Director - Hospitality Design

Job Snapshot

Director
- Hospitality Design

Location:

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Industry: Hospitality Function:
Architect

Experience:

20 years design management experience

Job Type: Full-time

The Director
- Hospitality Design will lead design management for complex hospitality assets, ensuring that creative vision is translated into distinctive, commercially viable, operationally efficient, and buildable design outcomes. The role works across consultants, hotel operators, internal teams, delivery partners, contractors, suppliers, and authorities to manage design interfaces, resolve risks, maintain quality, and support fully coordinated solutions. It is central to delivering hospitality assets that meet guest experience expectations, brand standards, technical requirements, and long-term asset value objectives.

• Lead design management for hospitality assets from early-stage briefs through concept, design development, technical coordination, construction support, and delivery.
• Ensure hospitality designs align with guest experience goals, asset positioning, commercial objectives, operator requirements, and project vision.
• Direct design decision‐making across projects and guide key decisions that support quality, functionality, buildability, and long‑term asset value.
• Manage consultant teams and operator design coordination to deliver integrated, operational, commercially viable, and construction‑ready design solutions.
• Oversee design development across all project stages, ensuring adherence to scope, deliverables, programme requirements, review cycles, and approval milestones.
• Drive design quality and integrity across architecture, interiors, landscape, public areas, back‑of‑house areas, guest touchpoints, and branded hospitality spaces.
• Review mock‑up rooms, material selections, finishes, FF&E, OS&E, layouts, specifications, and presentation materials to maintain high design standards.
• Ensure compliance with operator standards, brand requirements, technical criteria, authority regulations, and project design standards.
• Lead design risk management and governance by identifying issues, preparing clear recommendations, and influencing decisions through senior forums.
• Champion innovation, continuous improvement, and benchmarking against global best‑in‑class hospitality and luxury development standards.
• Coordinate design interfaces across architecture, interior design, landscape, engineering, operations, commercial, procurement, construction, and stakeholder work streams.
• Support resolution of design conflicts, technical issues, operator comments, authority requirements, and construction‑stage design coordination challenges.
• Maintain focus on guest experience by ensuring all design decisions support comfort, flow, service quality, accessibility, brand identity, and operational practicality.
• Guide design teams in balancing creative ambition with cost control, constructability, durability, maintenance, procurement strategy, and commercial performance.
• Lead and mentor internal design management teams, building capability, accountability, collaboration, and consistent delivery standards.
• Develop and refine design management processes, systems, templates, reporting methods, review protocols, and best practices across the hospitality portfolio.
• Support knowledge sharing across assets and contribute to stronger institutional design management capability.
• Coordinate with hotel operators, consultants, contractors, suppliers, project management consultants, delivery partners, and government authorities as required.
• Use design management platforms and project systems to support documentation control, review workflows, coordination tracking, and issue management.
• Provide clear design reports, status updates, decision papers, design narratives, and executive‑level presentations for senior stakeholders.

• Bachelor's degree in Architecture, Interior Design, or a related discipline.
• Professional membership or recognized certification such as RIBA, AIA, RICS, or equivalent is preferred.
• Minimum 20 years of experience in design management, architecture, interior design, or hospitality design delivery.
• Proven…