Manager (Urban and Real Estate Economist

About the Role: Manager, Urban and Real Estate Economist

AtkinsRéalis is seeking an experienced Manager (Urban and Real Estate Economist) to join its Advisory team in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This full-time role involves providing economic, demographic, and real estate market analysis to support development advisory, urban planning, master planning, and infrastructure planning assignments.

Key Responsibilities

• Undertake economic, demographic, and socio-economic analysis for regional strategies, city plans, master plans, and major development programs.
• Prepare population, household, employment, and economic forecasts at regional, city, district, and development levels.
• Translate growth forecasts into spatial requirements for residential, commercial, retail, hospitality, industrial, mixed-use, and community development.
• Assess relationships between economic activity, population distribution, employment, accessibility, land use, and infrastructure provision.
• Undertake real estate market, demand, and supply assessments across relevant asset classes, analyzing market drivers, existing and planned supply, occupancy, take-up, pricing, absorption, and competing developments.
• Provide economic and market inputs into development positioning, land-use mix, scale, density, and phasing.
• Translate population, employment, and real estate forecasts into high-level infrastructure and service-demand assumptions.
• Lead defined urban and real estate economics workstreams within multidisciplinary advisory assignments, developing clear methodologies, analytical frameworks, forecast models, and evidence bases.
• Prepare high-quality technical reports, presentations, working papers, and executive summaries.
• Contribute to technical and commercial proposals across development advisory, urban planning, real estate, and infrastructure planning.

Qualifications and Experience

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Economics, Real Estate Economics, Urban Economics, Economic Geography, Regional Science, Urban Planning, or a related discipline. A Master's degree in Urban Economics, Real Estate, Economics, Development Economics, Economic Geography, Urban Planning, or a related field is preferred.
• Experience: Over 10 years of relevant experience, with a strong preference for experience in the UAE, KSA, or wider GCC. Experience within a consultancy, development authority, planning agency, real estate advisor, or government organization is advantageous.
• Skills: Demonstrable ability to translate economic and demographic forecasts into spatial and real estate requirements. Strong quantitative, forecasting, and analytical capability, with advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint. Experience with GIS, statistical analysis, or data-visualization tools is desirable.

Required Behavioral Skills

• Strong analytical and problem-solving capability, translating data and evidence into practical recommendations.
• Ability to connect economic and real estate analysis with physical planning, development, and investment decisions.
• Excellent written communication, report-writing, and presentation skills, with the ability to convey complex analysis to diverse audiences.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to analytical quality.
• Commercial awareness and understanding of factors influencing real estate and development decisions.
• Ability to manage defined workstreams and deliver high-quality outputs within agreed programs and budgets.
• Confidence working within multidisciplinary and multicultural teams.
• Proactive, collaborative, and willing to take responsibility for assigned deliverables.
• Willingness to travel within the UAE, KSA, and wider GCC.

Work Environment

The successful candidate will work as part of multidisciplinary teams alongside development advisors, urban planners, master planners, real estate specialists, infrastructure planners, engineers, transport specialists, GIS professionals, and financial advisors. This is a full-time position based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Application Information

AtkinsRéalis is committed to delivering sustainable, inclusive, and commercially viable development outcomes. Salary for this position will be disclosed during the recruitment process.