Building Saudi Arabia’s Next Generation of Project Leaders By Dr. Paul, CEO, HanmiGlobal MENA

Saudi Arabia’s infrastructure transformation is often described in terms of scale, the size of its programmes, the pace of investment and the ambition behind the Kingdom’s development.

But there is another transformation taking place alongside the physical one.

It is happening in the workforce.

From 14 February 2027, Saudi Arabia will increase the Saudisation requirement for designated project management professions in the private sector to 70%.

For the project management and construction industry, this creates a clear requirement to accelerate localisation.

The question should not simply be how the industry reaches 70%.

The more important question is: what kind of project management capability could Saudi Arabia build as a result?

The answer could be transformational.

With the volume and complexity of projects currently underway, Saudi Arabia has an opportunity to develop project management talent on a scale that few countries have ever been able to achieve.

A once in a generation learning environment

Project management is a profession shaped by experience.

You can teach methodology. You can teach processes, systems, planning techniques and project controls. Professional qualifications can provide people with an excellent technical foundation.

Leadership, however, develops differently.

It develops when a project encounters a problem that was not in the original plan. When multiple stakeholders have conflicting priorities. When a programme is under pressure and difficult decisions need to be made.

It develops through responsibility.

Saudi Arabia currently provides an extraordinary environment in which young professionals can gain exactly this kind of experience.

The Kingdom’s investment spans major transport networks, airports, urban developments, utilities, energy, industrial projects, tourism destinations and complex mixed-use programmes.

A Saudi professional entering the industry today could potentially gain exposure to several different types of major programme during the first decade of their career.

That is an incredibly valuable opportunity.

The 70% target is only part of the story. There will understandably be considerable attention on recruitment as February 2027 approaches.

Organisations need Saudi professionals, and experienced project managers will be in particularly high demand.

But recruitment alone cannot be the long-term strategy.

If organisations continually compete for the same experienced professionals, salaries and mobility may increase, but the overall depth of the Kingdom’s project management capability does not necessarily grow at the same pace.

To achieve that, the industry needs to expand the pipeline.

That means bringing more young Saudis into project management and creating environments in which they can progress quickly without compromising the quality of their development.

There is an important difference between placing someone in a project management position and developing them into a project leader.

The latter requires sustained investment.

Give talent somewhere to grow.

At HanmiGlobal MENA, we believe development must happen as close to real project delivery as possible.

Early career professionals should have opportunities to work alongside experienced project managers and programme leaders.

They should see how schedules are challenged, how risks are assessed, how stakeholders are managed and how commercial and technical decisions interact.

As their capability grows, so should their responsibility.

This is particularly important because the goal should not be to develop professionals who can simply perform a project management function.

Saudi Arabia needs people who can eventually lead entire programmes, organisations and teams.

That requires companies to think about career development much earlier.

What experience should a young Saudi engineer or project professional gain in their first two years? What responsibilities should they be ready for after five years? What exposure will prepare them to lead after ten?

These questions should become part of workforce strategy across the industry.

International expertise has a different role to play, Saudi Arabia will continue to benefit from international experience.

Global project management firms bring knowledge developed through decades of delivering complex programmes across different markets. That expertise can help the Kingdom manage risk, improve delivery and adopt proven practices.

But there should also be a second measure of success.

How much capability did we create while we were here?

For international organisations such as HanmiGlobal MENA, this is an important responsibility.

Our role should not be limited to providing expertise to a project. We should use that expertise to help accelerate the development of Saudi colleagues.

The relationship should increasingly become one of collaboration: experienced international professionals working alongside Saudi talent, solving problems together and progressively transferring greater responsibility.

Eventually, something even more interesting happens.

The learning starts moving in both directions.

Saudi professionals who spend their careers delivering the Kingdom’s current generation of projects will develop experience that international professionals themselves may not have encountered elsewhere.

At that point, Saudi Arabia stops simply absorbing global project management knowledge.

It begins adding to it.

Creating an industry that can travel

This could become one of the most important long term outcomes of Saudi Arabia’s current investment programme.

Consider what the Kingdom’s project management workforce could look like ten or fifteen years from now.

There could be a substantial generation of Saudi professionals who have built their careers delivering highly complex infrastructure and development programmes from planning through construction and operation.

That expertise will have value far beyond individual projects.

Saudi developers, consultants, contractors and project management businesses expanding into international markets will need experienced leaders. The professionals developing in the Kingdom today could become the people who lead that expansion.

Saudi project managers could increasingly be found delivering infrastructure across the Gulf, Asia, Africa and other international markets.

In other words, project management expertise itself could become an export.

A different kind of return on infrastructure investment

Infrastructure investment is normally measured through the assets it creates and the economic activity those assets enable.

But there is also a human return on investment.

Every project creates an opportunity for someone to gain experience.

Every major programme can develop future leaders.

If Saudi Arabia deliberately captures that opportunity, the projects being delivered today can become training grounds for the people who will deliver tomorrow’s projects.

That creates a powerful cycle.

Saudi professionals gain experience on major domestic programmes. They progress into leadership positions. They mentor the next generation. Saudi organisations become increasingly capable of leading complex programmes themselves. That expertise then strengthens the Kingdom’s competitiveness both domestically and internationally.

The impact could continue long after today's projects are completed.

From a workforce policy to a national capability.

This is why the 70% Saudization requirement should be seen as an opportunity to think beyond workforce numbers.

Compliance matters.

But capability matters more.

If we reach the localisation target without creating meaningful development opportunities, we will have achieved only part of what is possible.

If, instead, the industry uses this moment to build structured pathways from graduate to project manager, from project manager to project director and from project director to industry leader, the outcome could be far more significant.

Saudi Arabia already has the projects.

It has an ambitious young workforce.

It has access to international expertise.

And it has a national transformation creating opportunities for people to gain experience at an extraordinary pace.

Bringing those elements together could create something genuinely distinctive.

The Kingdom is not only building the infrastructure of its future. It has the opportunity to build the people who will lead that future and potentially lead major projects around the world.

That is why I believe Saudi Arabia could become the world’s largest project management academy.