Senior Project Manager - Design Interface

Parsons; Riyadh; On-site; SAR 500,000 - 700,000; Full time

Job summary

Parsons Corporation is seeking a Senior Project Manager – Design Interface in Riyadh to lead multidisciplinary design coordination across civil, electrical, mechanical, and rail systems.

You will act as the client contact for design and interface matters, drive safety assurance, governance, and RAMS activities, and coordinate architects, engineers, and third parties to deliver integrated solutions on complex infrastructure programmes in Saudi Arabia.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in civil, mechanical, electrical, systems or related engineering.
• Master's degree in engineering, systems engineering, project management or related subject is advantageous.
• Professional engineering registration or chartership such as CEng or PE is highly desirable.
• PMP, PRINCE2, systems engineering, or safety assurance certification is advantageous.
• Approximately 15 years of experience on major infrastructure, rail, transit, or complex multidisciplinary projects.
• Strong background in design management and technical interface coordination.
• Experience with international consultancy and multi-contractor programmes.
• Fluent written and spoken English; Arabic is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Act as the primary project management consultancy contact for programme-wide design and interface matters.
• Represent the client in senior design, engineering, safety, coordination, and interface meetings.
• Coordinate consultants, contractors, systems integrators, authorities, utilities, and third parties.
• Ensure employer requirements, project standards, statutory obligations, and safety requirements are clearly communicated.
• Provide independent technical and programme advice to client leadership.
• Lead the multidisciplinary design process across concept, preliminary, detailed, and issued-for-construction stages.
• Review interface control documents, interface matrices, and supporting technical records.
• Chair design review workshops, interface coordination meetings, and constructability reviews.
• Drive timely resolution of design and construction interface conflicts.
• Maintain interface register and ensure traceability across design.

Skills

Multidisciplinary design management

Interface management

Engineering governance

RAMS / Safety assurance

Stakeholder management

Team leadership

Quality assurance

Knowledge transfer

Project planning

Client representation

Education

Bachelor's degree in civil, mechanical, electrical, systems

Master's degree in engineering, systems engineering, project management

Professional engineering registration / chartership (CEng/PE)

PMP / PRINCE2 certification (advantage)

Tools

BIM platforms

Common data environments

Document control systems

Project management tools

Job description

Senior Project Manager – Design Interface. This senior Civil Engineering opportunity is located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The role is a client‑facing project leader responsible for directing multidisciplinary design coordination, interface management, engineering governance, and safety assurance across complex infrastructure or rail programmes. Parsons Corporation will represent the consultancy, ensuring that designers, contractors, systems integrators, and third parties deliver coordinated, safe, compliant, and buildable solutions.

Responsibilities

• Act as the primary project management consultancy contact for programme‑wide design and interface matters.
• Represent the client in senior design, engineering, safety, coordination, and interface meetings.
• Coordinate consultants, contractors, systems integrators, authorities, utilities, and third parties.
• Ensure employer requirements, project standards, statutory obligations, and safety requirements are clearly communicated.
• Provide independent technical and programme advice to client leadership.
• Lead the multidisciplinary design process across concept, preliminary, detailed, and issued‑for‑construction stages.
• Coordinate architectural, civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, station, rail systems, rolling stock, depot, and utility designs.
• Review critical drawings, calculations, reports, specifications, models, and technical submissions.
• Verify design compliance with employer requirements, local regulations, authority conditions, and international standards.
• Chair design review workshops, technical coordination sessions, value engineering studies, and constructability reviews.
• Ensure design decisions are technically sound, buildable, maintainable, safe, and aligned with programme objectives.
• Oversee requirements management, allocation, verification, validation, and traceability.
• Monitor compliance with technical assurance and design governance procedures.
• Establish the programme‑wide interface management framework.
• Define interface processes, responsibilities, reporting arrangements, tools, and escalation routes.
• Identify and classify interfaces between civil works, stations, MEP, rail systems, rolling stock, depots, utilities, and third parties.
• Maintain a complete and current interface register.
• Chair interface coordination meetings and interface control working groups.
• Review interface control documents, interface matrices, interface agreements, and supporting technical records.
• Ensure interface assumptions, decisions, responsibilities, and dependencies are documented.
• Drive timely resolution of design and construction interface conflicts.
• Escalate critical interface risks with practical options and recommendations.
• Oversee the integration of engineering and safety requirements throughout design and construction.
• Review RAMS documentation, hazard logs, safety cases, risk assessments, and assurance submissions.
• Promote safety by design across construction, operation, maintenance, emergency response, and lifecycle performance.
• Coordinate with independent safety assessors, regulators, and third‑party technical reviewers.
• Consolidate assurance findings and monitor corrective actions.
• Track required safety certifications, approvals, authority clearances, and technical permits.
• Align design deliverables with construction methodologies, sequencing, logistics, and access requirements.
• Identify constructability risks before they affect construction activities.
• Support client reviews of design changes, technical deviations, and value engineering proposals.
• Assess the effects of proposed changes on safety, interfaces, schedule, cost, quality, and operations.
• Maintain configuration management, version control, and change traceability across design and construction.
• Coordinate closure of design non‑conformances, technical queries, and requests for information.
• Monitor design and interface activities against the integrated master programme.
• Identify critical and near‑critical design or interface milestones.
• Maintain design and interface risk registers, mitigation plans, and contingency actions.
• Prepare progress reports, dashboards, governance papers, and executive presentations.
• Report design status, interface performance, safety concerns, decisions, and major risks.
• Support project controls teams in evaluating schedule and cost impacts arising from technical issues.
• Co‑ordinate with client operations, maintenance, safety, security, commercial, and information technology teams.
• Ensure design outcomes satisfy future operational and business requirements.
• Facilitate approvals, no‑objection certificates, permits, and technical agreements with authorities and utilities.
• Facilitate alignment across multiple design consultants, contractors, suppliers, and specialist vendors.
• Lead design managers, interface engineers, systems engineers, and safety assurance specialists.
• Mentor team members and promote technical development and knowledge transfer.
• Apply robust quality assurance and quality control processes to design and interface documentation.
• Capture lessons learned and improve design, interface, and assurance procedures across the programme.

Ideal Profile

• Bachelor's degree in civil, mechanical, electrical, systems, or another relevant engineering discipline.
• Master's degree in engineering, systems engineering, project management, or a related subject is advantageous.
• Professional engineering registration or chartership such as CEng or PE is highly desirable.
• PMP, PRINCE2, systems engineering, or safety assurance certification is advantageous.
• Approximately 15 years of experience on major infrastructure, rail, transit, or complex multidisciplinary projects.
• Strong background in design management and technical interface coordination.
• Significant experience working for a project management consultancy, client organization, or international consultancy.
• Demonstrated experience managing design‑and‑build contracts.
• Proven success leading multidisciplinary design teams across civil, structural, MEP, systems, and third‑party interfaces.
• Practical experience with engineering assurance, safety by design, RAMS, and safety case processes.
• Experience on programmes involving multiple contractors, packages, consultants, and systems integrators.
• Rail, metro, station, depot, or similarly complex infrastructure experience is highly desirable.
• Strong technical understanding of multidisciplinary design development and integration.
• Sound knowledge of systems engineering, interface management, configuration control, and requirements traceability.
• Ability to lead design reviews, interface workshops, and technical governance meetings.
• Strong project planning, coordination, risk management, and decision‑making skills.
• Structured approach to technical issues, dependencies, and programme risks.
• Excellent stakeholder management, facilitation, negotiation, and presentation capabilities.
• Ability to explain complex engineering matters to technical and non‑technical audiences.
• High standards of professionalism, integrity, accountability, and client service.
• Proficiency with project management, communication, and collaboration tools.
• Familiarity with requirements management systems, BIM platforms, common data environments, and document control systems.
• Fluent written and spoken English. Arabic language capability is advantageous.

Skills Set

• Multidisciplinary design management
• Interface management
• Engineering governance
• Technical assurance
• Safety assurance
• RAMS
• Safety cases
• Hazard management
• Requirements management
• Requirements traceability
• Configuration management
• Interface control documents
• Interface matrices
• Interface agreements
• Design coordination
• Rail systems integration
• Station design
• Civil and structural interfaces
• MEP coordination
• Rolling stock interfaces
• Depot interfaces
• Utility coordination
• Design verification
• Design validation
• Constructability reviews
• Value engineering
• Safety by design
• Technical risk management
• Design change control
• BIM coordination
• Common data environments
• Document control
• Authority approvals
• Programme reporting
• Dashboard preparation
• Stakeholder management
• Client representation
• Team leadership
• Quality assurance
• Quality control
• Knowledge transfer

Why Join Us

This position offers the opportunity to lead design integration and interface governance across a complex infrastructure or rail programme in Riyadh. The role involves direct engagement with client leadership, international consultants, delivery contractors, safety assessors, authorities, and systems specialists. The successful candidate will influence major technical decisions, reduce programme interface risk, strengthen safety assurance, and help ensure that multidisciplinary packages are delivered as a single coordinated system.

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, programme management, technical assurance, technology, and infrastructure solutions for complex projects in Saudi Arabia and internationally. Parsons supports employee development, professional learning, environmental responsibility, workplace flexibility, and long‑term career growth while helping clients deliver resilient infrastructure and future‑ready communities.