Head of Architectural Integration, Building Safety - Dubai, United Arab Emirates - WSP

Description

Description

What if you could do the kind of work the world needs?

At WSP, you can access our global scale, contribute to landmark projects and connect with the brightest minds in your field to do the best work of your life. You can embrace your curiosity in a culture that celebrates new ideas and diverse perspectives. You can experience a world of opportunity and the chance to shape a career as unique as you.

WSP is seeking to appoint a Head of Architecture Integration & Building Performance, a role that provides a single point of portfolio-level direction and leadership across Fire & Life Safety, Building Enclosures / Facades, and Technical Architecture, with clear line management accountability for the Heads of these disciplines.

The Heads of Discipline already deliver strongly and cover many of the technical and operational activities within their teams. This role is not created to duplicate that work. It is created to formalize the portfolio-level direction and alignment that has historically been driven by the Director of Specialists, ensuring consistent prioritization, governance, and follow-through across the three business lines.

The role will drive disciplined implementation of the Specialist Services Strategy and the Global Specialist Strategy for this portfolio, with particular emphasis on accelerating growth in Technical Architecture (architecture-led technical coordination and expanded scope), while proactively managing delivery risk where FLS and building enclosures performance can impact project outcomes. 

Responsibilities

Portfolio leadership & direction (non-negotiable)

• Set one clear direction across the portfolio: priorities, standards, decision-making, and escalation routes.
• Align discipline plans so delivery and growth efforts are coordinated and outcome-driven.
• Lead delivery recovery when projects are off track due to late inputs, rework, inconsistent advice, or weak coordination, with particular focus on high-risk interfaces (e.g., Envelope Architecture/Structure/MEP/FLS dependencies).

Line management of Heads of Discipline

• Line-manage the Heads of FLS, Building Enclosures/Facades, and Technical Architecture with accountability for performance, delivery discipline, team health, and capability building.
• Coach and enable the Heads of Discipline on complex delivery issues, client risk, resourcing constraints, and cross-discipline coordination.
• Drive an operating rhythm that reduces reliance on the Director of Specialists for day-to-day direction.

Technical authority & delivery governance (quality + consistency)

• Act as a credible technical authority (in at least one of the three disciplines) with the ability to challenge and guide across the portfolio.
• Define "what good looks like" for deliverables (minimum content, evidence requirements, review expectations) and ensure consistent application across the portfolio.
• Implement and enforce governance so issues do not repeat: standards, peer reviews, readiness gates, decision logs, and action-closure discipline.

Operational Excellence (ways of working that stick)

• Establish consistent delivery ways of working across the portfolio (review gates, interfaces, escalation routes) and drive adoption.
• Drive measurable improvement in right-first-time outputs, fewer late changes, and clearer accountability across the three disciplines.

Strategy adherence & implementation (Specialist Services Strategy 2025–2027)

• Own implementation across the four pillars for this portfolio: Clients, Expertise, Operational Excellence, People & Culture.
• Ensure discipline pillar champions/leads are active and contributing as designed, and translate strategy into practical execution and consistent follow-through.
• Remove blockers so progress is sustained and not dependent on ad hoc senior intervention.

Go-to-market and growth leadership (per business line)

• Drive growth of each business line through market positioning, bid quality, cross-sell, and consistent go-to-market collateral aligned to the Global Specialist Strategy intent.
• For Technical Architecture, accelerate growth by expanding scope and strengthening architecture-led technical coordination and design integration aligned to the team's published strategy direction.
• Contribute to global alignment outputs relevant to this portfolio (e.g., discipline forums / collaboration inputs and go-to-market strategy contributions) as required.

People leadership & capability building (portfolio bench strength)

• Build bench strength across the portfolio (deputies, succession, coaching) and embed capability uplift through People & Culture and Expertise pillars.
• Identify targeted upskilling and recruitment priorities aligned to strategy and growth needs. 

Qualifications

• 20+ years' experience with senior leadership exposure in complex building environments, with strong relevance to Architecture / Technical Architecture and the ability to lead across Building Safety and Envelope disciplines.
• Demonstrated ability to lead senior discipline heads and drive consistent standards and outcomes across multiple specialisms.
• Track record of implementing operating models and standards (not just writing strategy).
• Strong stakeholder influence across disciplines and regions.

Essential behaviours

• Delivery spine: drives closure, makes decisions stick, holds standards under pressure.
• Strategic thinking with practical execution: converts intent into clear prioritisation and outcomes.
• Collaborative "one team" mindset aligned to global specialist connectivity and growth objectives.

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