Senior Landscape Director: Public Realm Program

Parsons; Riyadh; On-site; SAR 48,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Parsons Corporation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, seeks a Landscape Director – Public Realm to lead a major landscape and public realm portfolio, coordinating design consultants, contractors, and PMO teams across multiple packages.

The role requires 15+ years of experience, strong leadership and governance skills, and a track record of delivering complex megaprojects with high quality and safety standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in landscape architecture, architecture, urban design, or related discipline.
• Minimum 15 years of relevant professional experience.
• Proven leadership of large-scale landscape or public realm programs.
• Experience coordinating design consultants, contractors, PMO teams, and client stakeholders.
• Strong program-level understanding of design, procurement, construction, handover, and operational requirements.
• Excellent leadership, communication, negotiation, and stakeholder-management skills.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership across landscape and public realm portfolio.
• Establish priorities, delivery objectives, and performance standards aligned with the overall program vision.
• Translate client expectations into coordinated landscape design and delivery strategies.
• Lead multidisciplinary teams working across landscape architecture, public realm, infrastructure, utilities, irrigation, lighting, structures, and urban design.
• Align design consultants, contractors, PMO teams, and internal stakeholders.
• Maintain consistent delivery approaches across multiple landscape packages and development zones.
• Monitor performance against approved program milestones, budgets, quality standards, and risk controls.
• Identify underperforming workstreams and direct appropriate corrective actions.
• Establish clear accountability for consultant deliverables, contractor commitments, decisions, and approvals.
• Review portfolio-level progress and resolve issues affecting several packages.
• Ensure landscape designs remain consistent with the approved vision, technical requirements, and public realm objectives.
• Promote coordinated, buildable, sustainable, and maintainable landscape solutions.
• Oversee integration between hard landscaping, soft landscaping, utilities, drainage, irrigation, lighting, roads, and public facilities.
• Support resolution of design, construction, and stakeholder interfaces.
• Act as the senior Parsons Corporation representative for landscape and public realm matters.
• Maintain productive relationships with the client, consultants, contractors, authorities, and strategic stakeholders.
• Lead high-level meetings, governance reviews, technical workshops, and executive presentations.
• Provide practical recommendations on design quality, delivery risks, program priorities, and required decisions.
• Establish governance procedures, reporting frameworks, approval processes, and control mechanisms.
• Ensure portfolio information is accurate, consistent, and suitable for executive decision-making.
• Review performance reports, dashboards, key performance indicators, risks, changes, and delivery forecasts.
• Coordinate with project controls, commercial, procurement, design, and construction teams.
• Balance design quality with budget, schedule, risk, and procurement requirements.
• Support commercial and contractual management across consultant and contractor interfaces.
• Review major design changes, scope adjustments, and value engineering proposals.
• Ensure proposed changes protect design intent, user experience, safety, sustainability, and asset performance.
• Identify program-level landscape risks and coordinate appropriate mitigation measures.
• Escalate critical delivery, quality, commercial, or stakeholder issues when required.
• Promote continuous improvement across landscape design and delivery processes.
• Capture lessons learned and apply them across current and future work packages.
• Develop senior team members through mentoring, delegation, feedback, and structured development.
• Build leadership capability across landscape managers, package leads, and multidisciplinary professionals.
• Foster a culture of ownership, collaboration, quality, accountability, and professional excellence.
• Perform other responsibilities associated with landscape portfolio leadership and PMO delivery.

Skills

Landscape architecture

Public realm development

Landscape program management

Portfolio leadership

PMO governance

Design management

Landscape construction

Hard landscaping

Soft landscaping

Urban design

Irrigation systems

Public realm lighting

Landscape infrastructure

Multidisciplinary coordination

Consultant management

Contractor coordination

Client representation

Stakeholder management

Design governance

Delivery assurance

Program controls

Performance management

Risk management

Change leadership

Commercial awareness

Contractual coordination

Value engineering

Quality management

Executive reporting

Team leadership

Staff mentoring

Continuous improvement

Education

Bachelor's degree in landscape architecture, architecture, urban design, or related discipline

Job description

Parsons Corporation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, seeks a Landscape Director – Public Realm to lead a major landscape and public realm portfolio, coordinating design consultants, contractors, and PMO teams across multiple packages.

The role requires 15+ years of experience, strong leadership and governance skills, and a track record of delivering complex megaprojects with high quality and safety standards.