Senior Design Manager
Riyadh, SA
Mott MacDonald is a global engineering, management and development consultancy committed to delivering impactful work that shapes the future. We are a team of over 20,000 experts working across more than 50 countries. As an employee-owned business, we invest in creating an environment where everyone feels valued, supported and empowered to do their best work.
Whether you want to deepen your expertise or broaden your experience across different projects and disciplines, you’ll be connected to a global community of specialists and have opportunities to shape your career.
About the role
We are looking for a Senior Design Manager, Sports and Venues, based in Riyadh, to lead multidisciplinary design delivery for major sports, entertainment and venue projects in Saudi Arabia and across the Middle East. Reporting to the Project Director Sports and Venues, you will manage design planning, coordination and assurance within the agreed project appointment and delegated authority.
You will bring together Mott MacDonald’s discipline teams and coordinate with clients, architects, specialist consultants, venue operators and other stakeholders to deliver integrated design packages aligned with the project brief, programme and budget. The role focuses on complex venues where sports functionality, spectator experience, accessibility, safety, event operations, commercial objectives, sustainability and long-term legacy inform design decisions. Responsibility for other consultants will depend on the appointment, with discipline-level technical design accountability retained by the relevant discipline leads.
Key responsibilities
As Senior Design Manager, Sports and Venues, your responsibilities will include:
- Lead and coordinate multidisciplinary design activities on complex sports and venue projects.
- Manage design delivery through the appointed stages, which may include pre concept, concept, schematic, detailed design and tender, with construction-stage support where included in scope. Establish clear responsibilities, interfaces, deliverables and review requirements.
- Coordinate architectural, structural, building services and specialist design inputs to achieve integrated project outcomes.
- Act as a key interface between the client, design teams, project management teams and specialist consultants.
- Establish and maintain the design management plan, design programme, responsibility matrix, deliverable register, interface register and decision log.
- Lead design coordination meetings and facilitate the resolution of multidisciplinary design issues.
- Monitor design progress, resource requirements and fee budgets with the Project Director against the agreed scope and programme, escalating risks, constraints and corrective actions promptly.
- Identify and document design and scope changes, assess their implications for fees, resources, interfaces and programme, and support change-control submissions and approvals with the Project Director.
- Coordinate interdisciplinary technical reviews, design assurance, stage-gate submissions and review-comment close-out. Coordinate applicable authority approvals with discipline leads, retaining technical approval responsibility with the appropriately authorised specialists.
- Promote design solutions that consider the complete lifecycle of the venue, including operational requirements, adaptability and long-term value.
- Work with appropriate specialists to ensure spectator safety, accessibility, movement and operational considerations are integrated into the design.
- Coordinate specialist venue interfaces, including fields of play, seating bowls and sightlines, athlete facilities, event overlays, hospitality, back-of-house and servicing, media, broadcasting and technology, as applicable to the project.
- Engage with clients, venue operators, user groups and commercial stakeholders to establish an agreed design brief and track the incorporation of operational and sports-specific requirements through design development.
- Work collaboratively with digital and BIM teams to support effective multidisciplinary design coordination and information management.
- Promote sustainable, efficient and resilient design outcomes. Coordinate buildability reviews and procurement and construction interfaces where appointed, and mentor design managers and coordinators across local and international teams.
Candidate specifications
Essential
- A relevant degree in architecture, engineering, construction, project management or a related built-environment discipline.
- Demonstrable experience leading design management on large, complex multidisciplinary building projects, with responsibility for design programmes, consultant interfaces, coordinated submissions and review close-out.
- Demonstrable ability to lead and coordinate multiple design disciplines and specialist consultants.
- Experience managing design development, deliverables and technical reviews, using clear responsibility matrices, interface registers and design assurance processes.
- Ability to demonstrate how client and operational requirements inform design decisions, with an understanding of buildability, procurement, construction and whole-life performance.
- Experience working directly with clients, consultants and project stakeholders.
- Ability to identify and manage design risks, interfaces, constraints and dependencies.
- Experience monitoring design resources and fee budgets, identifying scope changes and supporting formal change control in a consultancy or comparable delivery environment.
- Strong communication, facilitation and stakeholder-management skills.
- Ability to communicate complex design issues clearly and support timely decision-making.
- Strong collaborative skills and the ability to work effectively across multidisciplinary and multicultural teams.
- An understanding of digital design coordination and BIM-enabled project delivery.
Desirable
- Demonstrable design-management experience delivering stadiums, arenas, sports facilities, entertainment venues or other complex high-occupancy buildings, with examples of resolving venue-specific design and operational interfaces.
- Experience on major projects or programmes in the Middle East.
- Experience working with venue operators and specialist sports or event consultants.
- Understanding of spectator experience, venue operations, crowd movement and safety considerations.
- Exposure to hospitality, media and broadcasting, technology, security or other specialist venue interfaces.
- Experience coordinating applicable Saudi Arabian or other Middle East authority requirements and relevant international standards with discipline leads and specialist consultants.
- Experience of projects with significant sustainability, legacy or operational-performance objectives.
- Professional membership or chartered status with an appropriate industry body.
- Experience supporting bids, client engagement or development of new project opportunities.
Our benefits vary by country and are subject to eligibility and local policy. We’ll confirm the details relevant to you as part of the offer process.
- Annual leave in line with local policy (competitive within the market).
- Maternity leave above and beyond local provisions and paternity leave provisions where applicable
- Professional membership/ institution subscription support
- Medical insurance and life insurance as per local plan (standard and enhanced coverage may vary by country and policy).
- Learning and career development through project variety, technical networks and structured development opportunities.
- An inclusive culture: we’re committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, and creating a workplace where everyone feels valued and supported.
- Rewards and bonuses: we are owned by our people (no external investors) and through our employee ownership model success is shared through annual bonus opportunities and longer-term participation as your career grows (subject to local plan, eligibility and business performance)