Senior Design Manager - Technical Delivery
Industry: Construction
Function: Design
Experience: Minimum 15 years
Job Type: Full-time
Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Salary: 30000-45000
Position Overview
Senior Design Manager - Technical Delivery in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is a Construction opportunity leading multidisciplinary design management, technical assurance, BIM coordination, design governance, stakeholder integration, and delivery strategy across complex projects and programs. Parsons is hiring an experienced design leader to control scope, schedules, budgets, technical interfaces, design risk, change, constructability, and quality while guiding projects from concept development through detailed design, construction support, commissioning interfaces, and completion.
Job Details
Country: Saudi Arabia
City: Riyadh
Industry: Construction
Function: Design
Job Type: Full-time
Key Responsibilities
- Direct multidisciplinary design activities across assigned projects, packages, and technical workstreams.
- Establish the overall design vision and translate Client objectives into practical delivery requirements.
- Develop and implement the Design Execution Plan.
- Define design management procedures, responsibilities, workflows, review protocols, and approval routes.
- Integrate design activities with applicable Health and Safety and Quality Assurance and Quality Control requirements.
- Establish technical objectives and quality expectations for each design stage.
- Manage design development from concept and preliminary design through detailed design and construction support.
- Coordinate architecture, engineering, infrastructure, utilities, MEP, landscape, and specialist systems.
- Establish clear discipline boundaries and identify interfaces requiring coordinated resolution.
- Allocate design packages to Design Leads, Project Engineers, and discipline specialists.
- Mobilize suitable technical resources from departments, offices, consultants, and specialist teams.
- Review resource requirements against current workload and upcoming deliverables.
- Develop integrated design schedules in coordination with Project Controls.
- Establish deliverable registers and monitor submissions against agreed milestones.
- Manage design budgets and monitor performance against approved allocations.
- Identify emerging resource, schedule, or technical constraints that could affect delivery.
- Develop recovery strategies where design progress falls behind planned milestones.
- Maintain oversight of multiple concurrent design packages and consultant workstreams.
- Define technical requirements and acceptance criteria for design deliverables.
- Review submissions for completeness, accuracy, coordination, and compliance.
- Confirm design outputs satisfy applicable codes, standards, regulations, and contractual requirements.
- Lead multidisciplinary design reviews at appropriate project stages.
- Organize technical workshops to resolve complex engineering and design issues.
- Facilitate interdisciplinary coordination meetings and maintain action ownership.
- Lead peer reviews and technical assurance activities.
- Coordinate constructability reviews with construction and delivery teams.
- Evaluate maintainability and operability during design development.
- Ensure lifecycle requirements are considered before design decisions are finalized.
- Challenge design solutions where optimization can improve performance, cost, or construction efficiency.
- Promote value engineering without compromising required functionality or quality.
- Monitor interfaces between design and procurement requirements.
- Coordinate design information needed for tendering and package procurement.
- Ensure procurement feedback affecting technical requirements is incorporated appropriately.
- Maintain alignment between design development and construction sequencing.
- Support construction-stage RFIs and technical queries.
- Coordinate timely responses to site-driven design issues.
- Manage design modifications arising during construction.
- Evaluate the wider multidisciplinary impact of proposed technical changes.
- Maintain control of design scope and prevent unauthorized scope expansion.
- Identify proposed changes and ensure they are formally assessed before implementation.
- Evaluate technical, schedule, cost, quality, and interface implications of design changes.
- Coordinate design-related variation and change order documentation.
- Monitor change actions through approval and incorporation into affected deliverables.
- Support negotiations concerning design scope, technical requirements, and variations.
- Maintain traceability between approved changes and revised design information.
- Establish a structured design risk management process.
- Identify risks associated with technical interfaces, constructability, approvals, scope, resources, and schedule.
- Maintain design risk visibility throughout project development.
- Develop mitigation actions with responsible discipline leads.
- Escalate unresolved risks capable of affecting major project milestones.
- Coordinate with commercial teams where design decisions create cost or contractual consequences.
- Monitor design performance against commercial objectives and agreed scope.
- Support assessment of consultant performance and technical obligations.
- Ensure design decisions remain consistent with contractual responsibilities.
- Serve as a senior design interface with the Client throughout project execution.
- Coordinate external consultants, designers, contractors, and specialist subcontractors.
- Manage stakeholder requirements that influence technical solutions.
- Lead technical engagement with authorities where design approvals are required.
- Participate in meetings with regulatory and government agencies.
- Track authority comments, approvals, conditions, and required design responses.
- Ensure stakeholder commitments are reflected in controlled project documentation.
- Maintain records of important technical decisions, assumptions, approvals, and commitments.
- Prepare and oversee design briefs, technical reports, presentations, and project summaries.
- Report design progress, risks, changes, milestones, and decisions to project leadership.
- Highlight issues capable of affecting cost, schedule, quality, or construction readiness.
- Establish regular design management meetings and maintain disciplined action tracking.
- Provide concise management information for timely decision-making.
- Promote technical excellence through structured Quality Assurance processes.
- Develop design standards and governance practices appropriate to project requirements.
- Support stage-gate reviews before progression between design phases.
- Ensure unresolved technical matters are visible before design packages advance.
- Promote lessons learned and continuous improvement across design teams.
- Encourage standardized processes where they improve consistency and efficiency.
- Drive effective use of BIM for multidisciplinary design coordination.
- Support implementation of Common Data Environment workflows.
- Promote digital engineering and collaborative design practices.
- Encourage appropriate use of emerging technologies that improve design quality or delivery efficiency.
- Maintain coordination between BIM outputs, technical documentation, and approved design requirements.
- Ensure design information supports downstream testing, commissioning, and operational readiness.
- Coordinate design requirements affecting asset operation and maintenance.
- Support technical closeout and resolution of outstanding design matters.
- Provide leadership, coaching, and technical direction to Design Leads and design personnel.
- Develop emerging design leaders through mentoring and delegated responsibility.
- Contribute to performance reviews, succession planning, and capability development.
- Support technical proposals and business development activities.
- Provide design management input into bids and Client presentations.
- Help identify follow-on opportunities arising from successful project delivery.
Ideal Profile
The position requires a bachelor 's degree in Engineering, Architecture, Industrial Design, or another relevant technical discipline. Candidates should have at least 15 years of professional experience, including substantial responsibility for complex multidisciplinary design projects. A proven background as a Senior Design Manager, Design Manager, Engineering Manager, or comparable technical leader is required. Candidates should have managed large multidisciplinary teams together with multiple consultants, packages, or concurrent design workstreams. Strong experience across concept, preliminary, detailed, and construction-stage design is essential. The successful candidate should understand Design Execution Plans, deliverable schedules, design governance, technical assurance, review procedures, and stage-gate processes. Experience managing design scope, budgets, schedules, changes, variations, technical interfaces, and design risk is required. Candidates should understand how design decisions influence procurement, construction, testing, commissioning, operations, maintainability, and whole-life asset performance. Strong constructability and design optimization capability is important. Experience managing consultants, specialist designers, contractors, and multidisciplinary technical teams is expected. The position requires commercial awareness, particularly regarding scope boundaries, variations, budgets, contractual commitments, and consultant performance. Strong experience with BIM, digital engineering, Common Data Environments, and collaborative design technology will be valuable. Experience delivering infrastructure, transportation, buildings, mixed-use, hospitality, urban development, or other complex projects will strengthen suitability. Previous work within PMC, Delivery Partner, design consultancy, design-build, EPC, or client-side environments is advantageous. A master 's degree in Engineering, Architecture, Design Management, Construction Management, or a related discipline is desirable. Professional Engineer registration, Chartered Engineer status, registered Architect credentials, or equivalent professional licensure is preferred. PMP, PRINCE2, or another internationally recognized project management certification is advantageous. Candidates should demonstrate strong leadership, negotiation, strategic thinking, technical judgment, presentation, decision-making, and problem-solving capabilities.
Skills Set
Design management Multidisciplinary design Design leadership Design Execution Plan Design governance Technical assurance Technical delivery Design coordination Design schedules Design budgets Deliverable registers Design scope management Design change control Design variations Design risk management Design reviews Peer reviews Stage-gate reviews Technical workshops Constructability reviews Constructability Maintainability Operability Lifecycle planning Value engineering Design optimization Architecture coordination Engineering coordination Infrastructure design Utilities coordination MEP coordination Landscape coordination Specialist systems Multidisciplinary interfaces Interface management Technical approvals Authority approvals Stakeholder management Consultant management Design consultants Technical reporting Design documentation RFIs Technical queries Construction support Design modifications Procurement integration Construction integration Testing and commissioning Operational readiness Quality Assurance Quality Control BIM Digital engineering Common Data Environment CDE Information management Digital collaboration Project Controls Commercial awareness Project management PMP PRINCE2 Professional Engineer Chartered Engineer
Why Join Us
Complex projects can lose significant time and value when design packages progress independently without disciplined control of interfaces, constructability, approvals, changes, and downstream operational requirements. This Riyadh position places the Senior Design Manager at the center of those decisions, with responsibility for turning multidisciplinary technical inputs into coordinated and deliverable project solutions. The opportunity combines strategic design leadership with BIM-enabled coordination, commercial awareness, technical assurance, stakeholder management, and construction integration. It provides substantial scope to influence major project outcomes while developing toward broader design director, engineering management, and program-level technical leadership responsibilities.
About the Company
Parsons Corporation delivers engineering, design, program management, construction management, and infrastructure services for complex developments worldwide. In Saudi Arabia, its multidisciplinary teams support major projects through integrated design management, technical assurance, digital engineering, project controls, stakeholder coordination, construction support, and lifecycle-focused project delivery.