Director Parks and Green Spaces📣 Job Ad

About Qiddiya Investment Company

Qiddiya Investment Company is developing Qiddiya City, a future hub for entertainment, sports, and culture. This ambitious project aims to create a vibrant destination, and the successful management of its green spaces is central to achieving this vision. The company is committed to establishing sustainable and visually appealing environments across the city.

Role Overview

Qiddiya Investment Company is seeking a Director - Parks and Green Spaces to provide strategic leadership, governance, and portfolio oversight for all landscape, horticulture, irrigation, parks, green corridors, streetscapes, and public realm softscape assets across Qiddiya City. This full-time role is critical for establishing the green spaces operating model, setting standards, and ensuring landscaped assets are safe, sustainable, resilient, visually high quality, and guest-ready throughout the year.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership and governance for green spaces, landscaping, horticulture, irrigation, parks, green corridors, streetscapes, and public realm softscape assets across Qiddiya City.
• Establish and maintain the green spaces operating model, including standards, policies, inspection routines, maintenance strategies, service levels, KPIs, reporting, and escalation governance.
• Lead the operation and maintenance of parks, gardens, medians, boulevards, public realm landscapes, recreational landscapes, and associated irrigation infrastructure to ensure safe, healthy, attractive, and guest-ready environments.
• Provide senior operational input into design reviews, value engineering, project gateways, testing, commissioning, handover, and acceptance decisions for new landscape and irrigation assets.
• Oversee asset registers, lifecycle plans, condition assessments, replacement programmes, risk registers, performance dashboards, and operational readiness activities for all green space and landscape assets.
• Direct contractor, consultant, and service provider performance through clear scopes of work, technical standards, audits, SLA/KPI management, commercial challenge, corrective action plans, and governance reviews.
• Manage annual operating and capital budgets, identifying cost optimisation, resource planning, and service improvement opportunities without compromising safety, quality, sustainability, or guest experience.
• Build, lead, and develop the landscaping and green spaces team, setting clear priorities, developing capability, promoting accountability, and ensuring disciplined, evidence-based decision making.

Technical Authority and Sustainable Practices

The Director acts as the senior technical authority for landscaping, horticulture, irrigation, and public realm softscape operations. This involves ensuring designs, handovers, and operating practices are maintainable, sustainable, and aligned with local conditions. A key focus is driving sustainable landscape management, including water conservation, smart irrigation, climate-resilient planting, native and adaptive species strategies, biodiversity enhancement, green waste reduction, and plant health management. Expertise in local horticultural practices, climate-appropriate planting, water efficiency, plant health, and knowledge of plant species native to the Arabian Peninsula is essential.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent qualification in Landscape Architecture, Horticulture, Agriculture, Irrigation Engineering, Environmental Science, Civil Engineering, Facilities Management, or a related discipline.
• Relevant professional or technical qualification in horticulture, irrigation management, arboriculture, landscape operations, asset management, project management, sustainability, or health and safety is desirable.
• Typically 12–15+ years’ experience across landscaping, horticulture, irrigation, parks, public realm, environmental operations, facilities management, or city-scale O&M, including significant experience in a senior leadership role.
• Demonstrable experience leading large-scale landscape operations, public realm maintenance, irrigation networks, contractor governance, operational readiness, asset handover, and lifecycle planning.
• Strong experience with local horticultural practices, climate-appropriate planting, water-efficient landscape management, and plant species native to the Arabian Peninsula.
• Desirable experience within master-planned cities or communities, mixed-use developments, entertainment destinations, giga-projects, municipal environments, parks, public realm assets, or large-scale developments within Saudi Arabia or the GCC.

Application Process

Candidates who meet the outlined qualifications and experience are encouraged to apply. This role offers an opportunity to contribute to the development of a significant urban landscape project.