A major destination developer in Saudi Arabia is appointing experienced residential development leaders to support the growth of a large-scale residential portfolio.

This is a client-side development role with real influence over product, strategy, positioning, feasibility, and development direction. The portfolio includes villas, townhouses, apartments, and wider residential communities within one of the Kingdom’s most ambitious long term development programmes.

The role is focused on the early and mid-development stages. You will help shape projects from development brief, feasibility, and product definition through design management, approvals, procurement strategy, and delivery readiness.

This is not a pure project management, design, or construction delivery role. It requires a true developer mindset: commercially aware, comfortable challenging assumptions, and able to balance market demand, product strategy, design quality, cost, programme, governance, and long-term value.

You will work closely with internal development, design, commercial, delivery, sales, and governance teams, as well as external consultants and stakeholders. The environment is complex and fast moving, so the successful candidate will need strong judgement, credibility, and the patience to drive progress through multiple internal and external interfaces.

Key responsibilities

• Lead residential development projects from feasibility through delivery readiness
• Shape product strategy, unit mix, phasing, and development briefs
• Drive feasibility, business planning, and commercial optimisation
• Manage design development, consultant coordination, approvals, and procurement strategy
• Represent the business in senior stakeholder discussions
• Balance market positioning, design, cost, programme, and profitability
• Support improved development processes across the portfolio
• Ensure projects are commercially sound and properly set up for delivery

Candidate requirements

• Strong client-side residential development experience
• Experience across villas, townhouses, apartments, mixed residential communities, or large-scale residential masterplans
• Proven capability in feasibility, product definition, design management, commercial decision making, and stakeholder coordination
• A genuine development management background rather than pure project management, design, consultancy, contractor, or PMC experience
• Ability to work through complex approvals, governance, and multidisciplinary stakeholder environments
• Strong commercial awareness and the ability to challenge product, cost, programme, and design assumptions
• Relevant degree required, with real estate or commercial qualifications considered an advantage

Saudi National candidates are strongly encouraged to apply

This role would suit a residential development professional who wants to move into a high profile client side environment and help shape communities at a formative stage, rather than simply manage decisions that have already been made.

To express interest, please contact Matthew Donovan (Matthew.Donovan@mrgglobal.com) or Nouf Alotaibi (Nouf.Alotaibi@mrgglobal.com) at MRG Global for a confidential discussion.

The Management Recruitment Group is supporting a confidential client in Riyadh with the appointment of a Senior Director, Security Asset Development.

This is a senior leadership role within a major city scale development programme, with responsibility for the planning, development, delivery, and operational handover of a complex security asset portfolio.

The portfolio includes a wide range of security, emergency response, civil defence, command and control, and public safety related assets. It is not limited to standalone buildings. The role will also influence the wider city security network, including operational response models, asset distribution, CCTV, data routing, systems infrastructure, communications pathways, and integration with central command functions.

The successful candidate will act as the senior security development voice within the development function, ensuring that strategy, design, infrastructure, delivery, and future operations are properly aligned.

Role responsibilities

• Lead the development of a major security asset portfolio from brief and concept through design, delivery, and transition to operations.
• Oversee multiple asset typologies across a large scale urban development, including police, civil defence, emergency response, security administration, patrol, headquarters, and command and control facilities.
• Work closely with internal development teams, design managers, delivery teams, operators, consultants, contractors, and functional support teams across cost, scheduling, contracts, and procurement.
• Challenge and influence security strategies, operating models, and consultant recommendations to ensure the resulting assets and networks are operationally coherent and fit for purpose.
• Ensure security assets are planned and developed as part of an integrated city wide network rather than as isolated facilities.
• Provide informed input on physical infrastructure, systems requirements, CCTV, data flows, communications routes, control functions, and operational interfaces.
• Manage programme priorities, budgets, design progression, risk, stakeholder alignment, and delivery milestones across a significant multi asset portfolio.
• Build effective working relationships with government authorities, security stakeholders, operators, and relevant public safety entities.
• Prepare and present clear updates, recommendations, risks, and decisions to senior leadership.

Candidate requirements

• 15 or more years of experience across security asset development, civic infrastructure, government facilities, emergency response infrastructure, city services, programme management, or complex public sector development portfolios.
• Strong experience leading multi asset programmes at city, regional, government, or major development scale.
• Direct exposure to security related or civic asset typologies such as police facilities, fire and civil defence stations, emergency response assets, secure government buildings, command and control centres, public safety infrastructure, or similar.
• A strong understanding of how operational security requirements translate into built assets, infrastructure, systems, adjacencies, and network planning.
• Credibility with security stakeholders, government authorities, operators, consultants, and senior leadership.
• Ability to challenge strategy and design from a practical, operationally informed security perspective.
• Experience in Saudi Arabia or the wider Middle East is strongly preferred.
• Previous experience with Ministry of Interior, civil defence, public safety, internal security, or comparable government security stakeholders would be highly advantageous.
• Fluency in English is required. Arabic language capability would be a significant advantage.

Relevant backgrounds may include government security infrastructure, municipal or city services portfolios, civic development programmes, security sensitive public sector projects, critical infrastructure, major emergency services programmes, airport security infrastructure, sovereign development portfolios, or public private partnership programmes involving secure civic assets.

This is not a generic development director role. Our client is looking for a senior leader with genuine security asset and operational security understanding, combined with the ability to lead a large development portfolio through design, delivery, and operational handover.

If this sounds like you, then get in touch for a confidential briefing or apply using the link below.