Director: Water & Wastewater at Parsons in Location not listed

Director: Water & Wastewater

Location: SA - Riyadh, Qiddiya · Office

In a world of possibilities, pursue one with endless opportunities. Imagine Next!At Parsons, you can imagine a career where you thrive, work with exceptional people, and be yourself. Guided by our leadership vision of valuing people, embracing agility, and fostering growth, we cultivate an innovative culture that empowers you to achieve your full potential. Unleash your talent and redefine what’s possible.

Job Description:

**Join a Landmark Giga-Project Shaping the Future of Saudi Arabia**

Our client is delivering one of the Kingdom’s most ambitious and high-profile giga-projects, set to redefine global standards in destination development, innovation, and visitor experience. As part of the integrated Delivery Partner team, you will play a key role in planning, designing, and implementing world-class assets and infrastructure that support the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

This is a unique opportunity to contribute to a pioneering program at scale, working alongside industry-leading experts, cutting-edge technologies, and diverse stakeholders. If you are driven by challenge, motivated by impact, and eager to be part of a legacy project that will influence generations to come, we invite you to consider joining this transformative journey.

The Director - Water & Wastewater Utilities is the ultimate technical, environmental, and operational authority responsible for the end-to-end water and sanitation lifecycle across the entire city footprint.

With a mandate requiring over 20 years of distinguished experience, this executive-level leader oversees the transition of massive water distribution networks, wastewater collection grids, treatment plants, and recycling systems from construction teams into live operations. This role focuses on water supply security, 100% wastewater recycling, advanced treatment plant governance, and strict alignment with circular economy frameworks to protect multi-billion-dollar infrastructure investments in challenging or arid environments.

Key Responsibilities

1. Master Utility Governance & Network Operations

• Direct the strategic operation, asset integrity, and preventative maintenance of three distinct, large-scale networks city-wide: Potable Water (drinking supply), Wastewater (sewage collection), and Treated Sewage Effluent (TSE/recycled water distribution).
• Serve as the principal executive liaison with national water networks, municipal sanitation authorities, and environmental public regulators to negotiate bulk water purchase agreements, tariff structures, and discharge compliance pathways.
• Oversee the complete operational performance, mechanical integrity, and biological stability of advanced Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP), mega-scale reservoirs, high-capacity pumping stations, and sophisticated filtration systems.
• Design and enforce robust water security protocols, strategic emergency reserve policies, and grid redundancy workflows to guarantee zero-downtime supply and failure-free sanitation for high-load commercial, entertainment, and residential districts.

2. Sustainability, Circular Economy & Smart Integration

• Drive the city's environmental and sustainability commitments by implementing a 100% wastewater recycling mandate, ensuring all treated effluent is diverted safely to power district cooling plants and massive public landscaping networks.
• Formulate specialized water-conservation and low-evaporation recycling policies for heavy-use infrastructure, such as aquatic attractions, lagoons, and premium golf courses.
• Partner with technology teams to direct the deployment and governance of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) networks, automated water-quality monitoring arrays, and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) for real-time flow and leak-detection tracking.

3. Financial Cross-Charging & Asset Lifecycle Alignment

• Oversee the seamless integration of smart-meter flow data with the corporate finance division to enable the automated tracking, allocation, and recovery of utility expenses.
• Provide the Service Charge Director with audited water-consumption and wastewater-discharge models to ensure precise infrastructure cross-charging and utility billing frameworks for commercial entities and distinct sub-developments.
• Collaborate with the Asset Lifecycle Planning (LCP) division to map out multi-decade Capital Asset Replacement Plans (CARP) for core utilities, ensuring that long-term pipe, pump, treatment plant, and reservoir depreciation timelines are accurately funded via community sinking funds.

4. Stage-Gate Acceptance & Capital Handover

• Act as the ultimate technical sign-off authority on the Stage-Gate Handover Committee, overseeing the formal operational acceptance ("Vesting") of all civil water, wastewater, and irrigation infrastructure from engineering contractors.
• Formulate rigorous Testing & Commissioning verification rules, ensuring that all pressure tests, hydraulic pipeline modeling, and chemical/biological safety commissioning records are fully compliant with international health, environmental, and drinking water codes prior to operational adoption.

Job Requirements & Qualifications

Education & Professional Credentials

• Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, or a highly relevant water-resources/sanitation discipline from an accredited institution.
• Master’s Degree in Environmental/Hydraulic Engineering, Engineering Management, or an MBA from a globally recognized institution is highly preferred.
• Professional Certifications: Active status as a Chartered Engineer (CEng), Professional Engineer (PE), or equivalent senior registration. Advanced credentials in Asset Management (such as IAM Diploma or CAMA) are a significant advantage.

Experience

• Minimum of 20+ years of progressive, distinguished leadership experience within national water supply and sanitation utilities, mega-scale real estate developments, or master-planned smart cities.
• At least 8 years in a senior executive or director-level capacity, managing massive, multi-disciplinary utility teams and multi-million-dollar water/wastewater infrastructure operating budgets (OPEX/CAPEX).
• Proven track record of spearheading the operational handover and grid integration of giga-scale civil water distribution networks, regional sewage networks, or district-wide wastewater treatment facilities.
• Deep experience navigating water scarcity challenges, environmental compliance auditing, wastewater biological safety, and circular economy integration within major modern urban developments located in arid regions.

Technical & Soft Skills

• Deep technical command over clean-water hydraulic systems, fluid dynamics, pressure zone management, sewage collection logistics, biological treatment processes, and advanced smart-grid utility architectures.
• Executive-level fluency in industrial operational technologies, including SCADA networks, acoustic leak-detection intelligence, and SAP Enterprise Asset Management (EAMS) workflows.
• Exceptional executive presence and stakeholder management skills, with a demonstrated ability to influence state-level water utilities, environmental regulators, corporate executives, and international operating partners.

Parsons equally employs representation at all job levels no matter the race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, disability or genetic information.

We truly invest and care about our employee’s wellbeing and provide endless growth opportunities as the sky is the limit, so aim for the stars! Imagine next and join the Parsons quest—APPLY TODAY!

Parsons is aware of fraudulent recruitment practices. To learn more about recruitment fraud and how to report it, please refer to https://www.parsons.com/fraudulent-recruitment/.