Summary
Parsons is hiring a Transportation Guidelines & Frameworks Lead in Riyadh to lead the development and maintenance of standards, guidelines, procedures, and operational SOPs for a transportation agency program. The role covers areas including traffic management, ITS, TCC operations, incident management, and multimodal operations, while coordinating with agency teams and external partners. Applicants should have a relevant bachelor’s degree and 15–20+ years of progressive transportation experience, including leading documentation programs and managing document control. Strong English communication skills are required; Arabic is desirable but not required.
The posting
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Job Description:
Parsons is looking for an amazingly talented Transportation Guidelines & Frameworks Lead to join our team! In this role, you will lead the end-to-end development of the guidelines, procedures, frameworks, and operational SOPs that underpin a key transportation agency’s program. You will translate the agency’s strategic vision into clear, practical, and implementable documentation that guides internal teams and aligns consultants, contractors, O&M providers, and partner agencies around a consistent way of working.
You will be the central point of ownership for the “documentation backbone” of the program — ensuring that standards are technically sound, operationally realistic, and kept current as systems, processes, and policies evolve.
What You’ll Be Doing:
Lead the overall strategy, roadmap, and workplan for developing, harmonizing, and maintaining transportation standards, guidelines, operating procedures, and reference frameworks across the project scope.
Coordinate the preparation of core guidelines and manuals covering traffic management, traffic signal systems, Traffic Control Center (TCC) operations, incident management, ITS systems, congestion and parking management, construction/work zones, freight/heavy vehicles, enforcement support, and multimodal operations.
Translate high-level policy, concept of operations, and system requirements into clear, practical documents (standards, SOPs, playbooks, checklists, templates) that can be readily used by planners, designers, operators, inspectors, and field crews.
Establish and manage a structured documentation architecture, including document hierarchy, version control, naming conventions, and cross-references so that users can easily locate the applicable requirements and procedures.
Facilitate working sessions and technical workshops with various departments of the agency, other government agencies, and external service providers to capture business needs, reconcile conflicting practices, and build consensus on common standards and operating frameworks.
Define and document interfaces between client organization and external entities (consultants, contractors, O&M providers, neighboring agencies), including roles and responsibilities, submittal requirements, approval workflows, coordination procedures, and performance expectations.
Ensure that standards and SOPs align with international best practices, local regulations, and project-specific requirements for safety, resilience, sustainability, and customer experience, while remaining realistic for project’s operational context.
Work closely with ITS, traffic engineering, safety, multimodal, data/analytics, and TCC operations specialists to embed their technical requirements into coherent, integrated guidelines and frameworks.
Develop operational SOPs and playbooks for regular operations, planned events, construction and maintenance activities, emergencies, and severe weather conditions, ensuring clarity of triggers, roles, decision logic, and communication flows.
Establish a formal review and update process for all standards and procedures, including triggers for revision, approval mechanisms, and a controlled change log to keep documentation current as systems and policies evolve.
Define documentation deliverables, outlines, and authoring expectations for subconsultants, and review their submissions for consistency with the overarching agency standards and frameworks.
Support the development of training materials, job aids, and knowledge transfer sessions that help client staff and external partners understand and apply the standards and SOPs in day-to-day operations.
Provide expert input to project plans, risk registers, and performance frameworks to ensure that documentation-related activities, dependencies, and acceptance criteria are clearly captured and managed.
Contribute to monthly, quarterly, and final reports by summarizing documentation progress, key decisions, risks, and upcoming milestones related to standards and frameworks.
Act as a visible champion for structured, documented ways of working, promoting adoption and
reinforcing the importance of consistent application across all participating organizations.
What Required Skills You’ll Bring:
Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Urban/Transport Planning, Systems Engineering, or a closely related field.
15–20+ years of progressive experience working with transportation agencies or major transport owners/operators, with a strong focus on the development and maintenance of technical standards, guidelines, procedures, and operational SOPs.
Demonstrated track record leading multi-disciplinary efforts to author, update, and implement agency documentation that governs planning, design, construction, operations, and maintenance of surface transportation systems.
Deep understanding of how effective standards, frameworks, and SOPs are structured (hierarchy, content, level of detail) to support both internal users (planning, design, construction, operations, IT/ITS, asset management) and external stakeholders (consultants, contractors, O&M service providers, emergency services, adjacent agencies).
Strong familiarity with traffic management, ITS, traffic control centers, and roadway/arterial operations, and how these domains are typically reflected in agency manuals, guidelines, and operational playbooks.
Proven ability to translate complex technical and operational requirements into clear, concise, and user-friendly documentation, with consistent terminology and formatting.
Experience setting up and managing documentation control, including versioning, approvals, and integration with quality management systems.
Excellent facilitation and stakeholder engagement skills, with experience leading working groups and resolving differing viewpoints across multiple departments and partner organizations.
Strong written and verbal communication skills in English, with the ability to produce high-quality narrative text, structured outlines, diagrams, and process flows.
Demonstrated ability to work in a fast-paced, multi-project environment, managing multiple documentation streams and deadlines while maintaining quality and consistency.
What Desired Skills You’ll Bring:
Prior experience supporting Gulf region transportation agencies or large metropolitan transport authorities on standards, guidelines, or operating frameworks.
Familiarity with international best practices and reference standards in traffic management, ITS, road safety, and TMC operations (e.g., AASHTO, MUTCD-style guidance, PIARC, ITS standards), and how they can be contextualized for local application.
Demonstrated experience leading similar standards, guidelines, and SOPs development programs for major metropolitan or national transportation agencies, with proven adoption across internal departments and external partners.
Experience with organizational development, change management, or training related to the rollout of new standards and procedures.
Professional registration/certification (e.g., PE, CEng, PTOE, PMP, or similar) is an advantage.
Arabic language skills are desirable but not required.
Parsons equally employs representation at all job levels no matter the race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, disability or genetic information.
We truly invest and care about our employee’s wellbeing and provide endless growth opportunities as the sky is the limit, so aim for the stars! Imagine next and join the Parsons quest—APPLY TODAY!
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