Senior Highways Design SME - Road Engineering

Parsons; Riyadh; On-site; SAR 279,000 - 446,000; Full time

Job summary

Parsons Corporation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia seeks a Senior Highways Design SME—Road Engineering to act as the technical authority across major road and infrastructure projects. The role requires advanced expertise in geometric design, junctions, pavement engineering, drainage, safety, standards, constructability, and multidisciplinary interfaces throughout the design lifecycle.

You will provide independent technical assurance, coordinate with planning, utilities, landscape, construction teams,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering is required.
• Master's degree in Civil Engineering or Highway/Transportation is preferred.
• Minimum 15 years of professional highway/road design experience.
• Saudi Arabia highway design experience strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Act as the client’s senior technical authority for highway design.
• Provide specialist guidance on highway engineering principles and standards.
• Develop, review and interpret highway design criteria for major projects.
• Review and approve design departures and non-standard solutions.
• Ensure designs meet safety, constructability and regulatory requirements.
• Provide independent engineering advice and technical assurance across design stages.
• Coordinate with planning, utilities, drainage, landscape, and construction teams.
• Mentor engineers and client personnel involved in highway design.

Skills

Highway design

Geometric design

Road safety

Multidisciplinary coordination

Client advisory

Technical assurance

Education

Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering

Master's degree in Civil/Highway/Transportation Engineering

Tools

AutoCAD

Civil 3D

BIM platforms

AutoTURN

Swept path analysis

Job description

Role: Senior Highways Design SME - Road Engineering

Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Industry: Civil Engineering

Function: Civil & Structural Engineering

Experience: Minimum 15 years

Job Type: Full-time

Senior Highways Design SME - Road Engineering in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is a senior Civil Engineering opportunity for an accomplished highways professional capable of acting as the technical authority for major road and infrastructure developments. The role requires advanced expertise in geometric design, junctions and interchanges, pavement engineering, road drainage, safety, design standards, constructability, multidisciplinary interfaces, and authority approvals while providing independent technical assurance throughout the full highway design lifecycle.

Job Details

• Country: Saudi Arabia
• City: Riyadh
• Industry: Civil Engineering
• Function: Civil & Structural Engineering
• Salary: 25000-40000. Estimated salary range based on similar jobs in the job city; please confirm the final offer with the employer.
• Gender: Any
• Candidate Nationality: Any
• Job Type: Full-time

Role Context

The Senior Highways Design Subject Matter Expert provides independent technical leadership across highway and road infrastructure projects from feasibility and concept development through detailed design, Issued for Construction documentation, and construction support. Acting as a trusted advisor to the client, the position establishes technical expectations, challenges consultant solutions, resolves complex design issues, and ensures roadway infrastructure is safe, coordinated, constructible, and compliant with applicable Saudi and international standards. The specialist also connects highway design with transportation planning, structures, utilities, drainage, public realm, landscape, construction staging, and temporary traffic management. This integrated oversight helps reduce technical risk, improve design efficiency, support approvals, and prevent costly problems during construction.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as the client 's senior technical authority for highway and road design matters.
• Provide specialist guidance on highway engineering principles, technical standards, and international best practice.
• Develop, review, and interpret highway design criteria for major infrastructure projects.
• Support preparation and refinement of Basis of Design documents, typical sections, standard details, and technical guidance.
• Review proposed design departures, exceptions, and non-standard solutions.
• Assess the safety, operational, cost, constructability, and programme risks associated with deviations from established criteria.
• Recommend appropriate mitigation where departures or alternative solutions are technically justified.
• Provide independent engineering advice to support informed client decisions. Technical assurance will span every major design stage.
• Review highway feasibility studies and associated technical assessments.
• Examine Traffic Impact Studies where findings influence roadway infrastructure requirements.
• Review concept, preliminary, detailed, and Issued for Construction highway designs.
• Evaluate horizontal and vertical road alignments for compliance, safety, and practical implementation.
• Review road hierarchy, cross-sections, lane arrangements, medians, shoulders, verges, and related geometric features.
• Assess junction, interchange, and roundabout designs from operational and engineering perspectives.
• Review traffic signs, road markings, directional information, and associated road-user requirements.
• Examine flexible and rigid pavement design solutions.
• Review roadway drainage concepts and ensure coordination with wider stormwater infrastructure.
• Evaluate roadside features, barriers, clear zones, safety equipment, and other road safety provisions.
• Ensure design packages remain complete, technically coordinated, and suitable for progression to subsequent stages.
• Review designs against relevant Kingdom of Saudi Arabia highway and infrastructure requirements.
• Apply appropriate Saudi Highway Code requirements and other applicable national standards.
• Consider Ministry of Transport, MoMRA, Saudi Building Code, and other authority requirements where relevant.
• Apply AASHTO criteria where approved for project use.
• Review DMRB requirements where applicable to the approved design basis.
• Identify inconsistencies between standards and project-specific requirements.
• Provide recommendations when multiple standards create conflicting technical criteria.
• Support consistent interpretation of design requirements across consultants and project packages.
• Support Safety in Design reviews.
• Participate in technical road safety assessments and design risk reviews.
• Identify potential safety hazards arising from geometry, visibility, roadside conditions, junction layouts, or operational arrangements.
• Recommend practical engineering modifications to reduce identified risks.
• Review how design decisions affect motorists, public transport, pedestrians, cyclists, maintenance personnel, and construction teams where applicable.
• Ensure safety considerations remain integrated into value engineering and design optimization exercises.
• Review interfaces between highways and traffic or transportation planning.
• Coordinate highway requirements with utilities and drainage systems.
• Resolve design conflicts involving structures, bridges, retaining elements, and other civil works.
• Support integration with landscape and public realm requirements.
• Review access and interface requirements affecting adjacent plots and developments.
• Assess highway impacts created by construction staging and temporary traffic management.
• Identify cross-disciplinary design risks before they become construction constraints.
• Facilitate technically coordinated solutions across designers, consultants, and delivery teams.
• Identify technical risks affecting safety, cost, programme, approvals, and construction.
• Challenge overly complex or impractical design solutions.
• Recommend practical alternatives that improve constructability without compromising technical performance.
• Participate in value engineering workshops.
• Evaluate optimization proposals for their effect on road safety, performance, cost, maintenance, and programme.
• Review alternative technical solutions and advise the client on preferred approaches.
• Support design teams in resolving constraints discovered during design development.
• Represent the client during highway technical discussions with government authorities and approval agencies.
• Coordinate with plot developers and delivery partners where infrastructure interfaces affect highway design.
• Engage with design consultants and contractors on technical submissions and design concerns.
• Participate in technical workshops, design reviews, and multidisciplinary coordination meetings.
• Assist in preparing responses to authority review comments.
• Support closure of design submission queries and approval conditions.
• Explain complex highway engineering matters clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Maintain a professional advisory relationship while providing independent technical challenge where required.
• Review highway consultant deliverables against project requirements and accepted engineering practice.
• Challenge incomplete calculations, poorly justified assumptions, or non-compliant design solutions.
• Ensure consultant responses adequately address technical review comments.
• Provide guidance where designs require substantial revision or optimization.
• Monitor technical consistency across multiple road packages and design consultants.
• Support contractors with clarification of design intent during construction.
• Review design-related contractor queries and Requests for Information.
• Attend site when required to investigate construction-related design issues.
• Verify that implemented solutions remain consistent with approved technical intent.
• Prepare technical inputs for Requests for Proposals and highway design scopes of work.
• Assist in defining consultant technical responsibilities and required deliverables.
• Support technical evaluation of tenders when requested.
• Assess the highway design capability of prospective consultants or contractors.
• Identify technical gaps or risks within proposed methodologies.
• Support development of clear design assurance and review requirements for future packages.
• Share international highway design lessons learned with client and project teams.
• Introduce practical innovations that improve design quality or delivery efficiency.
• Mentor engineers and client personnel involved in highway and infrastructure projects.
• Provide coaching on geometric design, technical reviews, standards, and design assurance.
• Support development and improvement of highway design procedures.
• Help standardize design review methodologies and technical checklists.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of client highway design standards and governance.

Ideal Profile

• Bachelor 's degree in Civil Engineering.
• Master 's degree in Civil Engineering, Highway Engineering, Transportation Engineering, or a related discipline is preferred.
• Minimum 15 years of professional highway and road design experience.
• At least 5 years of professional experience on Middle East projects.
• Saudi Arabia highway design experience is strongly preferred.
• Extensive experience supporting major infrastructure and master-planned developments.
• Advanced expertise in highway geometric design.
• Strong pavement engineering knowledge covering flexible and rigid pavement systems.
• Detailed understanding of road drainage design.
• Extensive experience with junction, interchange, and roundabout design.
• Strong knowledge of road safety and roadside design principles.
• Proven experience with value engineering and design optimization.
• Familiarity with Saudi highway standards and authority approval processes.
• Ability to apply AASHTO and other approved international design standards.
• Experience dealing directly with approving authorities and regulatory organizations.
• Strong capability in multidisciplinary infrastructure coordination.
• Experience reviewing consultant highway designs at multiple project stages.
• Ability to provide practical construction-phase design support.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills suitable for client-facing advisory work.
• Chartered Engineer or equivalent professional registration is highly desirable.
• More than 10 years of Middle East or Saudi highway project experience is advantageous.

Skills Set

• Highway engineering
• Highway geometric design
• Road design
• Horizontal alignment
• Vertical alignment
• Road cross-sections
• Road hierarchy
• Junction design
• Interchange design
• Roundabout design
• Pavement engineering
• Flexible pavement
• Rigid pavement
• Road drainage
• Road safety
• Roadside design
• Traffic signs
• Road markings
• Highway design criteria
• Basis of Design
• Design departures
• Technical assurance
• Design review
• Design optimization
• Value engineering
• Constructability review
• Safety in Design
• Design risk management
• AASHTO
• DMRB
• Saudi Highway Code
• Saudi infrastructure standards
• Authority approvals
• Traffic Impact Studies
• Traffic engineering interfaces
• Utilities coordination
• Drainage coordination
• Bridge interfaces
• Structures coordination
• Public realm interfaces
• Landscape coordination
• Construction staging
• Temporary traffic management
• AutoCAD
• Civil 3D
• BIM platforms
• AutoTURN
• Swept path analysis
• Design RFIs
• Technical tender evaluation
• Consultant technical oversight
• Construction design support
• Client advisory
• Technical mentoring

Why Join Us

This opportunity provides the scope to shape highway engineering quality across major infrastructure and master-planned developments in Riyadh 's rapidly expanding Civil Engineering market. Rather than being limited to individual design production, the position influences standards, technical approvals, safety, constructability, consultant performance, value engineering, and multidisciplinary integration across multiple projects. For an established highway specialist, it offers a strong platform for continued progression into technical director, infrastructure design leadership, and senior client advisory responsibilities.

About the Company

Parsons Corporation delivers engineering, infrastructure, transportation, construction management, program management, project controls, and technology services across major international developments. Its Saudi Arabia teams support complex road, transportation, and urban infrastructure programs where advanced highway engineering, independent technical assurance, multidisciplinary coordination, and practical construction knowledge are critical to successful project delivery.

[1]: https://www.gulftalent.com/saudi-arabia/salaries/senior-civil-engineer utm_source=chatgpt.com "Senior Civil Engineer Salaries in Saudi Arabia"