Project Manager - LIONS Riyadh

Job description

Company Description
Tahaluf is the largest B2B live and on-demand events organiser in Saudi Arabia by space, attendance, colleagues, and revenue. It is a joint venture between Informa PLC, the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones (SAFCSP), and the Events Investment Fund (EIF).

Tahaluf is bold, visionary, and determined to make an impact. Our team fosters a culture of collaboration, creativity, and a little fun, here teamwork rules and work feels as exciting as the events we create. Scaling at this pace also requires exceptional local partners, and Tahaluf is proud to work with a range of government and non-government organisations at the forefront of Saudi Arabia’s B2B and B2C large-scale events scene.

Be part of something BIG with Tahaluf’s series of record-breaking events: LEAP and Cityscape - the largest events in the world in their respective fields of tech and real estate; Black Hat MEA - a Guinness World Record holder for the largest CTF competition during the event; and CPHI Middle East - the largest pharma debut event in history, to name just a few. Tahaluf is making a huge impact on the global events sector.

Join our ambitious and highly committed team, unafraid to push boundaries and disrupt the status quo. From day one, you’ll dive into large-scale projects under the guidance of a supportive leadership team that will encourage your personal development and open doors to new opportunities.
About LIONS Riyadh
LIONS Riyadh marks a bold new chapter for the world’s most prestigious platform for creative marketing. Launched by Tahaluf in partnership with LIONS and Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Media, it is a distinct Festival within the global LIONS community, home to the renowned Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Designed to amplify Middle Eastern creativity on the global stage, LIONS Riyadh will showcase the region’s talent, ideas and storytelling while connecting its creative industries with the world’s leading networks, brands and decision-makers. The inaugural three-day Festival takes place at KAFD, Riyadh, from 6–8 December 2027. It will bring together regional and global CMOs, creative leaders, agencies, brands and emerging talent around creative excellence, effectiveness, culture and the future of the industry.

Job Description
We’re looking for a Project Manager to join our team and play a pivotal role in delivering exceptional events. If you’re passionate about project management, thrive in a fast-paced environment, and want to be part of a team that’s redefining the events industry, we want to hear from you!
What you will do

• Inter-departmental Processes, Milestone, and Risk Management

• Coordinate project management systems, procedures and processes to ensure smooth inter-departmental timelines and deadlines.

• Evaluate and align processes to improve overall delivery and approval workflows.

• Conduct continuous risk assessments, including milestone alignment, resourcing considerations and contingency planning.

• Own and maintain the integrated LIONS Riyadh master project plan across all functional workstreams.

• Track key dependencies between Content, Marketing, Commercial, Partnerships, Creative and Operations to prevent delays and delivery gaps.

• Maintain project risk, issue, decision and action logs and ensure clear ownership and escalation where required.

• Support the implementation of the agreed LIONS Riyadh governance structure, ensuring decisions and escalations move through the correct forums.

• Challenge timelines and dependencies where necessary to protect critical milestones and overall Festival quality.

Stakeholder Management and Reporting

• Manage stakeholder interactions across internal teams and external partners at all levels.

• Ensure clear communication and reporting to internal and external stakeholders throughout the event lifecycle.

• Prepare clear project-status reporting for the Event Leadership Group and senior stakeholders, highlighting progress, risks, decisions and required actions.

• Coordinate information flow between Tahaluf, LIONS Riyadh stakeholders, partners and functional leads.

• Support senior stakeholder meetings, ensuring decisions, owners and deadlines are captured and followed through.

• Build strong working relationships across teams while maintaining clear accountability for delivery.

Event Delivery and Coordination

• Manage custom event delivery with the Special Projects team, Marketing Manager, and Event Manager.

• Direct onsite staff and team members to ensure successful event delivery.

• Oversee non-department-tied deliverables such as badging and merchandise rollout.

• Support marketing, programming, and operations elements of event delivery, acting as the point of contact for custom projects.

• Coordinate cross-functional Festival initiatives that sit across multiple departments or do not have a single functional owner.

• Support delivery of key Festival experiences, ensuring commercial, content, creative and operational requirements are aligned.

• Work closely with Operations to ensure project decisions are translated effectively into onsite delivery.

• Support readiness planning, rehearsals and final pre-event checks across all workstreams.

Production and Speaker Management

• Manage the collation of speaker assets where required, from confirmation through to final presentation delivery.

• Support smooth execution of event production and logistics.

• Manage speaker logistics where necessary.

• Coordinate closely with Content and Production teams to ensure key speaker, stage and programme dependencies are reflected in the overall project plan.

• Track delivery of high-profile or cross-functional content moments requiring input from multiple teams.

Meeting Management

• Manage minutes and tasks reporting, tracking, and monitoring.

• Coordinate recurring project and governance meetings, ensuring agendas are focused on decisions, risks and critical dependencies.

• Maintain clear records of decisions, approvals and ownership.

• Follow up proactively with workstream leads to ensure actions are completed against agreed deadlines.

• Escalate unresolved issues appropriately and early.

Post-Event Evaluation and Reporting

• Track post-event milestones and conduct evaluations to assess success metrics and gather feedback.

• Prepare final reports summarizing achievements, lessons learned, and recommendations for future events.

• Lead the consolidation of lessons learned across all functions and translate them into actionable recommendations for future editions.

• Capture delivery performance against key milestones, risks and project objectives.

• Ensure outstanding post-Festival actions are tracked through to completion.

Qualifications
What you will bring

• Educated to degree level or equivalent.

• Significant experience in project management supporting mid-to-large scale events, Festivals, conferences, brand activations or major launches.

• Ability to manage multiple projects and deliverables at different stages of the project lifecycle.

• Experience evaluating and managing inter-departmental processes, milestones and dependencies.

• Strong experience in risk identification, mitigation and escalation.

• Proficient in project management and collaboration tools such as Microsoft 365, Smartsheet, Airtable or equivalent.

• Speaks and writes clearly and fluently in English; Arabic is highly desirable.

• Strong interpersonal and stakeholder-management skills with cultural awareness and sensitivity.

• Proactive, self-motivated and highly organised.

• Proven ability to coordinate multiple senior functions and drive accountability without direct authority.

• Strong understanding of project governance, reporting and decision-management processes.

• Excellent attention to detail with the ability to maintain a clear view of the overall project while managing complex dependencies.

• Confident working with senior stakeholders, external partners and cross-functional leadership teams.

• Calm and solutions-focused under pressure, with the ability to prioritise quickly in a fast-moving environment.

• Experience within major events, creative industries, media, marketing or culturally led projects is advantageous.

Additional Information
Core Benefits:

• Medical Insurance for individual and family

• Annual leave – 25 days

• Remote working on Sundays

• Working anywhere – 1 month every year

• School fees contribution, 40,000 SAR per child per year (up to a max of three children)

• Wellbeing Benefits

• Residency visa including yearly dependent fees

• Individual annual flight allowance for expats

Local Relocation Package*:

• Paid flight to Riyadh – individual and family

• 30 days accommodation or suitable serviced apartment from arrival date or a one-off payment of SAR 5,000

• Up to SAR 2,500 reimbursement of shipping goods/excess baggage costs

*If eligible
International Relocation Package*:

• Paid flight to Riyadh – individual and family

• 60 days accommodation or a suitable serviced apartment from your arrival date, or a one-off payment of SAR 5,000

• Up to SAR 2,500 reimbursement of shipping goods/excess baggage costs

• Paid flight home for individual and end-of-service gratuity payment when leaving the company (if applicable)

*If eligible
We work hard to make sure life at Tahaluf is rewarding, supportive and enjoyable for everyone. We’re not solely focused on a checklist of skills. We champion energy and ambition and look for colleagues who will roll their sleeves up, join in and help make things happen. We don't just accept difference, we celebrate it. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and circumstances and base hiring decisions on relevant qualifications and merit. We are proud to provide a disability-friendly environment. If you require any support or adjustments to participate in our interview or selection processes, please let us know.