Senior Director - Land & Public Realm Optimisation - Land Use (Q - CO)

Jasara Program Management Company (Jasara PMC) is a leading Joint Venture between Public Investment Fund (PIF), Jacobs, and Saudi Aramco, established to deliver world-class program management services across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Jasara plays a key role in supporting the realization of Saudi Vision 2030, particularly in delivering giga-projects and large-scale infrastructure developments.

We are seeking a Senior Director, Land & Public Realm Optimisation - Land Use to join JASARA PMC. The Senior Director, Land & Public Realm Optimisation is accountable for supporting City Operations in reviewing proposed city land and public realm before it is accepted or vested into the City Operations portfolio. The role assesses parks, landscaped areas, plazas, civic spaces, pedestrian areas, green corridors, recreational open spaces and other proposed public land to determine whether each area is genuinely public, operationally necessary, appropriately sized, cost-efficient and financially sustainable throughout its lifecycle.

The position acts as City Operations’ independent challenge and assurance function. It provides evidence-based recommendations to the Executive Director, City Operations, and relevant governance forums on whether proposed land should be accepted, conditionally accepted, redesigned, reduced, retained by the benefiting developer or asset owner, placed under an alternative management arrangement, or not vested to City Operations.

Key Responsibilities

1. Land and Public Realm Governance

·   Develop and maintain the City Operations Land and Public Realm Vesting Framework, including review criteria, evidence requirements, stage gates, approval routes and decision records.

·   Establish consistent standards for determining public purpose, operational need, affordability, maintainability and ownership responsibility.

·   Ensure proposed land is not assumed to be a City Operations liability solely because it is externally accessible or shown as public realm in a masterplan.

·   Provide formal recommendations and executive decision papers on acceptance, conditional acceptance, redesign, alternative ownership or rejection.

2. Public Purpose and Beneficiary Assessment

·   Assess whether proposed land is genuinely public in purpose, access, use and benefit.

·   Determine whether the primary beneficiaries are the wider city and community or an adjacent private development, hotel, resort, residential community, venue, attraction or commercial asset.

·   Challenge public designations that do not align with the intended user base, access arrangements or operational reality.

·   Recommend that land primarily benefiting private assets remains owned, funded or maintained by the benefiting party while protecting any agreed public-access obligations.

3. Land Area and Functional Need Review

·   Review the scale, location, configuration, boundaries and intended use of parks and other proposed public realm.

·   Assess whether land area is proportionate to forecast demand, public value and demonstrated operational need.

·   Challenge oversized, duplicated, fragmented, inaccessible, residual or low-utilisation public spaces.

·   Identify opportunities to consolidate public realm into fewer, better-performing spaces that provide stronger public value at lower lifecycle cost.

·   Ensure proposed spaces have a clear function, target user, operating concept and measurable benefit.

4. Parks, Open Space and Public Realm Review

·   Lead City Operations reviews of public parks, neighbourhood and destination parks, landscaped open areas, urban plazas, civic spaces, pedestrian areas, public squares, green corridors, recreational open spaces and publicly accessible landscaped land.

·   Assess intended use, forecast demand, opening hours, accessibility, safety, security, thermal comfort, amenities, seasonal use, event potential and long-term renewal needs.

·   Review landscape intensity, irrigation demand, water use, cleaning, waste, pest control, security patrol, staffing, supervision and maintenance access implications.

·   Challenge over-designed or maintenance-intensive solutions where simpler alternatives can maintain quality, accessibility and guest experience.

5. Whole-Life Cost and Affordability

·   Establish a consistent methodology for assessing the whole-life cost of proposed land and public realm.

·   Prepare or assure annual and long-term cost forecasts covering landscape maintenance, irrigation, water, cleaning, waste, security, pest control, amenities, furniture, play equipment, lighting within public spaces, staffing, technology and periodic renewal.

·   Compare forecast public value and utilisation with the operating and renewal liability proposed for City Operations.

·   Identify avoidable cost drivers and recommend redesign, scope reduction, funding contributions or alternative management arrangements where costs are disproportionate.

·   Maintain clear cost assumptions to support City Operations budget, workforce and service planning.

6. Operational Suitability and Maintainability

·   Assess whether proposed parks and public spaces can be safely, practically and efficiently operated.

·   Review access for cleaning, waste collection, landscape maintenance, security patrols, servicing and emergency response.

·   Identify isolated, concealed, inaccessible or difficult-to-supervise areas and unclear public/private boundaries.

·   Assess whether landscaping, amenities and materials are suitable for the climate, anticipated use and available maintenance regime.

·   Recommend design changes that improve usability and reduce cost without undermining public benefit, inclusion or quality.

7. Vesting Recommendations and Conditions

·   Issue clear recommendations to accept, accept subject to conditions, defer pending evidence, redesign or reduce, retain under developer or asset-owner control, adopt a shared model, or reject from the City Operations portfolio.

·   Define conditions relating to boundary clarification, design amendments, cost reduction, maintenance funding, service charges, endowments, developer maintenance periods, performance guarantees, public access, handover standards and defect rectification.

·   Confirm that agreed conditions and required evidence are closed before final acceptance or handover.

·   Maintain an auditable record of recommendations, decisions, conditions, owners and close-out status.

8. Ownership, Funding and Management Options

·   Evaluate alternatives to direct vesting, including private ownership with public access, developer-managed public realm, district management, shared maintenance, service-charge recovery, sponsorship, commercial activation, concession or destination-management arrangements.

·   Ensure alternative models protect public access, service quality, affordability and clear accountability.

·   Prevent City Operations from assuming costs that should reasonably remain with the principal beneficiary.

·   Support commercial and legal teams in defining practical ownership, funding and management obligations.

9. Land and Public Realm Portfolio Register

·   Establish and maintain a citywide register of proposed and accepted public land, recording area, use, beneficiaries, ownership, vesting status, annual operating cost, renewal exposure, risks, funding, conditions and responsible party.

·   Use the register to identify cumulative cost and workforce exposure across districts and development phases.

·   Provide executive dashboards on land under review, contested proposals, avoided liabilities, conditional acceptances and future budget exposure.

·   Support long-term city land optimisation by identifying opportunities to consolidate, reclassify or change management arrangements for underperforming public realm.

10. Stakeholder Coordination and Team Leadership

·   Lead structured reviews with masterplanning, development, design, landscape architecture, district teams, asset owners, Finance, Commercial, Legal, Governance and City Operations service functions.

·   Provide early operational input before land boundaries and designs become fixed or commercial commitments are made.

·   Resolve disagreements concerning public purpose, ownership boundaries, cost and operating responsibility, escalating unresolved issues with evidence and options.

·   Build and lead a specialist team, supported where required by landscape, cost, land, commercial and operational advisors.

·  Develop internal guidance and capability so affordability and maintainability are embedded across the development lifecycle.

Requirements

Education

·   Bachelor's degree in Urban Planning, Landscape Architecture, Real Estate, Land Economics, Asset Management, Facilities Management, Environmental Design or a related discipline.

·   Master's degree in a relevant discipline is preferred.

·   Professional membership in planning, landscape architecture, real estate, asset management or facilities management is desirable.

Experience

·   Minimum 20 years of progressive experience in land-use planning, public realm, parks and open-space planning, landscape planning, real estate, asset management or city operations, including at least 8 years in senior leadership or advisory roles.

·   Demonstrable experience reviewing parks, public spaces, landscaped areas or major-destination public realm.

·   Strong experience assessing operating costs, maintenance implications and whole-life liabilities and translating findings into business cases and executive recommendations.

·   Proven ability to challenge land, design, ownership or funding proposals based on public purpose, operational need, affordability and maintainability.

·   Experience in Saudi Arabia, the GCC, major destination developments or giga-project environments is strongly preferred.

Preferred Background

·   Experience within a development authority, city or municipal organisation, major destination, integrated resort, public-realm consultancy, real-estate developer or asset-management organisation.

·   Practical exposure to land vesting, public/private boundary definition, parks operations, landscape maintenance, service-charge models and developer handover.

·   Experience working across planning, design, operations, finance, commercial, legal and governance disciplines.