The posting
Qiddiya is Saudi Arabia’s future capital of entertainment, sports, and culture — a 360km² giga-project just outside Riyadh. From F1-grade racetracks and theme parks to stadiums, healthcare facilities, and world-class performance venues, Qiddiya is creating a destination unlike any other.
As the development evolves from large-scale construction into long-term operations and asset stewardship, the focus is shifting toward operational excellence, tenant partnerships, commercial performance, and sustainable asset management. This transition marks the next phase of Qiddiya’s journey — ensuring that its destinations and facilities are not only built to world-class standards, but operated, maintained, and optimized for generations to come.
This is more than a project — it is a national transformation. We are seeking ambitious professionals who want to play a critical role in shaping the operational future of one of the world’s most iconic developments. If you are driven by scale, impact, and the opportunity to help establish enduring, high-performing assets and experiences, Qiddiya is calling.
Job Summary:
The Technical Director is responsible for owner-side leadership and oversight of all technical aspects across hospitality assets, including hotel handovers, defects management, engineering governance, PPM strategy review, POMEC planning, technical audits, building systems performance, lifecycle planning, sustainability initiatives, and operational technical support.
The role provides strategic technical oversight throughout the asset lifecycle, ensuring assets are commissioned correctly, maintained effectively, and operated efficiently. The Technical Director will review operator engineering practices, maintenance programs, capital plans, technical standards, energy performance, and asset condition to ensure alignment with owner expectations and industry best practices.
The ideal candidate combines extensive hotel engineering leadership experience with asset management discipline, technical due diligence expertise, operational readiness knowledge, and strong stakeholder management capabilities.
Requirements
Hotel Handovers & Operational Readiness
- Lead owner-side review and oversight of hospitality asset handovers from Development and Project Delivery teams into Operations.
- Ensure all building systems, life safety systems, MEP infrastructure, specialist systems, and back-of-house facilities are fully commissioned, tested, documented, and ready for operations.
- Review testing and commissioning reports, integrated systems testing, performance verification, and operator acceptance documentation.
- Oversee defects identification, snag management, warranty tracking, and close-out processes.
- Coordinate operational readiness reviews related to engineering, facilities management, technical services, maintenance workshops, spare parts, and asset documentation.
- Ensure complete technical handover packages including O&M manuals, as-built drawings, asset registers, warranties, maintenance schedules, and digital asset information.
Technical Operations Oversight
- Provide owner-side technical leadership across operating hotels and hospitality assets.
- Monitor engineering performance, asset reliability, equipment uptime, and operational risks.
- Review operator engineering reports, technical KPI performance, maintenance compliance, and critical asset condition assessments.
- Support operators in resolving complex technical issues affecting operations, guest experience, safety, compliance, or asset performance.
- Ensure technical operations align with owner objectives, operator obligations, and approved asset management plans.
- Conduct periodic technical inspections and physical asset reviews.
PPM Strategy & Maintenance Governance
- Review and challenge operator Preventive Planned Maintenance (PPM) strategies to ensure alignment with manufacturer requirements, operational realities, lifecycle expectations, and asset preservation objectives.
- Evaluate maintenance frequencies, procedures, staffing levels, contract scopes, and resource allocation.
- Monitor PPM compliance performance across all hospitality assets.
- Review maintenance backlog levels and corrective maintenance trends.
- Ensure critical assets receive appropriate preventive, predictive, and condition-based maintenance.
- Establish technical governance frameworks and maintenance performance reporting structures.
POMEC Review & Capital Planning
- Lead owner-side review of annual POMEC submissions and capital expenditure requests.
- Assess requests against asset condition, lifecycle requirements, risk mitigation needs, statutory obligations, operational priorities, and return on investment.
- Validate replacement cycles for major building systems, MEP equipment, FF&E, and engineering infrastructure.
- Develop long-term capital planning frameworks and rolling asset replacement programs.
- Ensure POMEC investments support asset preservation and long-term value creation.
- Monitor approved capital expenditure implementation and project close-out.
Engineering & Building Systems Governance
- Establish technical standards and engineering governance frameworks across the hospitality portfolio.
- Review performance of HVAC, electrical, plumbing, fire and life safety, BMS, ELV, vertical transportation, water treatment, and specialist hospitality systems.
- Ensure critical systems operate safely, efficiently, and in accordance with applicable regulations and standards.
- Review technical risks associated with aging infrastructure, deferred maintenance, operational changes, and capital interventions.
- Support development of technical policies, engineering standards, and asset management procedures.
Sustainability & Resource Management
- Support implementation of sustainability initiatives across the portfolio.
- Review building performance data relating to energy, water, waste, and carbon reduction opportunities.
- Identify technical initiatives that improve operational efficiency and environmental performance.
- Support compliance with sustainability frameworks including LEED, BREEAM, Green Key, GRESB, and relevant Saudi sustainability requirements.
- Promote energy management, utility optimization, and lifecycle efficiency practices.
Technical Due Diligence & Asset Protection
- Conduct technical due diligence assessments on operating and newly delivered assets.
- Review asset condition surveys, engineering audits, lifecycle assessments, and risk analyses.
- Identify technical risks and recommend mitigation plans.
- Ensure asset management decisions are supported by technical data and lifecycle considerations.
- Advise Asset Management leadership on technical implications of investment, operational, and capital expenditure decisions.
Stakeholder Management & Governance
- Act as the primary owner-side technical representative with hotel operators, FM providers, consultants, contractors, project teams, and internal stakeholders.
- Support technical reviews with operators and engineering leadership teams.
- Present technical recommendations and risk assessments to senior management.
- Ensure technical recommendations are supported by engineering rationale, financial analysis, asset preservation requirements, and operational impact assessments.
- Coordinate closely with Asset Management, Development, Operational Readiness, Finance, Legal, Procurement, and Sustainability teams.
Qualifications & Experience
- Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Building Services Engineering, Facilities Management, or related discipline.
- Professional Engineering registration or equivalent certification preferred.
- Minimum 15 years of professional experience.
- Minimum 10 years within hospitality engineering, hotel technical services, facilities management, or asset management.
- Experience overseeing luxury hotels, resorts, mixed-use developments, or large integrated destinations.
- Demonstrated experience leading hotel handovers, commissioning reviews, operational readiness, and defect management.
- Proven experience reviewing PPM programs, maintenance strategies, and engineering governance frameworks.
- Strong understanding of POMEC planning, lifecycle asset management, and technical capital expenditure evaluation.
- Experience working with international hotel operators and hospitality brands.
- GCC and large-scale destination development experience strongly preferred.
Preferred Skills
- Strong technical understanding of hotel building systems and engineering operations.
- Expertise in lifecycle asset management and capital planning.
- Advanced knowledge of maintenance management methodologies.
- Ability to challenge operators and consultants constructively while maintaining collaborative relationships.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving capability.
- Experience interpreting technical drawings, commissioning documentation, and engineering reports.
- Financial understanding of POMEC, CAPEX, lifecycle costing, and ROI assessments.
- Excellent stakeholder management and presentation skills.
- Strong governance, risk management, and compliance mindset.
- Ability to translate technical issues into commercial and operational implications.
KPIs / Success Measures
- Successful handover of hospitality assets with minimal operational defects or technical disruptions.
- Completion of technical readiness reviews prior to hotel openings.
- PPM compliance maintained above established portfolio targets.
- Reduction in critical equipment failures and asset downtime across the portfolio.
- POMEC submissions reviewed and approved within established timelines.
- Capital projects delivered in accordance with approved scope, budget, and technical requirements.
- Technical audit findings resolved within agreed corrective action periods.
- Asset lifecycle plans developed and maintained for all operating assets.
- Improvement in utility efficiency and sustainability performance metrics.
- Reduction in maintenance backlog and deferred maintenance exposure.
- Effective management of warranty claims, defects, and technical risk mitigation programs.
Benefits
- Career development opportunities within a rapidly growing hospitality investment platform
- Collaborative and dynamic work environment
- Exposure to high-profile hotel and mixed-use developments in Saudi Arabia
- Competitive salary and performance-based bonus
