Senior Urban Designer
WS Atkins & Partners Overseas Engineering Consultants
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Benefits offered by this job
Job summary
WS Atkins & Partners Overseas Engineering Consultants in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, seeks a Senior Urban Designer to lead master plans, urban design frameworks, and placemaking initiatives for major developments. You will coordinate with multidisciplinary teams to deliver sustainable, regulation-aligned urban environments.
The role demands strong design leadership, deep experience in master planning, and a track record of delivering large-scale projects in the GCC region.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Urban Design, Urban Planning, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, or related discipline.
- Master's degree preferred in Urban Design, Urban Planning, or Urbanism.
- Professional membership with RTPI/ULI/APA/RIBA advantageous.
- Minimum 10-15 years of professional experience in urban design and master planning.
- Proven experience delivering large-scale mixed-use, residential, commercial, hospitality, and public realm developments.
- Strong understanding of urban design principles, development planning, and regulatory approval processes.
- Experience working on major developments within the GCC, preferably Saudi Arabia.
- Proficiency in AutoCAD, Adobe Creative Suite, SketchUp, Rhino, Revit, GIS, Lumion, Enscape, or similar design tools.
- Strong graphic communication, visualization, report-writing, and presentation skills.
- Excellent leadership, stakeholder engagement, and project coordination capabilities.
- Fluent in English; Arabic language skills are an advantage.
Responsibilities
- Lead the preparation and development of master plans, urban design frameworks, and detailed urban design proposals.
- Manage urban design packages throughout project lifecycle from concept development to implementation.
- Develop public realm, streetscape, open space, and placemaking strategies that enhance community livability and user experience.
- Conduct urban analysis, site assessments, land-use studies, and development feasibility evaluations.
- Review and guide the production of urban design reports, drawings, visualizations, presentations, and technical documentation.
- Ensure design proposals comply with local regulations, planning policies, client requirements, and international best practices.
- Coordinate with architects, landscape architects, infrastructure engineers, transportation specialists, and planning teams.
- Lead design review workshops, stakeholder consultations, and client presentations.
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior urban designers and multidisciplinary project teams.
- Monitor implementation of approved urban design concepts during construction and site supervision activities.
- Evaluate design changes and recommend solutions that maintain design integrity and project objectives.
- Support authority submissions and approvals by coordinating with government agencies and regulatory bodies.
- Promote sustainable urban development, smart city initiatives, walkability, accessibility, and environmental stewardship.
- Assist project management teams in managing project schedules, deliverables, risks, and resource requirements.
- Contribute to business development activities, technical proposals, and client relationship management when required.
- Ensure compliance with quality assurance, health and safety, and environmental management standards.
Skills
Education
Tools
Job description
We are seeking an experienced Senior Urban Designer to lead and support the planning, design and implementation of major urban development projects in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The successful candidate will play a key role in developing master plans, urban design frameworks, public realm strategies, and placemaking initiatives while coordinating with multidisciplinary teams and stakeholders.
The role requires strong design leadership, technical expertise, and the ability to deliver innovative, sustainable, and high-quality urban environments aligned with project objectives and regulatory requirements.
Your role Lead the preparation and development of master plans, urban design frameworks, and detailed urban design proposals.
Manage urban design packages throughout project lifecycle from concept development to implementation.
Develop public realm, streetscape, open space, and placemaking strategies that enhance community livability and user experience.
Conduct urban analysis, site assessments, land-use studies, and development feasibility evaluations.
Review and guide the production of urban design reports, drawings, visualizations, presentations, and technical documentation.
Ensure design proposals comply with local regulations, planning policies, client requirements, and international best practices.
Coordinate with architects, landscape architects, infrastructure engineers, transportation specialists, and planning teams.
Lead design review workshops, stakeholder consultations, and client presentations.
Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior urban designers and multidisciplinary project teams.
Monitor implementation of approved urban design concepts during construction and site supervision activities.
Evaluate design changes and recommend solutions that maintain design integrity and project objectives.
Support authority submissions and approvals by coordinating with government agencies and regulatory bodies.
Promote sustainable urban development, smart city initiatives, walkability, accessibility, and environmental stewardship.
Assist project management teams in managing project schedules, deliverables, risks, and resource requirements.
Contribute to business development activities, technical proposals, and client relationship management when required.
Ensure compliance with quality assurance, health and safety, and environmental management standards.
Bachelor's degree in Urban Design, Urban Planning, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, or a related discipline.
Master's degree in Urban Design, Urban Planning, or Urbanism is preferred.
Professional membership with recognized institutions such as RTPI, ULI, APA, RIBA, or equivalent is advantageous.
Minimum 10-15 years of professional experience in urban design and master planning projects.
Proven experience delivering large-scale mixed-use, residential, commercial, hospitality, and public realm developments.
Strong understanding of urban design principles, development planning, and regulatory approval processes.
Experience working on major developments within the GCC, preferably Saudi Arabia.
Proficiency in AutoCAD, Adobe Creative Suite, SketchUp, Rhino, Revit, GIS, Lumion, Enscape, or similar design tools.
Strong graphic communication, visualization, report-writing, and presentation skills.
Excellent leadership, stakeholder engagement, and project coordination capabilities.
Fluent in English; Arabic language skills are an advantage.
Explore the rewards and benefits that help you thrive – at every stage of your life and your career.
This includes:
- Tax-free salary.
- Life insurance coverage.
- Medical insurance.
- Annual leave balance.
- Company gratuity scheme.
- Discretionary bonus program.
- Annual flight contribution.
- Transportation & housing allowances.
- Employee Wellbeing Program: 24/7 access to specialists in finance, legal matters, familycare, personal health, fitness, and nutrition.
We're AtkinsRéalis, a world-class engineering services and nuclear organization. We connect people, data and technology to transform the world's infrastructure and energy systems. Together, with our industry partners and clients, and our global team of consultants, designers, engineers and project managers, we can change the world. We're committed to leading our clients across our various end markets to engineer a better future for our planet and its people. Find out more.
At AtkinsRéalis, we seek to hire individuals with diverse characteristics, backgrounds and perspectives. We strongly believe that world-class talent makes no distinctions based on gender, ethnic or national origin, sexual identity and orientation, age, religion or disability, but enriches itself through these differences. Created by the integration of long-standing organizations dating back to 1911, AtkinsRéalis is a world-class engineering services and nuclear company dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. We create sustainable solutions that connect people, data and technology to transform the world's infrastructure and energy systems. We deploy global capabilities locally to our clients and deliver unique end-to-end services across the whole life cycle of an asset including consulting, advisory & environmental services, intelligent networks & cybersecurity, design & engineering, procurement, project & construction management, operations & maintenance, decommissioning and capital. The breadth and depth of our capabilities are delivered to clients in strategic sectors such as Engineering Services, Nuclear and Capital. News and information are available at Atkinsrealis or follow us on LinkedIn.
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