Our People & Places Solutions business – reinforces our drive to improve the lives of people everywhere and epitomizes the “why” of what we do – the tremendous positive impact and value our solutions bring to our communities and society as a whole. From facilities delivering life-saving therapies and ensuring clean water to enabling the connection of people through all modes of transportation and providing access to technology – we’re integrating a multitude of these solution elements to build the smart environments of tomorrow.

Start your Jacobs career with a company that inspires and empowers you to deliver your best work so you can evolve, grow and succeed – today and into tomorrow.

Your Impact:

The Middle East is undergoing a significant transformation to support wellbeing, land regeneration and climate action while also driving infrastructure efficiency and economic diversification.  What if we showed you how our People & Places Solutions business is solving the world’s greatest challenges by transforming intangible ideas into intelligent solutions for a more connected, sustainable world? Jacobs is actively partnering with our clients to deliver support this change through strategic advisory, city and regional scale land planning, environmental planning and assessment and digital delivery.

Jacob’s history in the Middle East region can be traced back to the presence of its legacy company Halcrow Engineering establishing a regional office in Kuwait in 1952. Marine engineering was a core competency, with the company rapidly gaining a reputation for excellence including resolving the issue of the siltation of Dubai Creek and the resulting benefit to the emirates fishing fleet. Today Jacobs retains its regional reputation for provision of world-class expertise in not only maritime engineering but a myriad of services, including marine and coastal environmental management.

The Opportunity

One of the various positions Jacobs are currently offering is the opportunity for an experienced Environmental Planner to join our Environmental Services team in the Middle East to work on some of the most exciting project in the region.

The successful candidate will be joining a small but dynamic and rapidly expanding technical team to focus on the growth and development of our environmental planning capabilities. We are proud of the closely knit nature of the team, which is located between UAE, Qatar and KSA.

The increasing awareness of Clients on sustainable/regenerative development means there could be no better time to join Jacobs, voted the Top Global Environmental Consulting firm by both the ENR / Environmental Analyst and recipient of the World Environmental Centre’s Gold Medal Award (2023).  We are hand-picking a team focused on excellence to both support current services and expand future horizons.

Start your Jacobs career with us in a company that inspires and empowers you to deliver your best work so you can evolve, grow and succeed – today and into tomorrow.

The Role

As a key member of the Jacobs Environmental Services Team your role will be to:

• Work routinely with Jacobs’ regional master-planning / urban development teams to guide projects from their earliest stages towards optimizing sustainable / regenerative design
• Be an integral part of our environmental impact assessment team, provide Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) leadership aligned with international standards. Guide the wider EIA team in the growth of SEA skills/capacity.
• Proactively engage and collaborate with sectoral discipline specialists to drive the design and implementation of more integrated, resilient and regenerative projects.
• Lead and support the exploration of emerging market opportunities in SEA, identifying feasible strategies and integrated approaches to service offerings that establish Jacobs as the leading provider of long-term sustainable/regenerative solutions.
• Identify opportunities for the creation of innovative solutions to complicated development planning challenges that will minimise impacts on environmental and cultural assets, seeking opportunities to conserve and protect these assets while utilizing them to enhance community learning and resilience aligned with appropriate best practice.
• Represent Jacobs at regional/international platforms highlighting technical excellence in innovative approaches to addressing  major challenges in the terrestrial, marine & coastal environment.
• Prepare and deliver high quality reports and presentations to clients technical and senior leadership in line with Jacobs’ quality process.
• Manage and lead the provision of technical inputs and guidance to the delivery of e.g., Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), natural capital / ecosystem services strategies, Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA).
• Maintain detailed working familiarity with regional and international legislation, guidelines, standards, methods and emerging technologies (e.g. digital EIA, remote sensing platforms etc) pertaining to EIA, SEA and environmental planning generally.
• Understand and promote across Jacobs’ businesses the role of SEA expertise in the delivery of Jacobs solutions and technologies to internal and external stakeholders.
• Working in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams, collaborate with and/or manage local and global experts or suppliers to ensure Jacobs provides best practice solutions to our clients.
• Develop and maintain strong working relationships with key stakeholders, e.g., government regulators, client representatives etc.
• Demonstrate ability to have a positive “can-do” attitude to delivering high-quality work under pressure to tight deadlines, while managing multiple tasks and projects simultaneously, adapting to rapidly changing priorities if necessary.
• Travel, when required within the middle east region to attend client/team workshops, presentations or conduct site reconnaissance.
• Always demonstrate the highest standards of professional integrity regardless of the challenges encountered.  Always demonstrate, a strong commitment to health and safety standards, ensuring compliance with all relevant regulations and guidelines and promoting a culture of safety across the team.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

Required

• An undergraduate degree (post graduate level preferred) in Environmental Sciences, Environmental Management, Environmental Planning/Impact Assessment or a directly related subject.
• Approximately 10-15 years’ experience working in multidisciplinary teams on environmental planning / impact assessment including approximately 5 years working mainly on SEAs / Natural Capital/ Master-planning projects.  Preference will be shown for experience in Middle East / extreme arid environments, though experience in other geographies will also be considered.  Knowledge should include some or all of the following; major issues associated with climate change / coastal developments; complexities regarding concept of habitat compensation/relocation/reconstruction, principles of ecosystems services/natural capital, significance of biodiversity loss especially in extreme environments.
• Familiarity with international standards/legislation and best practice guidelines and techniques regarding e.g. SEA, cumulative impact assessment, natural capital/ecosystem services, urban planning, resilience in design, coastal/water-front developments.
• Preparation of strategy building / strategizing, setting development control regulations (on masterplan and plot levels)
• Strong organization skills with the ability to priorities delivery on multiple projects in parallel under challenging timeframes. Ability to work in multicultural, multidisciplinary environments to tight deadlines with limited available information.
• Ability to prepare high-quality reports and technical documents for clients and regulatory bodies, demonstrating a high standard of technical writing and communication skills in English.

Highly Regarded

• Working knowledge of regional statutory stakeholders, legislations, regulations and guidance pertaining to environmental management (including impact assessment).
• Established working relationships with key government stakeholders and/or Clients in the Middle East.
• Current membership of an internationally recognised professional body (e.g. IAIA/IEMA/etc) and preferably Chartered (CEnv.)
• Demonstratable commitment to continuous development and active engagement in professional networks (IEMA or equivalent chartered status is preferred), company communities of practice groups or similar.
• Working experience of requirements of regional sustainability performance rating tools e.g., ESTIDAMA (UAE), GSAS (Qatar), Mostadam (KSA), and/or other international certification systems (e.g. LEED, BREEAM /CEEQUAL, ENVISION) particularly those related to environment and Ecology
• Experience of line management
• Experience of procuring, managing and supervising subcontractors
• Proposal writing / business development experience
• Strong presentation skills to Clients/3^rd parties etc.
• Fluency in Arabic