Director - Power Utility Operations

Director - Power Utility Operations Job Snapshot Role: Director - Power Utility Operations Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Industry: Utilities Function: Energy-Nuclear Engineering Experience: Minimum 20 years of progressive power utility and infrastructure leadership experience, including at least 8 years in a senior executive or director-level role Job Type: Full-time

Job Details Country: Saudi Arabia City: Riyadh Industry: Utilities Function: Energy-Nuclear Engineering Salary: 70000-95000 Estimated salary range based on similar jobs in the job city; please confirm the final offer with the employer. Gender: Any Candidate Nationality: Any Job Type: Full-time

Role Context The Director - Power Utility Operations will act as the senior technical, operational, and commercial authority for electrical energy infrastructure across a major city-scale giga-project. The position will safeguard continuity of power supply while guiding the transition of substations, transmission assets, distribution networks, smart metering systems, and supporting technologies from construction into reliable long-term operations. The role will also connect grid engineering, asset management, finance, lifecycle planning, SCADA, regulatory governance, and utility commercial strategy to protect critical infrastructure and reduce long-term operational and capital risk.

Key Responsibilities

• Direct strategic operation and maintenance of high-voltage, extra-high-voltage, and medium-voltage electrical infrastructure.
• Oversee substations, transmission systems, distribution networks, switchgear, transformers, protection systems, and associated utility assets.
• Establish city-wide power reliability standards and operational performance requirements.
• Develop redundancy strategies designed to reduce the risk of outages across critical entertainment, residential, commercial, and industrial districts.
• Define disaster recovery and emergency power strategies for high-priority loads.
• Establish backup generation requirements and contingency operating procedures.
• Act as the principal executive interface with national electricity providers, ministries, regulators, water and power authorities, and government stakeholders.
• Lead negotiations covering bulk electricity supply, load allocations, tariff structures, operational interfaces, and long-term utility agreements.
• Provide executive oversight of grid stability, system capacity, protection coordination, and network performance.
• Ensure electrical assets are operated in accordance with relevant Saudi and international requirements.
• Develop strategic engineering plans for long-term power infrastructure performance.
• Apply Total Cost of Ownership principles to major utility asset classes.
• Coordinate with Asset Lifecycle Planning teams on multi-decade replacement and refurbishment strategies.
• Develop lifecycle requirements for transformers, switchgear, substations, protection systems, metering infrastructure, and related assets.
• Support preparation of Capital Asset Replacement Plans for high-value electrical infrastructure.
• Evaluate asset condition, failure risk, replacement timing, and refurbishment priorities.
• Coordinate long-term OPEX and CAPEX requirements with Finance and Asset Management teams.
• Direct the implementation and governance of SCADA systems supporting electrical network monitoring and control.
• Oversee integration of Industrial Internet of Things technologies and smart grid sensors.
• Support deployment of Advanced Metering Infrastructure for accurate, real-time energy usage data.
• Ensure electrical operational technologies integrate effectively with enterprise asset management and city systems.
• Coordinate Energy Management Systems and digital power monitoring platforms.
• Establish data governance requirements for operational, asset, metering, and reliability information.
• Ensure utility data supports maintenance planning, financial reporting, and operational decision-making.
• Oversee integration of energy usage data with corporate finance and utility recovery systems.
• Support automated allocation and recovery of electricity consumption costs.
• Provide audited energy-consumption models for commercial charging and service cost allocation.
• Coordinate with the Service Charge function on utility cross-charging for operators, tenants, and sub-developments.
• Ensure long-term asset depreciation and replacement forecasts are reflected in sinking fund requirements.
• Help prevent future capital funding deficits by aligning reserve planning with realistic replacement timelines.