Director - Urban Realm and Landscape - Hospitality - 20013113 HS8

Role Overview

Director – Urban Realm and Landscape – Hospitality at Qiddiya Investment Company. This is a leadership position shaping landscape and urban realm design across a hospitality portfolio in the Kingdom.

Company Overview

Qiddiya Investment Company is developing a landmark destination redefining entertainment, culture and hospitality. The Hospitality Business Unit is building a portfolio of hotel assets central to this vision, progressing toward delivery to the highest standards of design quality, guest experience and commercial performance.

Role Purpose

You will lead the urban realm and landscape design agenda across the hospitality portfolio, defining landscape narratives, arrival experiences and external spaces across all asset tiers. You will shape distinctive and experiential outdoor environments aligned with Qiddiya's vision, ensuring seamless connectivity and integration across ground planes and adjacent zones.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Design Leadership

• Lead the creative urban realm and landscape definition of hospitality environments from development brief to approved design direction, curating distinctive, emotive and commercially viable arrival experiences and external spaces aligned with Qiddiya, district and Operator visions.
• Articulate and position urban realm and landscape proposals through compelling narratives, visuals and presentations to secure alignment and timely outcomes across governance stages.
• Define urban realm and landscape principles, narratives, planting strategies, material palettes and signature elements for each hotel tier, establishing consistent and distinctive design baselines across the portfolio.
• Drive integration across architecture, interiors and masterplanning, ensuring seamless connectivity between ground planes and zones.
• Champion innovation in guest experience, materials and sensory design, embedding ESG and Vision 2030 priorities.

Consultant & Team Governance

• Oversee consultant briefing and scope definition, validating design scope and specialist inputs to ensure alignment with development brief, design intent, Operator standards and governance approvals.
• Lead and govern landscape and specialist consultants, driving strategic approaches on appointment, scope and deliverables and overseeing performance, quality and creative alignment.
• Provide functional governance to project-embedded design management teams, reviewing and endorsing urban realm and landscape deliverables to ensure approved design intent is maintained through delivery.
• Mentor teams and drive continuous improvement of design processes, standards and best practices across the portfolio.

Design Review & Quality Assurance

• Lead structured review of design submissions across key milestones, providing clear feedback and endorsement to support design progression.
• Lead technical input to development briefs and coordinate across disciplines, embedding cohesive external environments across arrival, transition zones and amenities.
• Oversee visualisation and design communication (including CGI strategy), ensuring concepts are clearly articulated and aligned with design narratives and stakeholder expectations.

Delivery & Implementation

• Oversee landscape FF&E and OS&E strategies, ensuring alignment with design intent and commercial requirements.
• Lead mock-ups and prototyping (e.g. planting, materials, paving), ensuring quality through to landscape freeze.
• Provide creative and technical design oversight through design and construction, resolving interfaces and deviations to maintain quality and design integrity.
• Guide value engineering and design optimisation, balancing design intent with external environment performance, guest experience, cost, programme and operational requirements.

Qualifications & Experience

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Landscape Architecture, Urban Design or related discipline.

Professional Certification

• Professional membership or recognised certification preferred (e.g. CMLI, ASLA or equivalent).

Years of Experience

• 15+ years' experience in design management, architecture or interior design.

Preferred Background

• 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 across concept through construction.
• Experience managing external landscape consultants and specialist sub-consultants (e.g. water features, lighting).
• 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 external amenity requirements.
• Experience in KSA / GCC or similar large-scale development environments preferred.

Skills & Competencies

Design & Technical Skills

• Strong landscape and urban realm design literacy, with ability to operate 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 ability to translate landscape narratives into compelling concepts and coordinated design outputs.
• Good understanding of climate-responsive design, planting, irrigation and environmental systems relevant to KSA / GCC contexts.
• Proficiency in design and coordination tools (e.g. AutoCAD, Rhino, Adobe CC, BIM/CDE platforms).

Leadership & Stakeholder Skills

• Ability to manage landscape consultants and influence design outcomes across multiple disciplines.
• Strong stakeholder management, articulating landscape intent to secure alignment and drive decision-making.
• Commercial awareness of landscape construction, FF&E budgets, programme constraints and value engineering impacts.