Senior Design Manager

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Mott Mac Donald 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.

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 Mac Donald’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.

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,…