Project Director

About the Role

Parsons is seeking an experienced Project Director to lead the successful delivery of large-scale, complex projects. This full-time position is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Project Director will provide overall strategic, commercial, technical, and operational leadership from project initiation through completion, ensuring effective management and achievement of scope, schedule, budget, quality, safety, contractual obligations, and client expectations.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide overall leadership, direction, and accountability for project delivery, ensuring alignment with contractual requirements, business objectives, client expectations, and approved project execution plans.
• Lead multidisciplinary project teams and coordinate engineering, design, procurement, construction, project controls, commercial, quality, safety, and stakeholder management functions.
• Establish and maintain project governance, execution strategies, decision-making protocols, reporting requirements, and clear lines of responsibility across the project organization.
• Manage overall project scope, schedule, budget, cash flow, risk profile, quality objectives, and performance targets, taking timely corrective action when required.
• Develop, review, and maintain the Project Execution Plan, ensuring functional plans and project procedures are integrated and effectively implemented.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with the Client, consultants, contractors, authorities, and other key stakeholders, acting as the primary senior point of contact for project delivery matters.
• Lead executive-level progress, commercial, technical, risk, and stakeholder meetings, tracking decisions, actions, and commitments through closure.
• Provide strategic oversight of design and technical delivery, ensuring multidisciplinary coordination, constructability, value engineering, compliance with codes and standards, and timely resolution of critical technical issues.
• Oversee procurement and construction activities to ensure alignment with approved design, schedule, cost, quality, logistics, safety, and commissioning requirements.
• Monitor project controls, including schedule performance, cost forecasting, earned value where applicable, change management, risk and opportunity management, and performance reporting.
• Provide commercial and contractual leadership, including oversight of variations, claims, notices, change orders, payment matters, and contractual correspondence in coordination with commercial and contracts teams.
• Champion a strong health, safety, environment, quality, and security culture, ensuring compliance with company, client, statutory, and project requirements.
• Ensure adequate project resourcing, approve staffing plans, support recruitment and mobilization, and maintain appropriate leadership and technical capability throughout the project lifecycle.
• Lead, mentor, and develop project leadership personnel, establish performance expectations, and drive a collaborative, accountable, and results-focused team culture.
• Promote digital delivery, BIM, data-driven reporting, document control, and information management practices to improve project coordination, governance, and decision-making.
• Ensure effective coordination of interfaces between disciplines, packages, contractors, adjacent projects, and external stakeholders to minimize execution risks and delays.
• Lead project risk reviews and escalation of critical issues, ensuring mitigation measures, contingency actions, and recovery plans are implemented and monitored.
• Oversee testing, commissioning, handover, closeout, lessons learned, and final account activities to achieve an orderly and contract-compliant project completion.
• Present project status, key risks, financial performance, forecasts, and strategic recommendations to senior management and the Client as required.
• Perform other responsibilities associated with the position as may be appropriate.

Qualifications and Experience

• A minimum of 10 years of experience in project leadership roles, preferably within large-scale, complex projects.
• Demonstrated ability to provide strategic, commercial, technical, and operational leadership.
• Strong understanding of project governance, execution strategies, and risk management.
• Experience in managing multidisciplinary teams and coordinating various project functions.
• Proficiency in project controls, including schedule performance, cost forecasting, and change management.

Work Environment

This is a full-time position based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The role requires leadership within a dynamic project environment, collaborating with various internal and external stakeholders.