Lead of Project Planning (Design)
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Key skills for this role
About the Role
Saudi Diyar Consultants is seeking an experienced Lead of Design Planning to establish and lead the Planning Function across the organization. The role involves planning, scheduling, resource management, and performance monitoring for multidisciplinary design projects.
Key Skills for This Role
Responsibilities
- Lead and manage the corporate Design Planning Function across all offices and disciplines
- Develop and implement planning standards, design scheduling methodologies, and reporting frameworks specific to design and consultancy projects
- Establish governance processes for design planning, design progress measurement, deliverable tracking, and resource forecasting
- Ensure consistency in planning practices across Architecture, Engineering, Interior Design, Urban Planning, Landscape Architecture, and specialist disciplines
- Mentor and develop planning professionals supporting design delivery teams
- Oversee planning, scheduling, and monitoring of a portfolio of multidisciplinary design projects
- Develop and maintain integrated design schedules covering all project stages from concept through IFC issuance
- Monitor design deliverables, submission milestones, review cycles, approvals, and client commitments
- Identify design bottlenecks, coordination challenges, resource constraints, and schedule risks
- Collaborate with Design Directors, Discipline Leads, and Project Managers to develop recovery and mitigation plans
- Provide executive level dashboards and reporting on design delivery performance across the portfolio
- Lead company wide resource planning and utilization management for design and engineering teams
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Architecture, Engineering, Construction Management, Project Management, or related discipline
- Minimum 15 years of experience in project planning, design planning, resource management, or project controls within a design consultancy environment
- Minimum 5 years of experience leading a planning department, design planning team, PMO planning function, or corporate planning function
- Demonstrated experience managing planning activities across multiple concurrent design and engineering projects
- Strong experience in resource forecasting, workload management, and portfolio planning within consultancy organizations
- Experience working within an Architectural Consultancy, Engineering Consultancy, Multidisciplinary Design Consultancy, PMCM, or Design Management Consultancy is essential
Full Job Posting
Role Purpose
- Saudi Diyar Consultants is seeking an experienced and strategic Lead of Design Planning to establish, lead, and continuously enhance the Planning Function across the organization.
- This role is responsible for planning, scheduling, resource management, workload forecasting, and performance monitoring across a portfolio of multidisciplinary design and engineering projects.
- The position focuses on the planning and management of the design delivery lifecycle, including Concept Design, Schematic Design, Detailed Design, Tender Documentation, and IFC Deliverables.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead and manage the corporate Design Planning Function across all offices and disciplines.
- Develop and implement planning standards, design scheduling methodologies, and reporting frameworks specific to design and consultancy projects.
- Establish governance processes for design planning, design progress measurement, deliverable tracking, and resource forecasting.
- Ensure consistency in planning practices across Architecture, Engineering, Interior Design, Urban Planning, Landscape Architecture, and specialist disciplines.
- Mentor and develop planning professionals supporting design delivery teams.
- Oversee planning, scheduling, and monitoring of a portfolio of multidisciplinary design projects.
- Develop and maintain integrated design schedules covering all project stages from concept through IFC issuance.
- Monitor design deliverables, submission milestones, review cycles, approvals, and client commitments.
- Identify design bottlenecks, coordination challenges, resource constraints, and schedule risks.
- Collaborate with Design Directors, Discipline Leads, and Project Managers to develop recovery and mitigation plans.
- Provide executive level dashboards and reporting on design delivery performance across the portfolio.
- Lead company wide resource planning and utilization management for design and engineering teams.
Qualifications & Experience
- Bachelor's degree in Architecture, Engineering, Construction Management, Project Management, or a related discipline.
- Minimum 15 years of experience in project planning, design planning, resource management, or project controls within a design consultancy environment.
- Minimum 5 years of experience leading a planning department, design planning team, PMO planning function, or corporate planning function.
- Demonstrated experience managing planning activities across multiple concurrent design and engineering projects.
- Strong experience in resource forecasting, workload management, and portfolio planning within consultancy organizations.
- Experience working within an Architectural Consultancy, Engineering Consultancy, Multidisciplinary Design Consultancy, PMCM, or Design Management Consultancy is essential.
- Experience in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, is highly desirable.
Preferred Profile (Critical Requirement)
- The ideal candidate will have a proven track record leading a Design Planning Function or Corporate Planning Department within an architectural, engineering, or multidisciplinary design consultancy.
- Candidates must demonstrate experience in design delivery planning and scheduling, design resource planning and utilization management, multidisciplinary design coordination, management of design deliverables and submission programs, and portfolio planning across multiple design projects and discipl
- Candidates whose experience is primarily focused on contractor planning, construction supervision, site execution planning, EPC project controls, delay analysis, claims management, EOT preparation, or construction phase scheduling without significant design consultancy experience will not be conside
- Experience within organizations such as architectural consultancies, engineering consultancies, multidisciplinary design firms, PMCM organizations, or design management consultancies is strongly preferred.
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