truth for the project.
• Track progress against timeline and budget for every workstream; flag slippages and cost deviations early and drive corrective actions with department heads.
• Run the project governance: weekly workstream check-ins, steering committee materials, decision and risk logs, action tracking.
• Coordinate cross-functional dependencies (e.g. train delivery → crew hiring → training → test journeys → commercial launch) so that no department blocks another.

2. Project financing and legal structuring

• Act as project manager for the project financing and legal construction of the project (lenders' term sheet, institutional investor processes, corporate reorganisation and HoldCo structure).
• Map all Conditions Precedent (CPs) and undertakings in the lenders' term sheet and financing documents; own the CP tracker with deadlines, owners and status.
• Coordinate the people needed to satisfy each CP – within Dream of the Desert, within Arsenale Group (Finance, Legal, BD) and with external advisors, lenders and authorities – and make sure deliverables land on time.
• Anticipate bottlenecks in the financing and legal timeline and elevate to the General Manager and Arsenale early.

3. Performance management and shareholder reporting

• Act as the project's investor-relations counterpart toward Arsenale International's Business Development team and the COO of Arsenale, who represent the shareholder.
• Prepare and present periodic performance reports: progress vs. plan, budget vs. actual, key risks, decisions required.
• Ensure consistency between the operational plan, the business plan and the reporting delivered to lenders and investors.

4. Agentic AI and ways of working

• Introduce agentic AI tools into project management and reporting (plan updates, tracker automation, meeting follow-ups, document drafting) and help departments adopt them.
• Set up the project's PMO toolkit and templates and keep them lean.

Requirements

Must have

• 2+ years of project management experience in a consultancy firm or in a innovative startups.
• Proven ability to build and run complex project plans (Gantt with interdependencies, critical path, budget tracking) across multiple departments.
• Hands-on experience with agentic AI tools (e.g. AI agents for planning, reporting, document drafting) and the drive to roll them out across the company.
• Fluent in Arabic and English, written and spoken.
• Based in Riyadh or willing to relocate.

Skills and profile

• Structured, numbers-driven and comfortable with financial and legal documentation (term sheets, CPs, corporate structures).
• Strong stakeholder management: able to move senior people across two organisations and external parties without formal authority.
• Clear communicator, at ease preparing board- and investor-level reporting.
• Proficient in project management and productivity tools (MS Project / Smartsheet or equivalent, Excel, PowerPoint).

Nice to have

• Exposure to project finance, infrastructure, rail or large hospitality openings.
• PMP, PRINCE2 or equivalent certification.
• Italian.

Why this role

• Full visibility on a first-of-its-kind luxury rail launch, from financial close to first commercial departure.
• Direct exposure to the General Manager, Arsenale Group leadership, lenders, institutional investors and Saudi authorities.
• Ownership of the project's integrated plan and its governance, not a support role.
• Freedom to shape how a new company works, including the adoption of agentic AI.