Director Hotel Design

About Qiddiya Investment Company

Qiddiya Investment Company (شركة قدية الاستثمارية) is developing a landmark destination in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, focused on entertainment, culture, and hospitality. The Hospitality Business Unit is responsible for a portfolio of hotel assets central to this vision. The company is seeking experienced professionals to ensure these assets meet high standards of design quality, guest experience, and commercial performance.

Role Overview: Director - Hotel Design

The Director - Hotel Design will lead and manage the design of complex hospitality assets from initial briefs through to delivery. This role involves translating Qiddiya’s vision into distinctive, commercially viable, and buildable design outcomes. The Director will drive design quality, guide key decisions, and ensure alignment with guest experience, asset positioning, and Operator requirements. This full-time position is based in Riyadh, Riyadh Province, and requires over 10 years of experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design management of hospitality assets from early-stage briefs through to delivery, ensuring alignment with guest experience, asset positioning, and Qiddiya’s vision and objectives.
• Direct and coordinate design decision-making across projects, guiding key decisions to ensure high-quality outcomes aligned with operational functionality, guest experience requirements, and long-term asset value.
• Lead and manage consultant teams and Operator design coordination, delivering integrated, buildable, operational, and commercially viable design solutions.
• Oversee design development across all project stages, ensuring adherence to scope, deliverables, program, and approval requirements.
• Drive design quality and integrity across architecture, interiors, landscape, and guest touchpoints, including mock-up rooms, materials, FF&E, and OS&E.
• Ensure compliance with Operator standards, technical requirements, authority regulations, and Qiddiya design standards.
• Lead and manage design risks and governance, influencing decisions through senior forums and clear recommendations.
• Champion innovation and continuous design improvement, benchmarking designs against global best-in-class hospitality standards.
• Mentor and develop internal design management teams, fostering collaboration, accountability, and high standards of delivery.
• Lead the development and refinement of design management processes, systems, standards, and best practices across the hospitality portfolio.
• Drive knowledge sharing across assets and contribute to building institutional capability.

Qualifications and Experience

• A minimum of 10 years of relevant experience in hotel design and project delivery.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and manage complex hospitality design projects from concept to completion.
• Experience working with consultants and internal stakeholders to ensure design coordination and compliance.

Work Environment

The successful candidate will work across consultants and internal stakeholders, overseeing design interfaces and ensuring coordination. This role requires a professional who can drive projects towards fully integrated and executable solutions within a dynamic environment.