Operations & Maintenance Specialist // Proger

About Proger:

Proger is an international company that offers the best Italian management and engineering expertise in a broad range of fields.

Founded more than 70 years ago as a small engineering firm, today they are the number one independent engineering company in Italy, with an established position among the worlds leading international design firms.

Counting on more than 600 professionals working on 3 continents, they propose a global approach to the integrated design and management of large-scale multidisciplinary projects.

Purpose of the role:

The Operation & Maintenance Specialist is responsible for the development and implementation of a comprehensive and sustainable public art operations and maintenance plan tailored to the Riyadh Art Program and its sub-programs.

The Operation & Maintenance Specialist is responsible for liaising and coordinating with the Art and Culture Liaison to ensure the long-term integrity, safety, and aesthetic value of the public art collection, establishing clear methodologies for its management from the pre-conceptual phase through ongoing care.

The Operation & Maintenance Specialist is responsible for defining procurement and packaging strategies, overseeing market assessments and tendering processes, and ensuring that the operational framework aligns with international standards and best practices in public art conservation and maintenance.

Key Responsibilities and Specific Accountabilities:

1. Respond directly to the Art and Culture Liaison and the Program Director.
2. Conduct, in coordination with the Art and Culture Liaison, a general assessment of the current state of the public art collection, identifying priorities for maintenance and conservation. It should be taken into consideration that Riyadh Art is a program of contemporary public art which includes exceptional works by world-renowned contemporary artists, monumental commissioned pieces and digital art.
3. Develop and update phased methodologies for maintaining and preserving artworks based on condition assessments, significance, and maintenance requirements.
4. Establish program-wide procedures for determining maintenance priorities and provide guidance on conceptual estimating to ensure consistency and efficiency.
5. Draft sample specifications for maintenance, including qualifications of personnel and detailed scopes of work for service providers, ensuring adherence to industry best practices.
6. Lead the development of a final, comprehensive public art preservation and maintenance plan as a roadmap for the long-term care and sustainability of the collection.
7. Define procurement and packaging strategies, ensuring clear and actionable scopes of work for service providers.
8. Oversee, under the direction of the Art and Culture Liaison and the Program Director, project administration and communications, including client updates, workshops, presentations, and weekly or biweekly coordination meeting
9. Manage, in coordination with the Art and Culture Liaison, the collection and the review of existing documentation (program master plan, collections database, artists' maintenance plans) to support informed planning and decision-making.
10. Coordinate the tendering process, including bid preparation, service provider evaluation, and contract awards, ensuring adherence to program standards.
11. Supervise the implementation activities, ensuring quality control, risk management, and timely delivery of all operational and maintenance tasks.
12. Monitor and report, in collaboration with the Art and Culture Liaison, on KPIs and performance metrics, providing actionable insights for continuous improvement.
13. Availability to travel, nationally and internationally, for a better management of the activities listed above.

Person Specification Job Knowledge / Education and Qualifications / Personal Attributes:

The ideal candidate should hold a bachelor's or master's degree in Art/Communication/Management field from an internationally recognized university and over 15 years experience in the specific field gained on similar projects.

Experience of direct oversight of the following functions: conservation of public artworks collections (focused on contemporary art, monumental public artworks, digital artworks), strategic planning, project management, analysis, procurement methodologies, risk management, financial management, quality assurance and quality control. With a proven track record of driving public art and cultural initiatives across cities.

In-depth knowledge of international best practices in public art conservation and long-term maintenance planning.

Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Proven leadership capability.

Experience of working internationally.