Senior Manager - Customer Experience Design and Innovation (CDU3) - 20004438

Qiddiya is Saudi Arabia's future capital of entertainment, sports, and culture — a 360 km² mega-project just outside Riyadh. From F1-grade racetracks and theme parks to stadiums and performance venues, we're creating a destination like no other. This is more than a project, it's a national transformation. As construction accelerates, we're hiring ambitious talent to help shape it. If you're driven by scale, impact, and the chance to build something iconic from the ground up, Qiddiya is calling for you.

General Summary:

The Senior Manager, Customer Experience and Innovation is responsible for ensuring that customer needs and expectations are at the heart of public transport infrastructure projects across their full lifecycle — from design and construction through to operations.

This role will lead design thinking across transport projects and the integration of service design principles into complex transport initiatives to deliver seamless, accessible, and future-ready mobility solutions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Customer Experience Design
  
  

Define the end-to-end passenger journey vision and ensure that infrastructure, services, and digital systems are designed to optimize usability, inclusivity, safety, and satisfaction. Develop customer requirements and embed them into project briefs, contracts, and operational standards.

• Innovation Strategy
  
  

Define the use of new technologies, smart mobility solutions, and innovative practices (e.g., MaaS platforms, real-time data, contactless ticketing, AI-enabled analytics, and sustainable design) that enhance service quality and operational efficiency.

• Integration Across Project Lifecycle
  
  

Collaborate with design, engineering, construction, and operations teams to embed customer and innovation outcomes throughout planning, design reviews, build phases, and readiness for service. Ensure customer experience KPIs are tracked and delivered through commissioning and steady-state operations.

• Stakeholder Engagement
  
  

Act as the voice of the customer, engaging with a range of stakeholders to balance technical feasibility with passenger expectations. Ensure transparent communication and co-design where appropriate.

• Standards, Compliance & Benchmarking
  
  

Align customer experience and innovation initiatives with international best practices (e.g., ISO service quality standards, universal design guidelines, and sustainability frameworks). Benchmark performance against global leaders in public transport.

• Performance & Continuous Improvement
  
  

Design measurable CX and innovation metrics such as Customer Satisfaction Index, service reliability, accessibility, and digital adoption. Drive continuous improvement cycles to adapt to evolving customer needs and emerging technologies.

Required Skills & Attributes

• Strong background in transport planning, infrastructure delivery, or service operations with a focus on user-centered design
• Deep understanding of customer experience frameworks, transport modelling, and behaviour change levers
• Proven ability to lead innovation programs and manage cross-disciplinary teams
• Skilled in stakeholder engagement and negotiation across public, private, and community sectors
• Future-focused mindset with expertise in digital transformation, sustainability, and smart cities
  
  

Requirements

Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree. Master's degree in service design, Innovation Management, Transport Planning, or similar preferred

Years of Experience:

10+ years of experience in customer experience strategy and innovation, ideally within the GCC.