We need an Interior Design Director
About us
At Arada, we create communities that inspire healthier, happier and more meaningful lives. Through innovative developments, exceptional customer experiences and a commitment to sustainability, we are shaping places where people can live, work and thrive.
Joining Arada means becoming part of a collaborative, ambitious and forward-thinking team dedicated to delivering excellence across every aspect of our business.
Role Purpose:
The Interior Design Director leads Arada’s interior design function from the client / developer side, directing the interior design of a portfolio of residential, branded residential, hospitality, retail, workplace, amenity, community and mixed-use developments. The role owns the interior design brief, standards and quality benchmark, and directs the interior design consultants, specialist consultants and operators who produce the design briefing, challenging, reviewing and approving their work rather than producing it in-house. Reporting into Design and Development leadership, the Director is accountable for interior design outcomes at every stage from brief and concept through schematic design, design development, tender, IFC, construction and handover, and for balancing design excellence against programme, budget, constructability, operator and brand standards, sales positioning, customer expectations and Arada’s wider development strategy. The successful candidate is a senior interior design leader with an exceptional design pedigree and deep technical command of interiors, operating credibly in a developer-side design management capacity: setting the vision, holding senior consultants to account, resolving design risk early, and driving decisions that protect both design quality and commercial objectives.
Key Responsibilities:
- Own the interior design vision, creative strategy and quality benchmark across Arada’s portfolio, ensuring a consistent level of design excellence while allowing each project to develop a distinctive identity.
- Lead and manage the interior design process across multiple concurrent projects and all design stages, from brief and concept through SD, DD, tender, IFC, construction and handover.
- Establish and issue interior design briefs, design standards, room data sheets, specification benchmarks and project requirements against which consultants are appointed and measured.
- Manage, direct and hold accountable interior design consultants, specialist consultants, operators, contractors, suppliers and internal stakeholders.
- Critically review and challenge consultant design submissions for design quality, technical resolution, compliance, constructability, cost and alignment with the approved brief.
- Lead design reviews, multidisciplinary technical coordination, value engineering, design optimisation and design risk management.
- Protect design intent through tender, procurement and construction: shop drawings, material submittals, mock-ups, benchmark units, site reviews and handover.
- Drive design decisions that reconcile design excellence with programme, budget, operational requirements, sales strategy and customer expectations.
- Lead and develop Arada’s internal interior design management team and provide strategic direction to the wider design function.
- Represent interior design to executive leadership, partners, operators and authorities, securing clear and documented alignment at every key decision gate.
Design Management Responsibilities
- Set the interior design strategy and stage-gate process for each project: deliverables, design programme, review cycles, approval gates and sign-off protocols.
- Prepare, issue and maintain design briefs, employer’s requirements, interior design standards, area and room data sheets and scope matrices as reusable Arada standards.
- Plan and manage the interior design programme in alignment with the development and construction programme, identifying dependencies, float and critical-path design decisions.
- Coordinate interior design with architecture, structure, MEP, façade, landscape, lighting, AV, kitchen, acoustics, signage, branding and art packages, closing out interface and clash issues before they reach site.
- Run structured design reviews at concept, SD, DD, tender and IFC stages; issue consolidated comment trackers and verify close-out of every comment.
- Lead value engineering and design optimisation exercises, assessing alternatives for design impact, cost, programme, durability and operational performance, and recommending decisions to management.
- Maintain a live interior design risk register; identify design, coordination, procurement, long-lead, programme and delivery risks, early and direct mitigation and escalation.
- Manage the design change process: design changes, variation orders, RFIs, technical queries, substitutions and site instructions, assessing design, cost and programme impact before approval.
- Verify consultant deliverables for completeness, coordination and constructability ahead of tender and IFC issue, confirming packages are fully priceable and buildable.
- Ensure authority requirements, building codes, accessibility, fire and life safety, sustainability targets and operator technical standards are embedded in the design and cleared through approvals.
- Provide construction stage design management: shop drawing and material submittal review, mock-up and benchmark unit sign-off, site design queries, snagging and design-related handover close-out.
- Establish and continuously improve design governance: trackers, decision logs, material libraries, lessons learned and design standards, that carry forward across projects.
Interior Design Responsibilities
- Direct the development of interior concepts, spatial strategies, planning principles, material palettes, lighting character, FF&E direction and design narratives across project types, scales and stages.
- Translate brand positioning, operator standards, customer insight, sales strategy and market benchmarking into clear, defensible interior design briefs and design direction.
- Critically review and challenge consultant design output at every stage: plans, reflected ceiling plans, elevations, sections, details, joinery, schedules, specifications, renders, samples and mock-ups, rather than necessarily producing the documentation personally.
- Interrogate and approve materials and finishes selections for design intent, quality, durability, maintainability, availability, lead time, cost and compliance.
- Direct FF&E and OS&E strategy and specification, including loose furniture, joinery, sanitaryware, ironmongery, lighting fixtures, artwork and accessories.
- Review technical detailing and interior interfaces: floor build-ups, ceiling voids, services integration, tolerances, junctions, transitions, waterproofing and acoustic detailing.
- Ensure interior design is resolved to the level required for accurate pricing at tender and for construction at IFC, with no material gaps left to be closed on site.
- Direct customer-facing interior deliverables like show apartments, sales centres, visualisations, material boards and handover packs and ensuring they represent what will actually be built.
- Benchmark design and specification quality against comparable regional and international developments and set the expected standard for each product tier.
- Keep Arada’s interior standards current with global trends, emerging materials, hospitality and residential innovations and new technologies, including AI-assisted design and visualisation workflows.
Stakeholder & Team Leadership
- Define consultant scopes of service and deliverables; lead RFPs, prequalification, technical evaluation, fee negotiation and appointment recommendations for interior and specialist consultants.
- Manage consultant performance against scope, programme and fee, and review and recommend approval of invoices, additional service requests and variations.
- Lead the interior elements of tender: scope splits, technical evaluation of contractor and specialist submissions, clarifications, post-tender negotiation and award recommendation.
- Work with cost management to develop, challenge and maintain interior design and FF&E budgets and cost plans from concept through to final account.
- Drive value engineering that protects the customer-facing quality hierarchy, directing savings to areas that are not seen or experienced by the end user.
- Assess the design, cost, programme and risk impact of variation orders, substitutions and claims, and provide the design position on commercial decisions.
- Support procurement strategy for long-lead interior items, nominated suppliers, novated packages and direct-purchase scopes.
- Ensure interior delivery supports sales and handover milestones, including show units, snagging standards, defect close-out and customer handover quality.
- Report design status, risks, decisions and cost and programme implications to senior management at both project and portfolio level.
Required Experience
- Minimum 15 years’ professional experience in interior design or interior architecture, gained within a reputed international design consultancies, developers or operator.
- Minimum 5 years in a developer, client-side or design management capacity, with demonstrable accountability for managing consultants and delivering design on behalf of the client.
- At least 8 years in a senior design leadership role with responsibility for teams, multiple concurrent projects, consultant management and executive stakeholder engagement.
- Proven track record of leading interior design from brief and concept through design development, tender, IFC, construction and handover on completed, built projects.
- Demonstrated experience in design review and technical coordination at DD, tender and IFC stages, including comment trackers, value engineering, RFI and VO assessment and construction-stage design support.
- Exceptional portfolio of design-led interiors with clearly defined personal contribution and role on each project.
- Regional GCC or UAE delivery experience, including authority approvals and working knowledge of the regional consultant, contractor and supply-chain market.
- Experience across residential, hospitality, retail, amenity, workplace and mixed-use developments; International project experience is highly preferred.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Design, Interior Architecture, Architecture or a related field; Master’s Degree advantageous.
- Formal design management, project management or contract administration training (for example PMP, RICS or FIDIC-based qualifications) is advantageous.
- Fluency in English essential; Arabic is an advantage.
Technical & Professional Competencies
- Expert command of the interior design process from briefing, concept and schematic design through detailed design, tender, procurement and construction-stage review.
- Deep understanding of space planning, FF&E, materials and finishes, lighting, joinery, sanitary and kitchen design, schedules, specifications and interior detailing.
- Strong command of drawing standards and the ability to read and interrogate full multidisciplinary packages, not interior packages alone.
- Working knowledge of UAE authority requirements, building codes, accessibility, fire and life safety and sustainability frameworks such as Al Sa’fat, Estidama or LEED.
- Command of design management tools and processes: design programmes, deliverable trackers, comment registers, risk registers, stage-gate reviews and document control platforms such as Aconex.
- Commercial literacy across consultant scopes and fees, cost plans, tender evaluation, value engineering, variations, procurement and contract awareness including FIDIC forms.
- Proficiency in AutoCAD, Revit and BIM-based coordination, Bluebeam, Adobe Creative Suite and MS Office and Project; familiarity with 3ds Max, V-Ray or equivalent sufficient to evaluate and direct visual output.
- Strong ability to evaluate design quality through drawings, details, material samples, mock-ups and visualisations, and to issue precise, actionable design comments.
- Exceptional presentation, communication, negotiation and design storytelling abilities at executive level.
- Decisiveness, accountability, sound design judgment and the authority to direct senior external consultants.
- Awareness of AI-driven and emerging technologies for design, visualisation, review and workflow optimisation.
Desirable Experience
- Branded residences and operator-led developments, including hospitality, fashion and lifestyle brand partnerships.
- Luxury and ultra-luxury residential, waterfront and resort developments.-Large-scale master communities with repeated typologies, phased delivery and extensive community amenities.
- Hospitality interiors including hotels, serviced apartments, F&B, spa and wellness.-Amenity and clubhouse interiors, including gyms, pools, kids’ facilities, co-working, retail and F&B fit-out.
- Show apartments, sales galleries and customer experience centres.-Cultural, museum or experience-led interiors.
- Experience working alongside internationally recognised design consultancies and operator technical services teams.
- Prior experience with a UAE or GCC developer of comparable scale and ambition.
Using GenAI in Your Application Process
To support a fair and consistent experience for all candidates, we ask that assessments and interviews are completed independently and without assistance from generative AI tools. This ensures we understand your strengths, your thinking, and how you approach real situations.
Why join Arada?
At Arada, you'll have the opportunity to contribute to projects that transform communities while working alongside talented professionals in a culture that values innovation, collaboration and continuous growth. We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone has the opportunity to thrive and make a meaningful impact.
Equal Opportunity Statement
Arada is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. We welcome applications from all qualified individuals and make employment decisions based on merit, experience and business needs.
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