Senior Project Manager (Sports Facilities)

Job SummaryThe Senior Project Manager, Sports Facilities will lead the planning, design management, and delivery of major sports and recreation projects, including stadiums, arenas, training facilities, sports complexes, and associated infrastructure. The role is responsible for coordinating multidisciplinary design teams, specialist sports consultants, clients, operators, authorities, and other stakeholders from project mobilization through design, tender, and closeout.Key ResponsibilitiesLead the overall planning, management, and delivery of sports-facility design projects in line with contractual scope, programme, budget, quality, and client requirements.Act as the primary point of contact for the client, managing expectations, priorities, approvals, decisions, and key project interfaces.Coordinate architectural, structural, MEP, infrastructure, landscape, ICT, security, acoustics, lighting, signage, broadcasting, and specialist sports-design disciplines.Establish and maintain the Project Management Plan, design programme, deliverables schedule or MIDP, responsibility matrix, risk register, and project-reporting requirements.Lead coordination of sports-specific design requirements, including spectator experience, athlete facilities, back-of-house operations, crowd circulation, accessibility, safety, security, broadcasting, and event operations.Monitor design progress against the approved baseline programme and implement recovery or acceleration measures where required.Lead design coordination meetings and ensure the timely resolution of technical, interdisciplinary, client, authority, and operational issues.Manage project resources, workload, and team performance in coordination with discipline leads and management.Maintain control over project budgets, man-hours, profitability, invoicing, changes, additional services, and variation orders.Coordinate with sports governing bodies, venue operators, specialist consultants, approving entities, and authorities where applicable.Ensure compliance with QA/QC, BIM, document-control procedures, client standards, local regulations, and relevant sports-facility requirements.Identify and manage design, commercial, contractual, programme, crowd-safety, operational, and delivery risks.Support tender-stage activities, including bidder queries, design clarifications, technical evaluations, and procurement support.Ensure timely project closeout, completion of deliverables, and resolution of outstanding client comments.Required Qualifications, Experience and SkillsBachelor’s degree in Architecture, Engineering, Project Management, Sports Venue Design, or a related discipline. A postgraduate qualification is an advantage.PMP or an equivalent recognised project management certification is preferred.15 to 20 years of total professional experience, including at least 12 years in senior design project management roles.Demonstrated experience managing the design and delivery of stadiums, arenas, training facilities, sports complexes, or other major sports and recreation developments.Strong experience coordinating multidisciplinary design teams and specialist sports, venue-operations, security, technology, broadcast, and crowd-management consultants.Experience on FIFA-compliant facilities, World Cup, Olympic, international tournament, or other major-event venues is a strong advantage.Strong understanding of sports-facility planning, including spectator and athlete flows, back-of-house requirements, accessibility, security, operational readiness, and event-day requirements.Proven commercial awareness, including budget, man-hour, profitability, variation, and change-management control.Strong programme-management skills using Primavera P6 and/or MS Project.Working knowledge of BIM-based delivery, Aconex or other EDMS platforms, document control, project reporting, and QA/QC procedures.Saudi Arabia or GCC experience, including familiarity with local clients, authorities, and approvals, is highly desirable.Excellent client-management, leadership, communication, presentation, negotiation, and problem-solving skills in English.