Senior Highways Design SME - Roads

Parsons; Riyadh; On-site; SAR 38,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

Parsons in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia seeks a Senior Highways Design SME to provide expert highway design and assurance across major road projects and master-planned developments. The role covers feasibility through detailed and issued-for-construction design, with coordination across multidisciplinary teams.

You will review complex submissions, guide consultants, support authority approvals, and ensure safety, constructability, and alignment with programme objectives.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in civil engineering is required.
• 15+ years of professional highway/road design experience.
• Experience in the Middle East and Saudi Arabian highway standards is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Act as the client's technical authority for highway and road design matters.
• Provide expert advice on highway engineering principles, design criteria, codes, and international best practices.
• Review basis-of-design documents, typical sections, standard details, and technical criteria.
• Assess design departures, exceptions, and non-standard proposals.
• Review feasibility studies, traffic impact studies, and early-stage highway planning submissions.
• Coordinate highway layouts with utilities, drainage, structures, and landscape works.

Skills

Highway design

Geometric design

Road safety

Review design submissions

Multidisciplinary coordination

Construction interfaces

Leadership & mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in civil engineering

Master's degree in civil/transportation/highway engineering

Tools

AutoCAD

Civil3D

BIM

AutoTURN

Job description

Role: Senior Highways Design SME - Roads. Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Industry: Civil Engineering. Function: Civil & Structural Engineering. Experience: Minimum 15 years. Job Type: Full-time.

Job Details: Country: Saudi Arabia; City: Riyadh; Industry: Civil Engineering; Salary: 38,000‑52,000 (estimated based on similar jobs; final offer confirmed with employer). Gender: Any. Nationality: Any.

Position Overview

Senior Highways Design SME - Roads in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is a senior Civil Engineering opportunity for an accomplished highway engineering specialist with extensive experience in geometric design, pavement engineering, road drainage, junctions, interchanges, road safety, and multidisciplinary infrastructure coordination. Parsons Corporation is hiring a trusted technical authority to provide independent design assurance and strategic advice across major road projects and master‑planned developments. The role will support highway schemes from feasibility and traffic impact assessment through concept, preliminary, detailed, and issued‑for‑construction design. The successful candidate will review complex technical submissions, guide consultants and contractors, support authority approvals, resolve design interfaces, and ensure that road infrastructure is safe, compliant, constructible, coordinated, and aligned with programme objectives.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as the client's technical authority for highway and road design matters.
• Provide expert advice on highway engineering principles, design criteria, codes, and international best practices.
• Support the preparation, interpretation, and application of highway design standards and guidance.
• Review basis‑of‑design documents, typical sections, standard details, and technical criteria.
• Assess design departures, exceptions, and non‑standard proposals.
• Confirm that technical risks associated with departures are identified, assessed, documented, and managed.
• Review feasibility studies, traffic impact studies, and early‑stage highway planning submissions.
• Evaluate concept, preliminary, detailed, and issued‑for‑construction designs.
• Review horizontal and vertical road alignments.
• Assess road hierarchy, lane arrangements, cross‑sections, medians, shoulders, and verge requirements.
• Review junctions, intersections, roundabouts, and grade‑separated interchanges.
• Evaluate traffic signs, road markings, roadside furniture, and wayfinding requirements.
• Review flexible and rigid pavement design proposals.
• Assess road drainage, surface‑water management, culverts, channels, and stormwater interfaces.
• Review roadside safety features, barriers, clear zones, and hazard protection measures.
• Ensure compliance with Saudi Arabian standards and authority requirements.
• Apply relevant CFP, Saudi Highway Code, Ministry of Transport, MoMRA, Saudi Building Code, and approved local criteria.
• Confirm appropriate use of AASHTO, DMRB, and other approved international standards.
• Support safety‑in‑design reviews and road safety assessments.
• Participate in risk workshops and recommend practical mitigation measures.
• Resolve interfaces between highway design and transport planning.
• Coordinate highway layouts with utilities, drainage, structures, bridges, public realm, and landscape works.
• Review design compatibility with construction staging and temporary traffic management.
• Identify technical risks affecting safety, cost, constructability, approvals, or programme milestones.
• Develop and recommend technically sound mitigation measures.
• Facilitate integrated design solutions across multidisciplinary project teams.
• Support engagement with government authorities and approval agencies.
• Coordinate with plot developers, delivery partners, design consultants, and contractors.
• Attend technical meetings, design workshops, and coordination sessions.
• Help prepare responses to authority comments and design review queries.
• Provide technical challenge and oversight to highway consultants and contractors.
• Review consultant design methodologies, assumptions, models, and technical outputs.
• Attend construction sites when required to address design‑related queries.
• Verify that construction activities remain consistent with approved design intent.
• Support preparation of highway‑related requests for proposals and scopes of work.
• Provide technical input during tender reviews and consultant evaluations.
• Assist with design‑related requests for information and construction queries.
• Support value engineering and design optimisation.
• Improve safety, performance, cost efficiency, constructability, and programme outcomes.
• Share technical lessons learned and international highway design practices.
• Mentor client staff, engineers, and infrastructure design professionals.
• Support improvement of highway design standards, procedures, templates, and review processes.

Ideal Profile

• Bachelor's degree in civil engineering.
• Master's degree in civil, transportation, or highway engineering is preferred.
• Minimum 15 years of professional highway and road design experience.
• At least 5 years of project experience in the Middle East.
• Saudi Arabian highway project experience is strongly preferred.
• Proven involvement in major infrastructure and master‑planned development programs.
• Advanced expertise in highway geometric design.
• Strong knowledge of horizontal and vertical alignment design.
• Demonstrated experience in flexible and rigid pavement engineering.
• Strong background in road drainage and stormwater coordination.
• Experience designing junctions, roundabouts, and major interchanges.
• Comprehensive understanding of road safety and roadside design.
• Experience supporting value engineering and design optimisation.
• Strong knowledge of Saudi Arabian highway standards and approval processes.
• Familiarity with relevant international standards, including AASHTO and DMRB.
• Experience working with government authorities and regulatory bodies.
• Ability to review complex multidisciplinary design submissions.
• Strong understanding of highway interfaces with bridges, utilities, drainage, landscape, and public realm.
• Direct experience supporting construction and resolving site‑based design issues is advantageous.
• Experience in a client‑facing technical advisory or secondment role is preferred.
• Proficiency in AutoCAD.
• Strong working knowledge of Civil3D.
• Familiarity with BIM platforms and coordinated design environments.
• Experience using AutoTURN or equivalent swept‑path analysis software.
• Chartered Engineer status or equivalent professional registration is preferred.
• Strong analytical, technical review, and problem‑solving capabilities.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Strong communication, presentation, mentoring, and stakeholder‑management skills.

Skills Set

• Highway design
• Road infrastructure
• Highway geometric design
• Horizontal alignment
• Vertical alignment
• Road cross‑sections
• Junction design
• Interchange design
• Roundabout design
• Pavement engineering
• Flexible pavements
• Rigid pavements
• Road drainage
• Stormwater coordination
• Road safety
• Roadside design
• Traffic signs
• Road markings
• Safety in design
• Design assurance
• Design departures
• Technical reviews
• Basis of Design
• Construction staging
• Temporary traffic management
• Utility coordination
• Bridge interfaces
• Public realm coordination
• Landscape interfaces
• Authority approvals
• AASHTO
• DMRB
• Saudi Highway Code
• AutoCAD
• Civil3D
• BIM
• AutoTURN
• Value engineering
• Constructability reviews
• Technical mentoring

Why Join Us

This opportunity provides a senior technical role across major highways, road networks, and master‑planned developments in Riyadh. The Senior Highways Design SME will influence design standards, authority approvals, road safety, constructability, consultant performance, and critical engineering decisions across multiple project stages. The role offers direct engagement with clients, government authorities, international consultants, contractors, and multidisciplinary infrastructure teams.

About the Company

Parsons Corporation is a digitally enabled solutions provider serving civil engineering, defense, intelligence, transportation, and critical infrastructure markets. The company delivers engineering, program management, technical assurance, technology, and infrastructure solutions for complex projects in Saudi Arabia and international markets. Parsons supports professional development, technical innovation, environmental responsibility, workplace flexibility, and long‑term career growth while helping clients deliver resilient infrastructure and future‑ready communities.