WSP Middle East — one of the world’s leading global engineering, environment, and professional services consultancies — is seeking a senior maritime engineering leader to take on the role of Service Lead — Maritime Planning for its Middle East business, based in Dubai, UAE. This is a key senior leadership position within WSP’s Maritime Senior Management Team, responsible for driving the continued growth of WSP’s Maritime Planning practice across the GCC — leading a team of 5–10 maritime planning professionals, owning project delivery from feasibility and masterplanning through concept design, procurement support, and tender stages, building and managing client relationships, and advancing WSP’s maritime business development across the region. The ideal candidate has a minimum of 10+ years of maritime engineering experience in the GCC with deep expertise in coastal developments, marinas, industrial ports, and dry ports.
About WSP Middle East — Global Maritime & Engineering Consultancy
Company: WSP — Global Engineering, Environment & Professional Services Consultancy | Active across UAE, KSA, Qatar, and wider GCC
Maritime Practice: WSP’s Maritime business delivers feasibility studies, masterplanning, concept design, and procurement support across ports, marinas, coastal developments, and maritime infrastructure across the Middle East
Team Structure: Service Lead position within the Maritime Senior Management Team — leading 5–10 maritime planning professionals with full team development, workload, and commercial oversight
Project Portfolio: Industrial ports · Dry ports · Marinas · Coastal residential developments · Maritime mixed-use infrastructure · GCC government maritime programs
Culture: Technical excellence · Innovation · Continuous learning · Client partnership | Global network with strong regional Middle East roots
Why This WSP Maritime Planning Service Lead Role in Dubai Is a Defining Senior Career Opportunity
Maritime Senior Management Team: The Service Lead position sits within WSP’s Maritime Senior Management Team — a seat at the table for strategic decision-making, business unit direction, and GCC maritime market positioning that is available to very few maritime engineering professionals at any one time
GCC Maritime Investment Boom: UAE, KSA, and wider GCC government investment in port development, marina creation, coastal destination projects, and maritime logistics infrastructure is at an extraordinary level in 2026 — creating the most active and commercially significant maritime planning workload in the region’s recent history
Full Business Ownership: Owning WSP’s Maritime Planning service line — from team leadership through BD, project delivery, and client relationships — is the kind of comprehensive professional authority that genuinely defines the next decade of a senior maritime engineering career
Tax-Free Dubai: Highly competitive senior maritime engineering leadership compensation — zero personal income tax in Dubai, UAE
Position Overview
This Service Lead — Maritime Planning role at WSP Middle East in Dubai is a full-time, senior leadership position within WSP’s Maritime business, responsible for the integrated leadership of team management, project delivery, client relationships, and business development across WSP’s maritime planning portfolio in the GCC. You will sit as a member of the Maritime Senior Management Team, lead and develop a team of 5–10 maritime planning professionals, manage all aspects of project delivery from feasibility and masterplanning through concept design and tender stages, drive business development in the Maritime Planning sector, build and maintain strong executive-level client relationships, serve as WSP’s subject matter expert for coastal developments, marinas, and port facilities, conduct research and lead innovation initiatives, review and approve all technical outputs to ensure quality and consistency, forecast workload and manage commercial performance, and engage with maritime industry suppliers and stakeholders across the region. This role requires a maritime engineer who combines deep technical expertise in GCC maritime planning with the commercial awareness, client relationship skills, team leadership capability, and strategic thinking that leading a professional services business unit demands.
Why This WSP Service Lead Maritime Planning Role in Dubai Is the Senior Maritime Engineering Career of 2026: Maritime engineers with 10+ years of GCC maritime project delivery experience — who combine deep technical expertise in coastal development, marina planning, industrial port masterplanning, and dry port feasibility with the people leadership skills to develop high-performing teams, the business development capability to build and convert maritime planning opportunities, the client relationship skills to maintain executive-level client partnerships, and the commercial awareness to manage project budgets, resource forecasts, and contract negotiations — represent the rarest and most commercially valued talent profile in the Middle East maritime engineering consulting market. WSP’s global brand, combined with the GCC’s extraordinary maritime infrastructure investment pipeline, makes this the defining maritime engineering leadership appointment of 2026.
Key Responsibilities
Senior Management Team Contribution & Strategic Business Leadership
- Serve as a member of the Maritime Senior Management Team — contributing the Maritime Planning service line perspective to WSP’s broader maritime business strategy, participating in business unit decision-making, driving maritime planning initiatives, and representing the maritime planning team’s interests, challenges, and opportunities at the senior management level where strategic resources, priorities, and direction are set
- Drive business development initiatives within the Maritime Planning sector in collaboration with WSP’s senior leadership — identifying and pursuing new maritime planning opportunities across the GCC, developing compelling technical proposals, leading capability presentations to prospective clients, and converting business development activity into contracted project revenue that grows WSP’s maritime planning practice across the region
- Stay abreast of GCC maritime industry trends, innovations, and best practices — maintaining current awareness of market developments including regional port authority investment programs, coastal development regulatory changes, marina design innovation, maritime logistics evolution, and sustainable port and coastal development practices that influence the direction of WSP’s maritime planning service offering
- Lead research and innovation initiatives and identify opportunities to improve and standardize project delivery — championing the development of new technical methodologies, digital tools, and quality management processes that improve the speed, consistency, and technical quality of WSP’s maritime planning project delivery, supporting team upskilling and establishing the practice standards that define WSP’s maritime planning competitive advantage
Team Leadership, Development & Workforce Planning
- Lead and manage a team of 5–10 maritime planning professionals — providing the day-to-day technical direction, workload management, performance guidance, and professional mentorship that develops a high-performing maritime planning team, maintaining the team’s technical output quality and delivery consistency across the full range of feasibility, masterplanning, and concept design projects in the portfolio
- Oversee workload allocation and capacity planning — balancing the team’s project workload across current commitments and new project opportunities, identifying capacity constraints before they create delivery risks, and making proactive resource allocation decisions that keep all projects on schedule and all team members effectively utilized without creating unsustainable workload pressure
- Identify skill gaps and hiring needs, support workforce planning, and manage recruitment for junior team members — developing the forward-looking team capability plan that anticipates the skills and experience that WSP’s maritime planning workload growth will require, and proactively addressing gaps through targeted recruitment, structured professional development, and knowledge transfer from senior to junior team members
- Mentor and develop maritime planning professionals — sharing accumulated GCC maritime engineering expertise, client relationship management practice, and project delivery knowledge with junior and mid-career team members, helping them develop the technical depth, commercial awareness, and professional confidence that prepares them for increased responsibility within WSP’s maritime planning team
Maritime Project Delivery — Feasibility, Masterplanning & Concept Design
- Lead maritime planning projects from pursuit through delivery — taking full ownership of the complete project delivery lifecycle from initial opportunity identification and proposal development through scope definition, team resourcing, risk management, contract management, technical delivery, client communication, commercial oversight, and final report and deliverable production, ensuring that each project is delivered to the technical quality, program, and commercial performance standards that maintain WSP’s maritime planning reputation
- Lead feasibility studies for coastal developments, marinas, industrial ports, and dry ports — directing the comprehensive technical investigations, demand analysis, site assessment, environmental constraint evaluation, regulatory framework analysis, and financial viability assessment that constitute robust maritime feasibility studies, and presenting feasibility findings and recommendations to client decision-makers with the clarity and authority that enables informed project decision-making
- Lead masterplanning and concept design for maritime infrastructure — directing the development of maritime masterplans and concept designs that integrate port and marina layout, infrastructure dimensioning, operational flow analysis, phasing strategy, utility requirements, and environmental mitigation into technically sound, commercially viable, and regulatorily compliant maritime development plans that provide solid foundations for subsequent detailed design and implementation
- Support tender and procurement stages — preparing technical specifications, evaluation criteria, and tender documentation for maritime contractors and specialist suppliers, reviewing and evaluating tender submissions against technical requirements, and providing the maritime engineering expert input that enables clients to make well-informed procurement decisions for their maritime infrastructure projects
Client Relationship Management & Executive Stakeholder Engagement
- Build and maintain strong client relationships across WSP’s maritime planning client base — investing the consistent relationship management effort and genuine client service commitment that builds the trust, professional respect, and collaborative partnership that generates repeat project appointments, client referrals, and the long-term client relationships that underpin sustainable maritime planning practice growth in the GCC
- Present project outcomes and recommendations to executive-level client stakeholders — communicating complex maritime engineering findings, strategic masterplanning recommendations, and feasibility conclusions clearly, compellingly, and with appropriate professional authority to senior decision-makers including government ministers, port authority executives, investment fund directors, and major developer leadership teams
- Engage with maritime industry suppliers and stakeholders to assess planning, operational, and system considerations — maintaining the broad maritime industry network that keeps WSP’s maritime planning team informed about equipment technology developments, operational practice innovations, and supply chain changes that should inform the technical advice WSP provides to its clients
Technical Quality, Commercial Management & Multidisciplinary Coordination
- Review and approve technical reports, studies, and presentations — applying senior maritime engineering judgment to maintain the technical quality and consistency standards of all WSP maritime planning deliverables, ensuring that reports are technically accurate, clearly written, properly structured, and present findings and recommendations in the way that best serves each specific client’s decision-making needs
- Forecast project workload, monitor performance against budgets, and identify resource requirements — maintaining the commercial performance visibility that enables proactive project financial management, identifying budget variances early and taking corrective action before commercial issues become material, and providing accurate forward workload and revenue forecasts that support WSP’s maritime business planning
- Coordinate with WSP’s multidisciplinary teams to integrate maritime infrastructure requirements into project designs — managing the technical interfaces between maritime planning and coastal/civil engineering, structural engineering, MEP, environmental consulting, planning and urban design, and transport planning disciplines that complex waterfront and port development projects always involve
Qualifications & Requirements
Educational Requirements
- Master’s degree or higher in Civil Engineering, Maritime Engineering, Coastal Engineering, or a closely related discipline — preferred, providing the advanced technical foundation for maritime planning leadership at WSP’s senior management level
- Professional registration or certification in Civil Engineering or a related discipline (Chartered Engineer — CEng, PE, or equivalent) — advantageous, demonstrating the formal professional standing that WSP’s senior engineering leadership roles recognize and value
Experience Requirements
- Minimum 10 years of professional experience in maritime engineering — with a proven track record of successfully leading maritime planning project delivery on major coastal, port, and marina developments across the GCC
- Extensive technical expertise in maritime planning — specifically including industrial ports, dry ports, and marinas — demonstrating deep subject matter knowledge that supports both technical delivery leadership and expert advisory roles with executive-level clients
- Established network of clients and industry contacts across the Middle East — preferred, providing the relationship foundation that accelerates business development and client relationship building in WSP’s maritime planning practice
About WSP’s Maritime Practice & GCC Maritime Infrastructure in 2026
WSP’s Maritime Planning practice in the Middle East operates at the center of one of the world’s most active and strategically significant maritime infrastructure investment landscapes — as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and broader GCC continue to develop and expand their port networks, create world-class marina destinations, build logistics dry port infrastructure, and invest in the coastal development programs that support their tourism, trade, and economic diversification agendas. Saudi Vision 2030’s extraordinary coastal and port development pipeline, the UAE’s ongoing investment in maritime logistics and luxury marina developments, and Qatar’s continued infrastructure expansion together create a GCC maritime planning workload in 2026 that represents one of the most professionally stimulating, commercially significant, and career-defining environments available to senior maritime engineers anywhere in the world. The Service Lead who steps into this role at WSP will inherit a growing team, an active project portfolio, a strong regional brand, and access to the global WSP network’s technical resources — and will have the professional mandate to shape how WSP’s Maritime Planning practice in the Middle East develops for the years ahead. For senior maritime engineers who have built their GCC careers to this level and want to take the next decisive step into maritime practice leadership — this is exactly the opportunity that that ambition deserves.
Your Career Growth Path: Service Lead Maritime Planning → Maritime Practice Director MENA → Associate Director — Maritime → Director of Maritime Services Middle East → Global Maritime Practice Leader — a globally recognized, technically distinguished, and commercially consequential maritime engineering leadership career trajectory built at the forefront of the GCC’s most ambitious and consequential maritime infrastructure investment era.
Who Should Apply?
- Senior Maritime Planning Managers — GCC (10+ Years): With proven port, marina, and coastal development masterplanning and feasibility delivery leadership experience across the UAE, KSA, Qatar, or wider GCC who want a Service Lead role within WSP’s Maritime Senior Management Team
- Maritime Engineering Consultancy Leaders: Currently serving as Maritime Planning Managers, Technical Directors, or Maritime Practice Leaders at AECOM, Mott MacDonald, Atkins, Arcadis, Royal HaskoningDHV, or equivalent global or regional maritime consultancies who want to advance to WSP’s service lead level
- Port Authority / Government Maritime Engineers: With 10+ years of maritime infrastructure planning and development experience within UAE or GCC port authorities, maritime regulators, or government development entities who want to transition into a senior private sector maritime consultancy leadership role
- Maritime Development Advisors — GCC Focus: With project management, feasibility assessment, and masterplanning experience across marina, coastal resort, or port development programs who bring a strong GCC client network and maritime planning expertise to WSP’s growing regional maritime practice
- Coastal Engineers — Maritime Planning Specialism: With civil/coastal engineering backgrounds and deep expertise in port layout, berth design, wave climate analysis, and navigation channel planning for GCC ports and marinas who want a leadership role combining technical excellence with team management and business development ownership
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