Environmental permitting & licensing sr. managerNEOM

Job Description
Role Purpose
Under the NEOM Environmental Protection and Sustainability Regulations, environmental and sustainability consultants conducting assessments for permitting & licenses must be registered with the NEOM Authority Environment Department. The selected candidate will manage the team responsible for the following:
Lead and contribute to the finalization of regulations and rules associated with the consultant registration process.
Support and feed into the development of online systems to support the consultant registration process.
Following authority activation, execute the review and approval of consultant applications for registration with the Department.
Developing and implementing regulatory instruments and guidelines to support environmental licensing in NEOM.
Developing and implementing processes and systems to manage the submission, review and approval of permits.
Issuing licenses for environmental service providers and modern environmental technologies.
Develop and define standards for each of the categories of facilities.
Supervise the licensing activities conducted by the Licensing Department in the branches and monitor compliance with the applicable procedures.
Reviewing the list of licensed environmental service providers and technologies and issuing quarterly/annual statistics.
Key Accountabilities & Activities
Permitting and Licensing Functions
Create and support to establish and pilot environmental and Licensing and permitting capabilities.
Maintain and sustain the licensing and permitting capabilities.
Conduct education and training of future regulated entities
Coordinate and support stakeholder engagement to support transition.
Achieve readiness for activation
Use global benchmarks to establish organizational design, required workforce targets, and operating model for end state
Regulatory instruments
Work with NEOM Legal and the rest of the NEOM Authority Environment Department to develop and finalize the environmental permitting, and licensing.
Develop environmental permitting, and licensing policies, standards, and technical guidelines as required
Provide expert content and collaborate with other departments to address dependencies
Develop regulatory enforcement mechanisms
Regulators (People)
Coordinate with a Head of Environment Department to identify human resource needs for the Division, migrating internally, or hiring externally
Update existing, and develop new, job descriptions for Division positions
Establish a high-functioning team to address key functions and build capacity for demonstrating readiness
Oversee the conduct of the necessary internal and external training required to ensure operational readiness
Operational assets and systems
Identify and procure/implement assets and systems required to execute on the Division functions and mandates (e.g., equipment, services, software tools, database and registries)
Protocols and governance
Develop the governance and processes for the internal operating model of functions, defining standard operating procedures
Support the development of processes for cross-department coordination
Permitting And Compliance Functions
Environmental and Social Assessment and Permitting
Sustainability Assessment and Permitting
Compliance Monitoring and Assurance
Land-use, Research, Other Permitting and Licensing Programs
Education and Training for Regulated Entities
Enforcement Coordination and Support to Judicial Actions
Environment Risk and Emergency Management
Division Management:
Develop and manage a highly efficient and professional team
Support the Head of Department in securing and managing financial resources and capital assets
Support the Head of Department in building and maintaining a high-performance culture of excellence, innovation and continuous improvement
As required, directly manage employees and/or projects
Ensure the ongoing effectiveness and continual improvement of procedures and systems
Oversee the ongoing training requirements for the Division
Assessment and Permitting:
Oversee the maintenance of a database of approved environmental consultants
Oversee the environmental impact assessment and sustainability assessment review and permitting process, and issuance of environmental and sustainability permits
Manage the environmental and sustainability permitting appeals process
Education and Training of Regulatory Requirements:
Oversee the ongoing training requirements for the Division to keep regulated entities aware of their responsibilities.
Conduct awareness and communications forums with internal and external stakeholders
Quality Assurance / Quality Control
Oversee the conduct of environmental and sustainability compliance inspections and audits
Investigate non-compliances and coordinate with enforcement entities as required, including respective Court / Judicial processe
Stakeholder Engagement
Identify areas where cooperation and agreements are needed to provide services in the interim period and identify segregation of duties for interim service delivery
Working with Office of the Head of Department, identify Base Economy entities and develop processes to communicate and liaise with key points of contact in the Base Economy for Division activities and actions
Working with Office of the Head of Department, plan for the transition from Base Economy Authority to NEOM Authority
Develop a phased transition plan for permitting & licensing to reach end-state, in accordance with the vision for the NEOM Authority lean, efficient and tech-enabled.
Track and communicate progress against the transition plan
Project Management
Where required:
Manage or oversee the management of consultants required to support the environmental permitting and licensing workplan
Coordinate the development of project scopes of work and subsequent procurement processes
Manage the production of the required deliverables, administrative aspects, project risks, and monitor overall progress of the project, use of resources, budget spent, stakeholder engagement
Identify project risks including preparation of mitigation methods
Manage all administration aspects related to the project
Authority Activation
Following authority activation:
Execute the Environment Departments roles and responsibilities for environmental permitting and licensing.
Ensure that permit applications are reviewed and approved or rejected as appropriate.
Ensure that the online permitting portal is maintained.
Support the longer-term development of the end-state permitting portal for NEOM
Support the continual improvement of processes, systems and regulatory instruments, updating documents and conducting training and awareness sessions as required
Knowledge And Experience
At least 10 years experience in environmental permitting or licensing, or environmental impact assessment
At least 3 years experience in a managerial position
Experience with the implementation of regulatory requirements and environmental processes and procedures
Knowledge of regulatory frameworks for environmental impact assessment
Experience working with multiple stakeholders to identify and agree roles and responsibilities.
Highly desirable: Experience working within government organizations
Highly desirable: Experience or knowledge of sustainable development and sustainability assessments
Education and Certifications
BSc in Environmental Sciences, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Management (or similar) and ideally a MSc
Project Management Certification is preferrable