Senior Manager - PlayPath Development Programs

Qiddiya; Riyadh; On-site; SAR 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Qiddiya in Saudi Arabia seeks a seasoned leader to design, govern, and deliver the Engineering Professions Program, building structured pathways and rotation experiences to grow early-career engineers. You will define KPIs, readiness activities, and alignment with workforce plans.

You will drive stakeholder engagement with Talent Acquisition, Rewards, and business units, while tracking progress, ensuring high participant experience, and delivering measurable capability growth across engineering

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in career development, program management, or talent development in development, construction or engineering industries.
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Architecture, Project Management, HR, Business Administration, Learning & Development, or related discipline.
• Strong knowledge of engineering environments, how technical teams operate, and how capability is built to develop early-career talent.
• Proven experience designing and delivering structured learning or talent development programs, including rotations, assessments, development plans, mentoring, and progress tracking.
• HR/Talent/Learning candidates should have direct experience with engineering, construction, infrastructure, or real estate development functions.
• Engineering/Development candidates should have experience in learning, capability building, program design, or talent development.
• CIPD, SHRM, ICE, SCE or equivalent preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end design, governance, and delivery of the Engineering Professions Program.
• Design and maintain program pathways, attraction, selection, assessments, rotations, and progression requirements.
• Define assignments, assessment methods, and exposure opportunities aligned to engineering capability and workforce needs.
• Establish governance frameworks, policies, documentation standards, and evaluation methodologies.
• Ensure alignment with talent strategy, workforce planning, and future skills requirements.
• Define program KPIs, success measures, and effectiveness metrics.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition, Rewards, and other stakeholders to ensure competitiveness and retention outcomes.
• Lead participant recruitment, onboarding, cohort management, rotation planning, and program operations.
• Ensure high-quality participant experience through development, mentoring, and engagement activities.
• Collaborate with business leaders to secure placements and development opportunities.
• Drive alignment through clear expectations and coordinated execution across units.
• Oversee progress tracking, performance reviews, and readiness evaluations.
• Monitor program performance, pipeline health, and talent outcomes through dashboards and reporting.
• Provide insights and recommendations to leadership on program effectiveness and risks.
• Drive continuous improvement through participant feedback, benchmarking, and data insights.
• Manage external partners supporting assessments and learning interventions.
• Recommend and implement improvements to program design, content, and delivery.

Skills

Career development

Program management

Talent development

Stakeholder management

Learning & development

Engineering knowledge

Rotation design

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering

Job description

Lead the design, development, and execution of Qiddiya’s PlayPath Development Programs. This includes defining program objectives, designing KPIs and success criteria, architecting programs, development and shaping structured rotation models that align with business requirements. Drive program governance, critical stakeholder alignment, readiness activities, and comprehensive progress tracking to strengthen participant experience, accelerate capability build, and establish a sustainable internal Saudi talent pipeline (focused on Engineers to start) aligned with Qiddiya’s future workforce needs and strategic objectives.

Core Responsibilities:

• Own the end-to-end design, governance, and delivery of the Engineering Professions Program.
• Design and maintain program pathways, including attraction, selection, assessments, rotations, development experiences, and progression requirements.
• Define assignments, assessment methods, and exposure opportunities aligned to engineering capability and workforce needs.
• Establish and maintain governance frameworks, policies, selection criteria, documentation standards, and evaluation methodologies.
• Ensure alignment with talent strategy, capability priorities, workforce planning, and future skills requirements.
• Define program KPIs, success measures, and effectiveness metrics to evaluate impact against strategic talent objectives.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition, Rewards, and other stakeholders to ensure program competitiveness, internal equity, attraction, and retention outcomes.

Program Delivery & Stakeholder Management:

• Lead participant recruitment, onboarding, cohort management, rotation planning, and overall program operations.
• Ensure a high-quality participant experience through structured development, mentoring, engagement activities, and support mechanisms.
• Partner with business leaders and functional teams to secure placements, meaningful assignments, and development opportunities.
• Drive stakeholder alignment through clear expectations, communication, and coordinated execution across business units.

Performance Tracking, Reporting & Insights:

• Oversee participant progress tracking, performance reviews, assessment outcomes, and readiness evaluations.
• Ensure all assessment, feedback, and review cycles are delivered in line with governance requirements.
• Monitor program performance, pipeline health, and talent outcomes through dashboards, analytics, and reporting.
• Provide insights and recommendations to leadership on program effectiveness, risks, and opportunities for improvement.

Continuous Improvement & Partner Management:

• Drive continuous improvement through participant feedback, benchmarking, data insights, and external leading practices.
• Ensure alignment with Capability & Learning, Talent Management, Performance, and Workforce Planning to strengthen development pathways.
• Manage external partners and vendors supporting assessments, learning interventions, and program delivery.
• Recommend and implement improvements to program design, content, and delivery to enhance participant outcomes and accelerate readiness.

• 8+ years of experience, with majority in career development, program management, or talent development, in the development, construction or engineering industries
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Architecture, Project Management, Human Resources, Business Administration, Learning & Development, or a related discipline.
• Must have strong working knowledge of engineering and development environments, including how technical teams operate, how capability is built, and what is required to develop early-career engineering talent.
• Must have proven experience designing and delivering structured learning or talent development programs, including rotations, assessments, development plans, mentoring, and progress tracking.
• HR/Talent/Learning candidates must bring direct experience working with engineering, construction, infrastructure, or real estate development functions.
• Engineering/Development candidates must bring demonstrated experience in learning, capability building, program design, or talent development.
• CIPD, SHRM, ICE, SCE or equivalent preferred.