Director Urban Realm and Landscape Hospitality HS📣 Job Ad

About the Role

Qiddiya Investment Company is developing a landmark destination in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, focused on entertainment, culture, and hospitality. The Hospitality Business Unit is seeking an experienced Director Urban Realm and Landscape to lead the design agenda for its hotel assets. This full-time position requires over 10 years of experience and is based in Riyadh.

Role Overview

In this role, you will be responsible for defining the urban realm and landscape design strategy across the hospitality portfolio. This includes shaping landscape narratives, arrival experiences, and external spaces for all hotel tiers, ensuring distinctive and experiential outdoor environments that align with Qiddiya's vision. A key aspect of the role is ensuring seamless connectivity and integration across ground planes and adjacent zones.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the definition of urban realm and landscape for hospitality environments from brief to approved design direction, focusing on arrival experiences and external spaces that are distinctive, emotive, and commercially viable.
• Articulate and present urban realm and landscape proposals through compelling narratives and visuals to gain alignment and achieve timely outcomes.
• Define urban realm and landscape principles, narratives, planting strategies, material palettes, and signature elements for each hotel tier to establish consistent design baselines.
• Oversee consultant briefing and scope definition, validating design scope and specialist inputs to ensure alignment with development briefs, design intent, operator standards, and governance approvals.
• Govern landscape and specialist consultants, driving strategic approaches to appointment, scope, and deliverables, while overseeing performance, quality, and creative alignment.
• Provide functional governance to project design management teams, reviewing and endorsing urban realm and landscape deliverables to maintain approved design intent.
• Lead structured reviews of design submissions at key milestones, providing clear feedback and endorsement.
• Contribute technical input to development briefs and coordinate across disciplines to embed cohesive external environments.
• Drive integration across architecture, interiors, and masterplanning to ensure seamless connectivity between ground planes and zones.
• Oversee landscape FF&E and OS&E strategies, ensuring alignment with design intent and commercial requirements.
• Lead mock-ups and prototyping for elements such as planting and materials to ensure quality.
• Provide creative and technical design oversight through design and construction phases, resolving interfaces and deviations.
• Guide value engineering and design optimization, balancing design intent with performance, guest experience, cost, and operational requirements.
• Champion innovation in guest experience, materials, and sensory design, embedding ESG and Vision 2030 priorities.
• Mentor teams and drive continuous improvement of design processes, standards, and best practices.

Required Skills and Experience

• Strong landscape and urban realm design literacy, with the ability to work from masterplan scale to detailed external environments.
• Deep understanding of hospitality outdoor design, including arrival sequences, spatial flow, planting strategies, materials, and external guest experience.
• Strong creative and spatial thinking, with the ability to translate landscape narratives into compelling concepts and coordinated design outputs.
• Ability to manage landscape consultants and influence design outcomes across multiple disciplines.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to articulate landscape intent to secure alignment and drive decision-making.
• Commercial awareness of landscape construction, FF&E budgets, program constraints, and value engineering impacts.
• Good understanding of climate-responsive design, planting, irrigation, and environmental systems relevant to KSA/GCC contexts.
• Proficiency in design and coordination tools such as AutoCAD, Rhino, Adobe CC, and BIM/CDE platforms.
• Experience in a senior landscape or urban realm leadership role (Design Director, Principal, or equivalent) within a design practice or developer environment.
• Proven track record delivering hospitality or resort landscape environments from concept through construction.
• Experience managing external landscape consultants and specialist sub-consultants.
• Experience working across multi-disciplinary teams, integrating architecture, interiors, and masterplanning.
• Experience developing and delivering landscape mock-ups, prototyping, and material validation.
• Strong experience presenting landscape concepts and external environment strategies to senior stakeholders.
• Experience working with hospitality operators and understanding external amenity requirements.
• Experience in KSA/GCC or similar large-scale development environments is preferred.

Qualifications

A Bachelor's degree in Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, or a related discipline is required. Professional membership or recognized certification (*, CMLI, ASLA, or equivalent) is preferred.