Manager - Operational Readiness

Role Overview

Manager - Operational Readiness at Qiddiya Investment Company. The role is based at Qiddiya Investment Company.

Role Purpose

Develop, maintain, and govern the integrated Operational Readiness schedule, ensuring OR activities, milestones, and dependencies are aligned with asset delivery timelines, trial operations, and opening dates. Act as the single source of truth for OR programme scheduling and provide early visibility of risks to readiness milestones.

Key Responsibilities

Schedule Development & Maintenance

• Build and maintain the integrated OR master schedule in Primavera P6 covering all readiness workstreams: workforce mobilisation, training, systems readiness, SOPs, permits and licensing, FF&E/OS&E, trial operations, and handover.
• Develop countdown plans and T-minus schedules for asset openings, including trial operations and soft opening phases.

Alignment & Integration

• Align OR schedules with project delivery milestones, stage gates, and asset opening dates, maintaining interfaces with PMO and delivery partner schedules.
• Support workforce ramp-up planning by aligning recruitment, onboarding, and training timelines with operational need dates.

Progress Tracking & Risk Management

• Track progress against baseline, identify slippage and critical path impacts, and escalate risks to readiness milestones with recovery options.
• Maintain schedule change control, baseline management, and documentation of assumptions and dependencies.

Reporting & Governance

• Produce scheduling reports, dashboards, and lookaheads using Power BI and Excel for OR leadership and governance forums.
• Coordinate schedule inputs from functional leads and consolidate updates on an agreed cadence.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Project Management, Business Administration, or related field.
• 5–8 years of scheduling and planning experience, ideally within operational readiness, giga-projects, entertainment and hospitality openings, or large-scale infrastructure.
• Demonstrated hands-on Primavera P6 expertise, including baseline and change control on complex programmes.
• Experience supporting asset openings, trial operations, or commissioning-to-operations transitions strongly preferred.
• PMP, PMI-SP, or equivalent certification an advantage.

Skills & Competencies

• Primavera P6 (advanced level).
• Power BI.
• Excel.