Head of Design and Technical Office

POSITION

Title: Head of Design and Technical Office

Department: Design and Technical Office

Reports to: Executive Director

Reports: 15, across five functions

Location: Riyadh

Type: Full time, permanent

WHAT THE DEPARTMENT DELIVERS

Concept and schematic interior design, space planning and zoning · design development including layouts, ceilings, elevations, finishes, joinery and furniture · mechanical, electrical and low-current design and coordination for fit-out scope · construction and shop drawings, and joinery and production drawings for our own factory · material and finish specification and schedules · three-dimensional visualization and client presentation material · technical support to site during construction · as-built records at closeout.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

1. The department — resourcing, workload, standards and competence. Appoints a named design lead on every project, in writing, before design starts.
2. The design program — agrees it with the project manager on every project and holds it. Raises in writing, before work continues, where the brief, the budget and the schedule cannot all be met.
3. Review and issue — reviews and signs every drawing, schedule and specification before it leaves the department. Makes sure every design is checked by someone other than the person who produced it.
4. Buildability — makes sure we design what Lujain can actually build. Any detail beyond the factory's or the site's capability is agreed with the factory and the project manager before issue.
5. Standards — one set for the whole department: drawing coding, title block, layering, finish codes, drawing levels. No project invents its own.
6. External designers — appoints, briefs and reviews them to our standards. We use external design services often; appointing one does not transfer our responsibility for what is issued.
7. Cost — designs to the budget, and leads value engineering when a price returns above target while protecting the design intent.
8. Change control — nothing actioned on a verbal instruction. Changes recorded, priced where they carry cost or time, re-issued under a new revision.
9. Site support — answers technical queries and RFIs within the agreed response time, and owns the as-built record at closeout.
10. People — assesses every member of the department against the capability register, with a named action and a date against every gap.

AUTHORITY — this is the point of the position

The appointee has the authority to:

• Hold an issue, reject a drawing or require a re-check where it does not meet the design policy, including where a project deadline is pressing
• Stop a design going to the Client or to the site where it does not meet the standard
• Appoint the design lead on each project and allocate the department's resources
• Recommend the appointment of external design consultants and reject their output

Where holding an issue affects a commitment made to a Client, the appointee escalates to the Executive Director the same day.

QUALIFICATIONS — ESSENTIAL

• Bachelor's degree in Architecture, Interior Architecture or Interior Design. Engineering acceptable where supported by substantial interior fit-out experience
• 10 to 15 years in fit-out or interior contracting, including at least 5 years leading a design or technical office team
• Must come from a design-and-build fit-out contractor, not a pure design consultancy. This is the filter that matters most. A consultancy designer has never been accountable for what a factory and a site can actually deliver, and that is most of this job. A strong portfolio from a consultancy background will look convincing and will not survive the role — please treat this as essential, not preferred
• Proven across the full chain: concept, design development, construction drawings, factory production drawings, site technical support, as-built
• Able to read and coordinate MEP services against ceilings and structure, and to challenge a coordination that does not work. Need not be an MEP engineer
• Experience appointing and managing external design consultants and holding them to a standard
• Saudi market experience, Riyadh preferred. Saudi Council of Engineers registration
• Arabic and English, both at working level
• AutoCAD

PREFERRED

• Revit or another BIM platform, and the ability to lead the department into modelled delivery
• SketchUp or equivalent three-dimensional awareness
• Corporate and workplace fit-out, hospitality, or both
• Exposure to joinery manufacture
• Experience working to a documented design procedure set
• Familiar with Autodesk Forma or alternative.