SVP – Engineering — Trading And Supply Organisation

The mandate

A privately held Saudi trading and supply organisation has accepted more terminal, storage, pipeline and logistics engineering commitments than its technical authorities can review coherently. Sites use different standards, consultants and design baselines, while an asset-integrity programme competes with growth modifications for the same specialists. The board has created an SVP Engineering role to restore capacity, design authority and lifecycle evidence.

The perimeter covers approximately SAR 39,250 million in operated assets and trading portfolio and 650 employees and material partners. Accountability includes engineering strategy, design authority, integrity interfaces, standards, project engineering, consultants, technical information, assurance and talent. Operations owns asset performance and integrity authorities retain professional independence. The SVP owns engineering capacity, technical coherence and accepted evidence from concept through operation.

Trading and supply assets face coupled consequences. A terminal or pipeline change affects product specification, capacity, control systems, logistics and customer commitment. Engineering cannot be reduced to project support after commercial terms are agreed.

Why this seat is open

This urgent new role has no predecessor. The integrity programme exposed distributed engineering ownership after the organisation plan, and appointment is targeted within six to eight weeks. Interim councils protect live decisions but cannot allocate portfolio capacity or establish enduring standards.

What you will own

• Reconcile engineering commitments with verified technical capacity.
• Establish design authority, standards and departure governance.
• Integrate integrity, project and operating evidence.
• Govern consultants, interfaces and technical change.
• Build controlled asset information and knowledge transfer.
• Develop chief engineers and successors.

Capacity will be measured through decision demand, not headcount. Discipline hours, checking, authority availability, consultant dependence and project timing will be mapped against gates. Commitments relying on the same scarce expert will be resequenced, supplemented or stopped. Commercial urgency will see the explicit cost of acceleration.

Design authority will define who accepts requirements, calculations, interfaces, technical risk and change. Standards will distinguish enterprise minimums from asset or product needs. Departures require safety, operability, lifecycle and commercial consequence, plus an expiry where temporary. Repeated waivers will trigger redesign or strategy action.

Integrity evidence will feed projects and modifications. Degradation mechanisms, inspection, incidents, temporary repairs and bad actors must change specifications and assurance depth. New design will not assume that existing equipment condition is uniform. The SVP will ensure project solutions do not displace risk into operations or maintenance.

Consultants will work within controlled deliverables, checking, data rights and knowledge-transfer obligations. Internal engineers remain accountable for acceptance. Supplier design and proprietary tools need usable records and lifecycle support. Outsourced volume cannot become outsourced judgement.

Technical information will retain requirements, basis, models, drawings, concessions, commissioning and operating limits. Data quality will be prioritised by decision consequence. An asset must be maintainable, modifiable and transferable without reconstructing design intent from personal inboxes.

The engineering organisation will be designed around assets, disciplines and authorities rather than reporting convenience. Chief engineers need direct escalation when delivery pressure conflicts with professional judgement. Specialist communities will share lessons and workload without weakening local asset accountability. Succession will be tested through live reviews, not inferred from position titles.

Change control will connect technical and commercial consequence. A revised product, route, throughput or customer requirement may alter materials, hydraulics, controls, inspection or relief basis. Engineering must enter the decision before the promise is fixed. Approved changes will show design owner, affected records, commissioning evidence and any temporary operating restriction.

Integrity decision quality will be reviewed across the portfolio. Inspection finding, fitness-for-service assessment, temporary repair and permanent correction need consistent evidence while respecting asset context. The SVP will examine whether risk is being accepted repeatedly because project or shutdown capital remains unavailable, then bring the systemic choice to the sponsor.

Capital cases will include engineering readiness. Concept maturity, authority capacity, design risks, long-lead technical data and integration must be visible before sanction. Projects will not be approved on a schedule that assumes unnamed reviewers or unresolved architecture. Post-project reviews will compare the promised basis with actual commissioning and early operation.

The first 12 months

Within 75 days, the SVP will baseline commitments, bottlenecks and high-risk departures and assess leadership. The sponsor will receive defer, resource, simplify and stop decisions.

By month eight, three priority assets should use common design and integrity gates, two authority bottlenecks should show shorter queues and major departures should enter convergence. Consultant frameworks will include evidence and transfer controls.

At year-end, engineering milestone predictability should exceed 90%, late high-impact change fall 25% and planned work remain within 10% of verified capacity. Ninety-five per cent of high-consequence integrity decisions should have competent authority, with ready cover for 70% of pivotal roles.

What the board will measure

• Commitments matched to competent engineering capacity.
• Clear design authority and controlled departures.
• Integrity learning embedded in projects.
• Reliable technical records and consultant accountability.
• Strong chief engineers and succession.

The person

You are an SVP Engineering, technical director or integrity-and-project leader with 22–28 years of experience. You have carried scope above SAR 22,750 million and led at least 650 people. Your record includes terminals, pipelines, storage or comparable process assets.

The board will test a commitment you stopped for authority shortage, a departure you refused and a consultant model that transferred knowledge. Project-only leadership without operating consequence will not qualify.

This onsite Riyadh role requires extensive asset, project, supplier and authority travel.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is SAR 1.4–1.9 million plus annual incentive. Measures include capacity, integrity, milestone reliability, technical records, consultant performance and succession.

Confidentiality

The organisation, assets, designs, integrity findings and consultants remain confidential. Further detail follows qualification and mutual confidentiality.