Director of Public Health and Community Engagement

The Director of Public Health and Community Engagement is responsible for establishing and leading the public health function across Qiddiya City.

The role will develop Qiddiya’s five-year public health strategy and establish the policies, standards, and systems required to protect the health of residents, employees, contractors, and visitors.

The position holds accountability for disease surveillance, outbreak management, occupational health standards, disease prevention, and community health engagement. The role also represents Medical Operations on public health matters and works closely with government authorities, healthcare providers, and internal stakeholders.

Requirements

Job responsibilities:

Public Health Strategy and Policy

• Develop and maintain Qiddiya’s five-year public health plan.
• Establish the public health policy framework, standards, thresholds, and intervention triggers.
• Translate national health priorities and Ministry of Health requirements into practical policies for Qiddiya City.
• Develop population health profiles, risk assessments, and public health data models.
• Advise the Executive Director on long-term strategy, resources, partnerships, and public health priorities.

Disease Surveillance and Outbreak Management

• Design and oversee disease surveillance systems across Qiddiya assets and contracted healthcare provider locations.
• Ensure compliance with notifiable disease reporting requirements.
• Lead outbreak investigations and chair the outbreak control team.
• Oversee contact tracing, disease prevention, and vaccination requirements.
• Provide recommendations regarding the closure of venues or assets during public health incidents.
• Maintain effective reporting and escalation relationships with relevant health authorities.
• Define the environmental health information required from internal and external partners.

Occupational Health

• Establish occupational health standards for Qiddiya employees, contractors, and service providers.
• Define health surveillance requirements for roles with specific exposure or physical demands.
• Clarify responsibilities across occupational health, public health, and clinical service delivery.
• Include occupational health requirements within contracted healthcare services.
• Monitor and verify that contracted providers deliver services according to agreed standards.

Community Health Engagement

• Provide strategic oversight of the Qiddiya Life Saver Program and wider lay-responder initiatives.
• Establish program direction, targets, performance measures, and governance requirements.
• Develop the Public Access Defibrillator network plan, including coverage, placement, governance, and expansion.
• Define the community health engagement approach for residents, employees, and visitors.
• Establish measurement frameworks to assess the effectiveness and value of community health programs.

Leadership and Governance

• Lead, manage, and develop the public health team.
• Represent Medical Operations on public health matters internally and externally.
• Prepare and present reports, business cases, and recommendations to senior management.
• Manage budgets, resources, contracts, and departmental priorities.
• Maintain strong relationships with government authorities, healthcare providers, and internal stakeholders.
• Ensure compliance with company policies, regulatory requirements, and delegated authorities.
• Identify, assess, manage, and escalate public health risks.
• Drive continuous improvement, innovation, and operational excellence.

Requirements:

Education

• Master of Public Health, or an equivalent postgraduate qualification in public health, is mandatory.

Professional Certifications

• Occupational health qualification or recognized equivalent is preferred.
• Field epidemiology training or an equivalent applied epidemiology certification is preferred.

Experience

• Minimum of 10 years of post-qualification experience in public health practice.
• Proven experience developing a public health plan, policy framework, or program from the beginning.
• Practical experience in disease surveillance and outbreak investigation.
• Experience leading or making a significant contribution to an outbreak response.
• Experience working across multiple organizations or functions where responsibilities and authority are shared.
• Experience establishing a new public health function is preferred.
• Experience in mass-gathering, events, entertainment destinations, or visitor-focused public health is preferred.
• Experience in occupational health is preferred.
• Familiarity with Saudi Ministry of Health regulations and notifiable disease requirements is preferred.
• General healthcare, hospital, or clinical management experience alone does not replace the required public health experience.

Skills and Competencies

• Strong strategic and population-level analytical thinking.
• Ability to make informed decisions when information is incomplete.
• Strong policy, planning, and professional writing skills.
• Ability to prepare documents suitable for executive and regulatory review.
• Strong negotiation, influencing, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Good knowledge of surveillance systems, data models, and public health reporting.
• Leadership and team-development capability.
• Working proficiency in both Arabic and English.