Principal Public Health Engineer

About the Role

Mott MacDonald is seeking a Principal Public Health Engineer to join its Buildings team in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This permanent position involves leading the design and delivery of public health engineering solutions for multidisciplinary building and infrastructure projects. The role requires providing technical leadership from early design stages through detailed design and construction support, working closely with clients, architects, and engineering teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design and technical delivery of public health engineering systems across multidisciplinary projects.
• Develop and review designs for fire protection systems, including sprinkler, standpipes, foam, clean agent, and specialised fire protection systems.
• Develop and review designs for natural gas and LPG systems associated with buildings.
• Undertake and review engineering calculations, system sizing, equipment selection, technical drawings, specifications, technical reports, and design documentation.
• Support the engineering team in design, design coordination, and modelling.
• Ensure designs comply with local authority regulations and facilitate design approvals.
• Apply national and international codes and standards relevant to public health engineering.
• Provide technical assurance and conduct design reviews to meet project requirements and relevant standards.
• Lead public health engineering input from concept and feasibility through detailed, tender, and IFC designs, with construction support as needed.
• Coordinate public health systems with key disciplines such as mechanical, electrical, structural, landscape, pool, interior design, and architectural teams.
• Identify design constraints, interfaces, risks, and opportunities, developing practical engineering solutions.
• Work with clients and project stakeholders, offering clear technical advice and representing the discipline in project and design meetings.
• Support project managers with scope definition, programme planning, resource allocation, and delivery.
• Review technical submissions and address technical queries during project delivery.
• Provide guidance, mentoring, and technical support to engineers and other team members.
• Contribute to proposals, bids, and technical inputs for new opportunities.
• Support continuous improvement and digital ways of working, sharing technical knowledge and lessons learned.
• Demonstrate safe, ethical, and inclusive behaviours aligned with Mott MacDonald values.

Candidate Specifications

The ideal candidate will possess strong public health engineering capabilities combined with the judgment and collaborative approach expected at a Principal level. A minimum of 10 years of experience is required for this role.

Required Qualifications and Experience

• Strong professional experience in public health engineering and building services design.
• Demonstrable experience designing water supply, drainage, and associated public health systems.
• Demonstrable experience designing gas and fire protection systems.
• Experience delivering designs through multiple stages of the project lifecycle.
• Strong understanding of engineering calculations, specifications, drawings, and technical documentation.
• Ability to review engineering designs and provide effective technical assurance.
• Experience working within multidisciplinary design teams.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to explain technical matters clearly to clients, colleagues, and project stakeholders.
• Ability to organise and prioritise work across multiple project requirements.
• Ability to guide and develop less experienced engineers.

Desirable Attributes

• Experience delivering major buildings or infrastructure programmes in the Middle East.
• Experience across sectors such as healthcare, commercial, hospitality, residential, education, aviation, transport, or major mixed-use developments.
• Knowledge of regional authority requirements alongside relevant international standards and codes.
• Experience with BIM-led and digitally integrated multidisciplinary design.
• Experience supporting bids, proposals, and client development activities.

Work Environment

This role is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and offers a permanent work type within a dynamic Buildings team in the Middle East. The position involves collaboration with diverse engineering and architectural disciplines on significant projects.