Senior Engineer - Business Development

JENSEN HUGHES, Inc.; Eastern Province; On-site; SAR 420,000 - 780,000; Full time

Job summary

Jensen Hughes, Inc. is seeking a Senior Engineer - Business Development to lead technical and commercial efforts from our Al Khobar office, engaging with client engineers and decision makers across Saudi Arabia.

The role emphasizes fire protection, process safety, risk studies and emergency response within oil, gas, and built-environment sectors. You will define scopes, prepare proposals, manage bid processes and help grow the client base with strategic relationships, while traveling up to 50%

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering is mandatory.
• Minimum 10 years of professional experience in engineering consultancy or contracting, incl. 5 years in business development, proposals or client account management.
• Saudi Council of Engineers registration or eligibility to register.
• Proven ability to win new work, define client requirements and manage proposal development, including cost estimates, work plans and review of terms and conditions.
• Strong technical writing in English with the ability to produce clear client-ready proposals, and good Excel skills for fee build-up.

Responsibilities

• Establish and proactively maintain relationships with key decision makers and influencers within assigned accounts.
• Meet clients face to face across KSA to build relationships and uncover new work.
• Act as the technical point of contact for clients during pursuits, leading technical and clarification meetings.
• Review client technical documents to understand facility hazards and required studies or design work.
• Define engineering scope, methodology, deliverables, schedule, assumptions and exclusions for each proposal.
• Prepare technical and commercial proposals for RFPs and RFQs, coordinating with unit leads and discipline engineers.

Skills

BD strategy

Client management

Proposal development

Technical writing

English & Arabic fluency

Travel 50%

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

Master’s degree (advantage)

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Job description

Job Overview

The Senior Engineer - Business Development will report to the Al Khobar Team Leader. This is a technical client-facing engineering role. You will be the engineering lead at the front end of our projects, understanding the client's facilities, hazards and compliance needs, defining the right engineering scope and preparing technical and commercial proposals across fire protection engineering, fire and life safety, process safety, risk studies and emergency response. The role has a strong focus on the oil and gas sector, Civil Defense and built environment work and specialist risk and safety studies. The candidate must be a degree qualified engineer with a sound working knowledge of the applicable codes and standards Saudi Aramco SAES, HCIS SAF, SBC and NFPA and the confidence to communicate clearly with client engineers, project managers and decision makers. Deep industry knowledge, an established client network in KSA and a proven track record of winning and growing engineering work are essential requirements for this role. In this role you will be based in our Al Khobar office and will spend much of your time out of the office meeting clients across KSA. You will be responsible for meeting the sales and business development targets of the Al Khobar office. This role offers an exciting range of opportunities to develop your career within a supportive and diverse team who always strive to do the right thing for our people, clients and communities.

Responsibilities

• Establish and proactively maintain a strong professional relationship with key decision makers and influencers within assigned accounts.
• Meet clients face to face on a regular basis visiting client offices and project sites across KSA to build relationships and uncover new work.
• Act as the technical point of contact for clients during pursuits, leading technical and clarification meetings and explaining our engineering approach to fire protection, process safety, risk studies and emergency response.
• Review client technical documents such as RFPs, plot plans, P&IDs, fire protection drawings, specifications and hazard registers to understand the facility, its hazards and the studies or design work needed.
• Define the engineering scope of work, methodology, deliverables, schedule, assumptions and exclusions for each proposal in line with the applicable codes and standards Saudi Aramco SAES, HCIS SAF, SBC, NFPA.
• Prepare technical and commercial proposals for RFPs and RFQs, working with the unit leads and discipline engineers.
• Estimate engineering effort and man-hours with the unit leads and prepare fee estimates that reflect the technical effort and risk.
• Raise technical and commercial clarifications on client RFP and contract documents and flag high risk terms, liability, payment terms, scope creep before submission.
• Run bid/no-bid reviews and make sure every submission goes out on time.
• Register opportunities and keep the pipeline and CRM up to date.
• Follow up submitted proposals with clients through to award and capture technical and commercial lessons learned from wins and losses.
• Manage vendor registration and prequalification with key clients such as Saudi Aramco, SABIC, SEC, Maaden and NEOM.
• Support project managers with client coordination after award, including scope changes, variation orders and collections follow-up.
• Drive profitable sales expansion with a focus on acquiring new and re-engaging with dormant accounts while growing existing clients.
• Gather and analyze market and industry intelligence metrics and trends including upcoming projects and changes to HCIS, Civil Defense and SBC requirements to determine customer needs.
• Identify opportunities early in the sales cycle across oil and gas, petrochemicals, power and utilities, Civil Defense and built environment projects, data centers and giga projects and position Jensen Hughes with the client before the RFP is issued.
• Deliver technical presentations and capability briefings to clients, negotiate and close business while working in coordination with the Al Khobar unit leads.
• Represent Jensen Hughes at client meetings, industry events and professional bodies e.g. SFPE, NFPA, Saudi Council of Engineers.
• Prepare monthly reports and presentations by sector and client covering pipeline proposals submitted, win rate and backlog.
• Own the quotation process from enquiry to award, working with the unit leads and technical staff to deliver accurate, compliant and competitive offers.
• Maintain a sound technical understanding of Jensen Hughes service offerings so you can discuss scope with client engineers with confidence and coordinate with our technical teams including fire protection engineering and FEED studies, fire protection coverage, SAIS HCIS compliance, Civil Defense fire and life safety for the built environment, process safety, hazard studies, QRA, BRA, FRA and FERA and emergency response.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering (fire protection, mechanical, chemical, electrical or civil) is mandatory. A Master’s degree is an advantage.
• Candidates without an engineering degree will not be considered.
• Minimum 10 years of professional experience in engineering consultancy or contracting, including at least 5 years in business development, proposals or client account management, along with an established network of clients in KSA.
• Saudi Council of Engineers (SCE) registration or eligibility to register.
• Proven ability to win new work, define client requirements and manage proposal development, including cost estimates, work plans and review of terms and conditions.
• Strong technical understanding of oil and gas fire protection (Saudi Aramco SAES/SAIS, HCIS/SAF), Civil Defence fire and life safety for the built environment (SBC 201, SBC 801, NFPA), process safety and hazard studies, risk studies (QRA, BRA, FRA, FERA) and emergency response, with security as a secondary area.
• Proven success in relationship building, networking, and enhancing client relationships while attaining BD/Sales targets.
• Strong negotiation, presentation, and leadership abilities along with proven track record in securing large contracts and partnerships and established connections with industry stakeholders and decision‑makers.
• Strong technical writing in English with the ability to produce clear client‑ready proposals, and good Excel skills for fee build‑up.
• Fluent in English and Arabic.
• Mature, self‑driven and able to represent the company with senior client stakeholders and at industry events.
• Ability and willingness to travel at least 50% of the time across KSA to meet clients and visit project sites; some overnight travel will be required, and a valid Saudi driving licence is required.