Programme Director - Aviation

Job Description

We are seeking an experienced Aviation Programme Director, to contribute to the growing Aviation Team here in the Middle East. The Aviation Programme Director role plays a pivotal senior leadership role, steering a diverse portfolio of complex aviation projects across the Middle East. The position blends strategic oversight with hands-on delivery, ensuring that major airport and aviation infrastructure programmes meet the highest standards of technical excellence, safety, and stakeholder alignment.

Beyond programme execution, the director drives business development - cultivating client relationships, identifying emerging opportunities, and shaping winning proposals that expand WSP’s aviation footprint in the region. It’s a role that demands vision, commercial acumen, and the ability to orchestrate multidisciplinary teams toward transformative outcomes in one of the world’s most dynamic aviation markets. The successful candidate will play a key role in shaping the future of airport design, delivering world-class facilities that enhance operational efficiency, passenger experience, and environmental sustainability.

• Technical Leadership & Project Delivery:
  Lead the project delivery of various scopes of work with an initial focus for the delivery of the Concept of Operations for DWC phase 2.
• Translate operational and user requirements into spatially coherent layouts that reflect passenger, staff, service, and equipment flows, ensuring clarity, efficiency and functional alignment.
• Support airport master planning activities by assisting in the preparation of concept building footprints, interface zones, circulation concepts and area relationships across landside, airside and support facility environments.
• Identify gaps, inconsistencies, missing elements and operational misalignments, providing clear corrective recommendations and contributing to the refinement of Scope of Work and associated deliverables.
• Support WSP’s QA/QC processes by ensuring all design outputs meet project requirements, client expectations and WSP quality benchmarks.
• Lead and contribute to the design and engineering of airport infrastructure, including runways, taxiways, aprons, terminals, and airside/landside facilities, ensuring compliance with ICAO, FAA, IATA, ACI, and regional regulations.
• Oversee the full project lifecycle from concept development and feasibility studies to detailed design, construction support, and commissioning of aviation projects. Drive the adoption of BIM, GIS, and advanced digital design tools to enhance project efficiency and accuracy.
• Develop strategies to future-proof airport infrastructure, incorporating emerging technologies, climate resilience, and net-zero sustainability goals.

• Establish and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders, including airport authorities, airlines, government agencies, regulatory bodies, and industry partners.
• Collaborate with architects, planners, contractors, and subcontractors to align design solutions with operational and safety requirements.
• Act as a trusted advisor to clients, understanding their needs and expectations while ensuring project objectives are met.
• Represent the company in industry forums, working groups, and regulatory discussions to influence aviation infrastructure policies and standards.
• Participate in workshops and coordination meetings with airport authorities, operators, airlines, government entities and project partners, offering clear explanations of functional design intent, spatial logic and layout development.
• Capture operational feedback, user needs and stakeholder comments, translating them into updated layouts, diagrams, functional narratives and structured documentation.
• Prepare technical notes, functional design reports, diagrams, briefings, presentation materials and submission packages that support project communication and decision-making.
• Collaborate with other Business Units to develop and deliver a ‘OneWSP’ service offering to aviation clients.

• Develop and implement strategies to secure and deliver major aviation projects,…