Director of Architecture - Hospitality Sector

About Qiddiya and Role Overview

Qiddiya Investment Company is crafting a landmark destination that is transforming the entertainment, cultural, and hospitality landscapes in Saudi Arabia. The Hospitality Business Unit is creating a diverse portfolio of hotel properties pivotal to this vision. We are inviting seasoned professionals to contribute to delivering exceptional design quality, guest experiences, and commercial success across these properties.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive the architectural vision and develop hotel concepts from initial briefs to fully approved design directions, delivering distinctive, emotive, and commercially sound solutions aligned with Qiddiya, district frameworks, and Operator strategies.
• Present and communicate architectural designs effectively to ensure consensus and timely approvals through governance milestones.
• Establish architectural design principles, typologies, and performance benchmarks for various hotel tiers to guarantee uniform and validated design standards portfolio-wide.
• Manage consultant engagement by defining clear scopes, validating specialist inputs, and ensuring adherence to development briefs, asset positioning, Operator criteria, and governance approvals.
• Supervise visualization and design communication efforts, including CGI strategies, to showcase concepts that resonate with design narratives and stakeholder expectations.
• Lead architecture and specialist consultant teams, strategizing appointments, scopes, deliverables, and overseeing quality, creativity, and alignment.
• Provide governance to embedded design management teams, reviewing and endorsing architectural outputs to maintain approved design intentions throughout delivery phases.
• Contribute technical expertise to development briefs, optimizing planning efficiency, ratios, spatial arrangements, and system integration for hospitality assets.
• Facilitate integrated collaboration across architecture, interiors, landscape, and technical disciplines to resolve design interfaces and assure cohesive outcomes.
• Conduct comprehensive reviews of design submissions at key stages, offering definitive feedback and approvals to propel design advancement.
• Offer creative and technical oversight through design and construction stages, resolving conflicts and deviations to preserve design quality and intent.
• Guide value engineering and design optimization efforts, balancing artistic vision, guest experience, and operational performance.
• Advocate sustainability and climate-responsive design by incorporating ESG principles and aligning with the Vision 2030 goals.
• Mentor team members and promote the continuous enhancement of design methodologies, standards, and best practices.

Qualifications and Experience

• A Bachelor's degree in Architecture or a related field is required.
• Preferred possession of professional memberships or certifications such as RIBA, AIA, RICS, or equivalents.
• At least 15 years of professional experience in architectural design focalizing on hospitality, encompassing luxury and mixed-tier projects.

Essential Skills and Attributes

• Advanced architectural design competency with strong judgment and technical evaluation skills across all project phases.
• In-depth knowledge of hospitality planning metrics (areas, efficiencies) and building system integrations (structural, MEP).
• Expertise in managing consultants and influencing design results effectively.
• Awareness of commercial implications concerning costs and timelines.
• Excellent stakeholder management abilities to clearly communicate design intent and foster alignment plus facilitate decision-making.
• Ability to operate efficiently in dynamic environments with shifting priorities and ambiguities.
• Proficiency using design management and coordination software, including Revit, BIM, CDE platforms, Aconex, Autodesk Construction Cloud among others.

Preferred Experience

• Demonstrated leadership experience in senior design positions such as Design Director or Principal within leading architectural firms or developers.
• Proven success overseeing multidisciplinary architectural teams and consultants across numerous projects.
• Strong background in delivering architectural presentations to executive stakeholders and hotel Operators.
• Familiarity with international hotel Operator brand standards and requirements.
• Experience working in Saudi Arabia, GCC, or comparable large development regions is advantageous.