Senior Façade Engineer

About the Role

Buro Happold is seeking a Senior Façade Engineer to join their team in Riyadh. This full-time role involves designing high-performing, sustainable building envelopes and leading facade engineering solutions for complex projects. The position requires 5-10 years of experience and offers the opportunity to advance expertise across all stages of facade design, from concept to construction and site support.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead facade engineering delivery on medium-sized projects, with support from senior technical leaders as needed.
• Work within single-discipline and multidisciplinary teams, attending and chairing meetings with clients, architects, contractors, consultants, and specialist subcontractors in an advisory capacity.
• Develop facade designs based on initial client requirements, architectural concepts, or remediation proposals.
• Prepare and coordinate facade details, performance specifications, technical reports, calculations, schedules, and tender documentation.
• Review contractor and supplier technical submissions, including shop drawings, material proposals, samples, mock-ups, and testing documentation.
• Conduct site visits to monitor and assess facade installation, workmanship, quality, and compliance with approved designs.
• Support inspections and technical investigations of existing facade systems, contributing to repair, remediation, or refurbishment recommendations.
• Attend project, site, and technical meetings, providing clear advice on facade design, construction, performance, and coordination.
• Support senior staff in providing design leadership on facade issues to the wider client and design team.
• Identify facade-related technical risks and develop practical, coordinated, and deliverable solutions.
• Provide input to bids, design competitions, proposals, and work-winning activities.
• Maintain strong client relationships throughout project delivery.
• Collaborate effectively with internal and external stakeholders.
• Mentor junior team members and contribute to technical knowledge sharing within the facade engineering team.

Required Qualifications and Experience

Candidates should be technically competent and motivated engineers with a solid foundation in facade engineering, confident in applying design principles practically within a fast-paced, creative, and multidisciplinary environment. Experience in most of the following areas is expected:

• Facade design involving at least four of the following materials: aluminium, steel, concrete, stone, glass, and timber.
• Robust knowledge of facade weather-performance requirements, including air permeability, water penetration, drainage, pressure equalisation, condensation control, and long-term durability.
• Architectural component-detail design, with an understanding of aesthetic intent, technical performance, and buildability.
• Working knowledge of building physics, including ventilation, solar-gain control, thermal insulation, overheating, glare control, and occupant comfort.
• Understanding of structural design principles relevant to facades, including movement, tolerances, support, restraint, deflection, and differential movement.
• Knowledge of glass structural design and glazing-system performance.
• Awareness of sustainability design drivers and the role of facade design in reducing energy demand and improving whole-life building performance.
• Solid understanding of passive fire-protection strategies, including cavity barriers, fire stopping, intumescent paint, and facade fire-safety interfaces.
• Practical knowledge of handling, fabricating, and installing typical cladding materials.
• Knowledge of common facade and cladding systems.

Technical Skills and Competencies

• Site experience involving at least five facade or envelope systems, such as traditional stick curtain walling, unitised curtain walling, precast systems, rainscreen cladding, steel framing systems, and masonry construction.
• Good awareness of the interdependencies and constraints of architecture, structures, building services, fire engineering, acoustics, and computational modelling.
• Comprehensive knowledge of international facade standards and industry best practice, including CWCT, EN, ASTM, and AAMA standards.
• Knowledge of Saudi Building Code requirements relevant to facade design, procurement, testing, and construction.
• Experience applying relevant standards through facade design development, technical review, procurement, testing, and construction-stage support.
• Proficiency in AutoCAD, with strong 2D capability essential and 3D capability preferred.
• Experience using Revit; Rhino experience is also preferred.
• A high standard of written and verbal English communication.
• Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly through reports, presentations, design discussions, hand sketches, and technical mark-ups.

Work Environment

This role is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as part of a collaborative multidisciplinary team within Buro Happold. The company maintains a clear strategic plan, a strong learning culture, and an entrepreneurial mindset, focusing on sustainability, equity, social, and performance outcomes.