Senior Stakeholder Architect

About the Role

WSP in the Middle East is seeking a Senior Stakeholder Architect to join its team in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This full-time position is crucial for supporting a growing portfolio of complex projects within the region. The role involves acting as a primary interface between architectural and multidisciplinary design teams, clients, project stakeholders, authorities, consultants, and delivery partners.

Role Purpose and Contribution

The Senior Stakeholder Architect will ensure that stakeholder requirements are clearly understood, coordinated, and integrated into the design process. This position supports the timely progression of approvals and key project milestones. It is suitable for an architect who combines strong architectural and technical understanding with effective stakeholder management, communication, and coordination skills.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and coordinate daily engagement with key project stakeholders across architectural workstreams.
• Act as an interface between clients, architectural teams, multidisciplinary design teams, consultants, contractors, and relevant authorities.
• Understand stakeholder requirements and ensure their appropriate capture, communication, and integration into the design process.
• Support the architectural leadership team in managing stakeholder expectations, design interfaces, and key project commitments.
• Coordinate stakeholder comments and requirements across design stages, monitoring their incorporation and close-out.
• Maintain clear stakeholder registers, action trackers, interface logs, approval trackers, and decision records.
• Support submissions and approvals with relevant Saudi authorities and other project stakeholders as applicable.
• Identify stakeholder-related risks, interface issues, and potential approval constraints early, escalating them as appropriate.
• Facilitate and participate in stakeholder workshops, design coordination meetings, technical reviews, and client presentations.
• Prepare professional presentations, reports, meeting records, and briefing materials for senior stakeholders.
• Collaborate with architects, engineers, project managers, BIM/digital teams, and other disciplines to maintain coordinated project delivery.
• Support the resolution of architectural and multidisciplinary interface issues arising from stakeholder requirements.
• Monitor stakeholder actions against the project program and follow up with responsible parties to ensure timely closure.
• Provide architectural input into stakeholder discussions and communicate the impact of changes on design, program, and deliverables.
• Support Principal and senior project leadership in high-level client and stakeholder engagements when required.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Architecture or a closely related discipline.
• Professional architectural registration or membership is advantageous.
• A minimum of 10 years of relevant architectural/design experience, with substantial involvement in large or complex multidisciplinary projects.
• Strong experience in stakeholder management, architectural coordination, design management, or technical interface management.
• Experience working with multidisciplinary design teams across architecture, structures, MEP, and specialist disciplines.
• Previous experience in Saudi Arabia or the wider Middle East is highly advantageous.

Required Skills

• Understanding of design development, technical coordination, authority submissions, and approval processes.
• Ability to review technical information and translate complex design matters into clear stakeholder communications.
• Experience maintaining stakeholder matrices, design comment trackers, approval schedules, and action registers.

Location

This position is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.