Executive Director - Design Management

About the Role

Aldar is seeking an Executive Director - Design Management to lead and govern the Design Management function across three product verticals: Upper & Luxury Residential; Commercial, Retail & Hospitality; and National Housing, Education & Civic. You will own the translation of commercial development briefs into high-quality, market-differentiated design outcomes, balancing design ambition with commercial and programme constraints, and build a world-class in-house design management capability serving D-Sell, D-Hold and Government clients.

Key Responsibilities

Design Leadership & Strategy

• Establish the design vision, standards and governance frameworks across all three Design Management verticals and Aldar's full asset portfolio.
• Direct the design response to commercial briefs, ensuring proposals meet target customer, price point, unit mix, key features, timeline and budget requirements.
• Define design standards, material palettes and innovation opportunities for each product typology.
• Chair design quality reviews at every stage gate, with authority to approve or escalate to the GDS Committee.

Client & Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as the primary executive interface between GDS Design Management and the three client groups, maintaining strong relationships with CDOs and Development Management Directors.
• Present design recommendations and stage-gate outcomes to the GDS Committee, GCEO and BU CEO.
• Manage escalations where Design Management and Development Management cannot agree on brief alignment.

Design Consistency & Innovation

• Drive design consistency within each typology while fostering innovation with Design Innovation and Interior Design teams.
• Establish shared design knowledge frameworks and cross-vertical synergies.
• Oversee integration of AI-assisted design tools and modular design thinking across teams.

People & Capability

• Lead, develop and retain a high-performing multi-disciplinary design management team across all verticals.
• Define performance goals, succession plans…