Engagement Manager - Operations Advisory

Want to work with the most sought-after minds and most talked-about projects? Your experience of working on complex Advisory Projects in the Middle East might just make you our new Engagement Manager – Operations Advisory.

Here at Buro Happold, expect the exceptional. 

From the projects you will work on to the clients we work with. From career-defining opportunities to an inclusive and diverse practice where we all contribute to a more equitable world. From our reputation to our relationships. Wherever your Buro Happold career takes you, it’ll be anything but ordinary. 

Your next role

Buro Happold has a clear strategic plan, strong learning culture and entrepreneurial mindset that will allow you to thrive. 

You’ll be part of something bigger than us all where sustainability, equity, social and performance outcomes matter. All of Buro Happold is committed to doing the right thing, even when that’s the hardest thing. This is a genuine opportunity to make impact - and leave real legacy.

Your key duties

Saudi Arabia is entering a delivery‑led phase in which large portfolios of urban, social and economic infrastructure assets are moving into their operational phase, requiring robust operating models, governance, and performance management frameworks. Buro Happold is uniquely placed in this context, bringing decades of design and advisory experience on many of the Kingdom’s priority assets and programmes.

In this role you will sit at the intersection of strategy, engineering and operations, helping clients to translate vision‑led masterplans and investment cases into practical, value‑for‑money operating solutions that work on the ground. You will play a visible part in shaping how major assets are operated, maintained and continually optimised to deliver desired outcomes over the long term.

As Engagement Manager – Operations Advisory, you will lead multidisciplinary consulting engagements that help public and private clients in Saudi Arabia move from planning to delivery as major programmes and giga‑projects transition into their operational phase. Building on Buro Happold’s deep understanding of complex assets across sectors, you will shape and deliver integrated advisory projects that combine our capabilities in strategy development, asset management, engineering, digital solutions, and sustainability across the Built Environment to improve performance, resilience and commercial outcomes.

We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Transport Consultant to join our prestigious team in Dubai, UAE, to work on some of the world’s best and most complex projects.

Client leadership and engagement management

• Act as the primary day‑to‑day leader for Operations engagements, accountable for on‑time, on‑budget delivery and client satisfaction across multiple workstreams. 
• Build and maintain trusted relationships with senior client stakeholders (ministries, delivery entities, asset owners, operators, investors), serving as a strategic advisor on asset operations, service models and transformation roadmaps. 
• Shape engagement scope, workplans, staffing and budgets, ensuring alignment with client priorities, contractual commitments and Buro Happold quality standards. 

Integrated Buro Happold offer development

• Combine capabilities from Asset Consultancy, Advisory, Digital, Sustainability and core Engineering teams into coherent, repeatable Operations offerings tailored to KSA clients. 
• Capture and codify methods, tools and case studies from live projects to create playbooks and accelerators for asset operations, performance improvement and transformation. 
• Collaborate with regional and global leadership to refine the growth strategy for Strategy and Operations services, including priority sectors, geographies and key accounts. 

Business development and practice building

• Originate and lead Operations opportunities with new and existing clients, including proposal leadership, pitch delivery and framework responses. 
• Represent Buro Happold in market‑facing forums in KSA and the GCC, articulating our perspective on asset operations.
• Mentor and develop junior consultants and engineers, contributing to a high‑performing, diverse and collaborative regional advisory team. 

Operating Model design

• Lead the development of operating models and implementation plans for portfolios of assets transitioning into operation, including roles and responsibilities, service delivery models and outsourcing/insourcing options. 
• Define performance frameworks, KPIs and governance structures that link asset operations to wider programme objectives (e.g. Vision 2030, ESG, visitor experience, revenue and cost optimisation). 
• Work with sector and technical specialists to input to commercial models that quantify lifecycle costs, whole‑life value and operational risk, informing investment and operating decisions. 

Your skills and experience

• Significant experience (typically 8–12 years) in management consulting, strategy and operations, asset management or related advisory roles, ideally with exposure to large‑scale infrastructure, urban development or real estate portfolios. 
• Strong track record leading complex consulting engagements or programmes, including responsibility for client relationships, delivery management, team leadership and commercial performance. 
• Demonstrable experience in the KSA market, with understanding of public‑sector structures, delivery entities and the transition from capital delivery to asset operations. 
• Deep understanding of operating model design, asset operations, facilities management, performance management and continuous improvement in an infrastructure or built‑environment context. 
• Ability to work effectively with multidisciplinary technical teams (engineering, digital, sustainability, economics) and synthesise their inputs into clear strategic recommendations for senior decision‑makers. 
• Excellent communication, facilitation and stakeholder‑management skills, including comfort operating at executive and board level and presenting complex analysis in a clear, actionable way. 
• Degree in Engineering, Business, Economics or a related discipline; a postgraduate qualification (e.g. MSc, MBA) and/or relevant professional certifications in asset management or operations would be advantageous. 

Personal qualities

• Strategic, delivery‑focused mindset with the ability to connect high‑level vision to detailed operating realities across large asset portfolios. 
• Collaborative and entrepreneurial approach, with a strong desire to shape and grow an emerging Operations offering within Buro Happold. 

Resilient, adaptable and comfortable working in a fast‑paced, evolving environment as Saudi Arabia’s major programmes move from planning into long‑term operation. 

What we offer you

• Bring your knowledge and expertise to one of the world’s most respected consultancies. 
• Hybrid working arrangements.
• Attractive salary and benefits package
• A strong commitment to your continuous development. Whatever stage in your career, we have a learning and development programme that will enable and empower you 
• Entitlement to two memberships to professional bodies or subscriptions  
• An international culture that wherever your career takes you at Buro Happold, you won’t be far from the exceptional. 

At Buro Happold, everyone else’s extraordinary is just our everyday. Apply today and be a part of our legacy.  

A place for everyone 

Buro Happold values individual's flexible approaches to working patterns as an important part of the way you work and achieve balance. We welcome applications from those who are seeking flexibility in their careers.   

Our exceptional portfolio of projects is the result of the diversity of thought, identities, backgrounds and experiences that shape us. Appreciating each other’s differences is key, we want employees to feel they don’t have to mask elements of their identity to thrive. 

We are working to change the lack of representation of marginalised groups in the built environment and are particularly keen to hear from anyone who feels they are underrepresented in the industry. We have much to learn from one another. Embracing difference allows us to develop the most innovative and elegant solutions.

Please let us know if there are any adjustments, we could make to the application process to make it easier and more comfortable for you. Contact recruitment@burohappold.com so we can work with you to support you throughout your application.

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