Assistant Manager - Business Planning. CDU7

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.

Role Purpose

The Manager – Business Planning (CDU) will support the development, standardization, and quality assurance of Business Plans across QIC’s Business Units (BUs), ensuring alignment with stage-gate processes, strategic objectives, and corporate governance requirements. The Manager will play a critical role in strengthening and assuring quality of Business Plans across QIC.

The role will work closely with CDU counterparts to implement best-in-class business planning frameworks while actively partnering with BUs and adjacent departments to fulfill business-plan compliance reviews.

The manager will be a trusted reviewer for designated Business Units and lead select workstreams under the guidance of the Associate Director and Director.

Non-exhaustive
Key Responsibilities:

1. Business Plan – Planning & Standardization

a. Drive greater consistency, comparability, and executive clarity by standardizing business plan templates and submission formats across QIC

b. Strengthen stage-gate Business Planning documents, so they are rigorous, decision-ready, and aligned with the QIC Stage Gate Processes framework

c. Continuously improve templates, structures, and workflows to reduce rework for Business Units (BUs) and speed up approvals

d. Support the development and application of Business Planning policies and procedures that improve governance, quality, and accountability

e. Take ownership of selected CDU compliance review checks, ensuring consistent, defensible, and high-quality application across designated assets and BUs

f. Lead discrete standardization or governance workstreams under the guidance of the Associate Director (e.g., checklist refinement, template upgrades, process improvements)

g. Enhance planning tools, governance artefacts, and quality controls so reviews become faster, clearer, and more reliable over time

2. Business Plan – Development

a. Support Business Units in refining and strengthening their 5-year BU-Level Business Plans rather than redesigning the core framework

b. Validate assumptions, test coherence, and ensure strict adherence to stage-gate requirements using the existing CDU framework you have already built

c. Act as a reliable first reviewer for designated BU submissions, providing precise, actionable feedback that materially improves plan quality before escalation

d. Ensure Business Plans are clearly aligned with QIC’s mandate, vision, mission, and strategic priorities prior to Senior Manager / Associate Director review

e. Identify recurring weaknesses across BU submissions and translate them into systemic improvements to guidance notes, templates, or review processes

f. Maintain clear documentation of review comments, decisions, and rationale to strengthen governance, transparency, and auditability

3. Market Assessment, Commercial & Real Estate Review

a. Review market studies on demand–supply, target segments, competitive benchmarks, and trends to ensure credibility and realism

b. Support standardized market assessment frameworks and planning assumptions across assets and BUs

c. Apply general real estate and development judgment when reviewing plans

d. Constructively challenge weak or misaligned assumptions and escalate material risks or inconsistencies to the Associate Director or Director in a clear, structured manner

4. Stakeholder Management & Governance

a. Serve as a trusted coordination point between CDU, Development, and designated Business Units to keep planning efforts aligned and on track

b. Support strategic alignment sessions with BU heads, functional teams, and external consultants to resolve issues and clarify expectations

c. Respond rapidly to leadership requests, ad-hoc analyses, and deep-dive reviews while maintaining quality and consistency with CDU standards

d. Prepare structured, executive-ready presentations and briefing notes that make complex planning issues easy for senior leaders to decide on

e. Engage proactively with external consultants to ensure deliverables meet CDU standards for rigor, clarity, and decision-readiness

Requirements:
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Real Estate, Engineering, or related field
• Minimum 6+ years of relevant experience in strategy, business planning, real estate development, or consulting
• Experience with mega-projects, master planning, or government-linked entities is an advantage
• Consulting experience is an advantage (Big 4, RE consulting, strategy consulting, or equivalent)
• Strong analytical skills with strong PowerPoint and Excel capabilities
• Ability to operate in fast-paced, high-stakes, multi-stakeholder environments
• Demonstrated ability to balance rigor, collaboration, and pragmatism