Senior Project Director - Roads and Structures

Parsons; Riyadh; On-site; SAR 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

Parsons Corporation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is seeking a Senior Project Director to lead the Roads and Structures sector for a major Ring Road development. The role requires delivering highway, bridge, tunnel, and drainage packages across the project lifecycle.

You will direct strategy, design, procurement, construction, and handover, manage interfaces and budgets, ensure safety and quality, and coordinate with government authorities and stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering or related discipline.
• Minimum 20 years of experience in roads/highways/heavy civil infrastructure.
• Senior leadership experience with complex infrastructure delivery.
• Experience delivering major projects from planning through handover.
• Background with large multidisciplinary project organisations.

Responsibilities

• Set strategic delivery direction for Ring Road roads, civils, and structures.
• Coordinate road infrastructure requirements with Master Planning, Mobility, Utilities, and Operations teams.
• Oversee major project budgets, cost plans, forecasts and commercial decisions.
• Lead multidisciplinary teams across engineering, project management, planning, procurement, contracts, and construction.
• Ensure regulatory approvals, permits, and quality control across design and construction.

Skills

Highway project delivery

Roads infrastructure

Ring road development

Project management

HSE leadership

Stakeholder management

Job description

Senior Project Director - Roads and Structures

Job Snapshot

Role: Senior Project Director - Roads and Structures

Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Industry: Civil Engineering

Function: Project-Program Management

Experience: 20 years in roads, highways, heavy civil infrastructure, and major project leadership

Job Type: Full-time

Position Overview

Senior Project Director - Roads and Structures in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is an executive-level Civil Engineering opportunity leading the delivery of a major Ring Road and its associated bridges, tunnels, interchanges, drainage networks, utility corridors, and structural works. Parsons Corporation is hiring an accomplished infrastructure leader to direct the complete project lifecycle, integrating strategy, design, procurement, construction, commercial management, HSE, quality, regulatory approvals, commissioning, and handover across a complex destination-scale development.

Job Details

Country: Saudi Arabia

City: Riyadh

Industry: Civil Engineering

Function: Project-Program Management

Salary: 60000-85000 Estimated salary range based on similar jobs in the job city; please confirm the final offer with the employer.

Gender: Any

Nationality: Any

Job Type: Full-time

Role Context

The Senior Project Director will hold overall delivery accountability for the Roads, Civils and Structures sector supporting the Ring Road transportation network. The position requires strategic oversight combined with decisive project leadership across interconnected highway, bridge, tunnel, drainage, structural, and utility packages. By controlling interfaces, investment priorities, schedule, contracts, technical quality, and construction performance, the role will ensure this critical transportation backbone is delivered as an integrated asset capable of supporting the development's long-term mobility and operational objectives.

Key Responsibilities

• Set the strategic delivery direction for Ring Road roads, civils, and structures projects.
• Align sector priorities with the wider development vision, mobility strategy, master plan, and program objectives.
• Convert strategic requirements into executable scopes, delivery packages, phasing strategies, and performance targets.
• Establish clear accountability for cost, schedule, quality, safety, technical performance, and operational readiness.
• Direct projects through planning, concept design, detailed design, procurement, construction, commissioning, and final handover.
• Maintain executive oversight of the complete Ring Road delivery lifecycle.
• Lead integration of highways, interchanges, bridges, tunnels, retaining structures, drainage, and utility corridors.
• Ensure infrastructure interfaces are coordinated with adjacent assets, districts, and development sectors.
• Coordinate road infrastructure requirements with Master Planning, Mobility, Utilities, Real Estate, and Operations teams.
• Resolve strategic interface issues that could affect design, construction sequencing, access, or operational performance.
• Ensure design solutions meet project objectives, applicable standards, constructability requirements, and lifecycle expectations.
• Challenge designs where alternative solutions can improve value, safety, resilience, or construction efficiency.
• Promote value engineering without compromising required performance or long-term asset quality.
• Drive innovation in road construction, structural engineering, delivery methodology, and lifecycle planning.
• Lead multidisciplinary teams spanning engineering, project management, planning, procurement, contracts, construction, quality, and HSE.
• Establish effective coordination between technical and delivery functions.
• Set priorities across multiple concurrent infrastructure packages.
• Monitor team performance against defined project and program objectives.
• Manage external design consultants, contractors, suppliers, and specialist technical advisors.
• Hold delivery partners accountable for contractual obligations, technical requirements, schedule, and quality.
• Oversee major project budgets and maintain control of forecast expenditure.
• Review cost plans, commitments, forecasts, and emerging financial pressures.
• Ensure commercial decisions remain aligned with approved budgets and strategic delivery priorities.
• Direct development and maintenance of integrated project schedules.
• Monitor critical path activities, milestone performance, and package dependencies.
• Require recovery strategies where progress threatens key completion dates.
• Optimize allocation of internal resources, consultants, contractors, and specialist expertise.
• Provide strategic direction on contract packaging and procurement approaches.
• Oversee tender evaluations and major contract award recommendations.
• Participate in significant commercial and contractual negotiations.
• Direct management of variations, claims, contractual risks, and commercial disputes.
• Ensure project changes are evaluated for cost, schedule, technical, and interface consequences.
• Coordinate with governmental and regulatory authorities on infrastructure approvals.
• Ensure required permits, licenses, NOCs, and technical approvals are secured in line with delivery schedules.
• Maintain oversight of regulatory submissions and outstanding authority requirements.
• Anticipate approval risks and implement early mitigation measures.
• Ensure projects comply with applicable Saudi Arabian requirements and relevant international infrastructure standards.
• Establish robust quality assurance and quality control expectations across design and construction.
• Review quality performance and ensure significant non-conformances receive appropriate management attention.
• Require corrective and preventive actions where recurring quality concerns are identified.
• Conduct executive-level design reviews, construction inspections, and project performance assessments.
• Maintain rigorous HSE expectations across all Ring Road works.
• Ensure contractors establish effective controls for high-risk civil and structural construction activities.
• Promote proactive safety leadership throughout management and delivery teams.
• Review major incidents, audit findings, and safety trends requiring senior intervention.
• Lead identification and management of technical, schedule, commercial, regulatory, and interface risks.
• Ensure risk registers accurately reflect material threats to sector delivery.
• Establish contingency strategies for critical construction and infrastructure risks.
• Evaluate alternative phasing or design solutions where they can protect program objectives.
• Escalate significant risks with clear impact analysis and recommended decisions.
• Act as a senior point of contact for Ring Road matters across internal and external stakeholder groups.
• Maintain effective relationships with Clients, government entities, consultants, contractors, and community stakeholders.
• Support engagement regarding construction impacts, access arrangements, and future operations.
• Provide senior leadership with concise reporting on progress, forecasts, risks, decisions, and strategic issues.
• Present complex delivery matters in a form that enables timely executive decisions.
• Establish performance indicators for the Roads, Civils and Structures sector.
• Review delivery trends and intervene where performance falls below required thresholds.
• Mentor Project Directors, Project Managers, engineering managers, and other senior team members.
• Establish clear leadership objectives and accountability across the sector.
• Develop succession capability and strengthen technical and project management expertise.
• Promote collaboration, integrity, disciplined execution, safety leadership, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure commissioning and handover strategies are incorporated early enough to support successful asset transition.
• Maintain focus on long-term operability and maintainability throughout design and construction.

Ideal Profile

• Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering or a closely related discipline.
• Minimum 20 years of experience in roads, highways, heavy civil infrastructure, or major transportation projects.
• Significant senior leadership experience with accountability for complex infrastructure delivery.
• Proven record delivering major projects from initial planning through construction, commissioning, and handover.
• Extensive experience with major road networks and highway infrastructure.
• Strong technical and delivery understanding of interchanges, bridges, tunnels, retaining structures, drainage, and associated civil works.
• Experience managing large multidisciplinary project organizations.
• Background working for a major Client, developer, consultant, Delivery Partner, or Tier 1 contractor is highly relevant.
• Strong understanding of infrastructure design and construction processes.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate multiple major packages and complex interfaces.
• Experience controlling substantial infrastructure budgets and forecasts.
• Strong program scheduling and milestone management capability.
• Commercially astute with experience in contract strategy, tendering, variations, claims, and negotiations.
• Practical value engineering experience across major infrastructure programs.
• Strong knowledge of infrastructure permitting and regulatory approval processes.
• Familiarity with applicable Saudi Arabian requirements is highly advantageous.
• Strong understanding of international highway and civil engineering standards.
• Demonstrated commitment to construction quality and HSE leadership.
• Advanced project and program risk management capability.
• Strong experience dealing with consultants, contractors, government agencies, and senior Client representatives.
• Excellent negotiation and stakeholder management skills.
• Able to lead multicultural and multidisciplinary teams in a demanding delivery environment.
• Strong executive reporting and decision-making capability.
• Strategic thinker capable of maintaining long-term direction while resolving immediate project challenges.
• High resilience and adaptability within evolving mega-project environments.
• Master's degree in Engineering, Project Management, or a related discipline is preferred.

Skills Set

• Highway project delivery
• Roads infrastructure
• Ring road development
• Heavy civil construction
• Civil engineering
• Structural works
• Interchange delivery
• Bridge construction
• Tunnel construction
• Retaining structures
• Drainage infrastructure
• Utility corridors
• Transportation infrastructure
• Program management
• Project management
• Design management
• Construction management
• Infrastructure integration
• Interface management
• Master plan coordination
• Mobility planning coordination
• Project phasing
• Integrated scheduling
• Critical path management
• Cost control
• Budget management
• Cost forecasting
• Procurement strategy
• Contract packaging
• Tender evaluation
• Contract negotiations
• Claims management
• Variation management
• Commercial management
• Value engineering
• Regulatory approvals
• Permit management
• Quality assurance
• Quality control
• HSE leadership
• Risk management
• Risk registers
• Contingency planning
• Contractor management
• Consultant management
• Commissioning
• Infrastructure handover
• Executive reporting
• Stakeholder management
• Government coordination
• Team leadership

Why Join Us

Riyadh's large-scale transportation investments require senior leaders capable of managing entire infrastructure sectors rather than individual project packages. This position provides strategic responsibility for a Ring Road network and the civil and structural assets that enable mobility across a major development. It offers an experienced Civil Engineering executive the opportunity to influence design strategy, construction methodology, commercial outcomes, infrastructure integration, and long-term asset performance while leading multidisciplinary teams through one of the most demanding forms of major project delivery.

About the Company

Parsons Corporation delivers engineering, infrastructure, program management, and technology solutions for complex transportation and development programs worldwide. In Saudi Arabia, its teams support major roads, highways, structures, and urban infrastructure investments through engineering leadership, program management, construction oversight, commercial management, technical assurance, and integrated project delivery.