Senior Urban Planner

We're Hiring: Senior Urban Planner

Location: United Arab Emirates (Remote)

Employment Type: Full-Time

Experience Level: Mid-Level to Senior

Work Arrangement: Fully Remote

About Us

We are a globally focused organization committed to shaping sustainable, resilient, inclusive, and high-quality urban environments across diverse markets. Our multidisciplinary teams collaborate across Urban Planning, Architecture, Engineering, Transportation, Infrastructure, Environment, Real Estate, Economics, Government Relations, and Community Engagement to develop practical and forward-looking plans for cities, districts, communities, and development projects.

The Role

We are seeking an experienced Senior Urban Planner to lead urban planning studies, master planning, development frameworks, land-use strategies, spatial planning, policy analysis, and multidisciplinary planning projects.

The ideal candidate will combine strong planning expertise with strategic thinking, analytical capabilities, stakeholder management, and project leadership to develop integrated urban solutions that balance economic development, mobility, infrastructure, environmental sustainability, community needs, and long-term urban resilience.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead urban planning and master-planning projects from initial assessment through strategy, concept development, approvals, and implementation.
• Develop urban development strategies, spatial frameworks, land-use plans, district plans, and development guidelines.
• Assess existing urban conditions, land uses, development patterns, infrastructure, mobility, demographics, economic activity, and environmental constraints.
• Conduct site and context analysis to identify opportunities, constraints, risks, and development potential.
• Develop land-use strategies covering residential, commercial, retail, hospitality, institutional, industrial, recreational, civic, and mixed-use development.
• Prepare master plans, structure plans, development frameworks, urban design frameworks, zoning strategies, and planning studies.
• Define development principles, planning parameters, density strategies, building intensity, land-use distribution, and development phasing.
• Evaluate development scenarios and prepare alternative planning concepts based on strategic objectives and market requirements.
• Conduct feasibility assessments considering land use, infrastructure capacity, mobility, market conditions, development economics, and regulatory requirements.
• Integrate transportation, public realm, utilities, community facilities, environmental considerations, and urban design into planning proposals.
• Coordinate with architects, landscape architects, engineers, transportation specialists, environmental consultants, economists, and other technical disciplines.
• Review planning proposals, development applications, site plans, subdivision plans, zoning changes, and urban development concepts.
• Assess development proposals against applicable planning policies, regulations, design guidelines, and strategic objectives.
• Prepare planning reports, technical memoranda, planning statements, development frameworks, and executive presentations.
• Develop planning policies, guidelines, standards, and implementation frameworks.
• Review existing planning policies and identify opportunities for improvement, modernization, or alignment with development objectives.
• Monitor changes in planning legislation, zoning regulations, development controls, building requirements, and relevant government policies.
• Support planning approvals, development permits, zoning applications, land-use amendments, and regulatory submissions.
• Coordinate with government authorities, municipalities, planning agencies, infrastructure providers, and other regulatory stakeholders.
• Prepare submissions, responses, technical clarifications, and supporting documentation for planning authorities.
• Represent the organization in planning meetings, technical committees, stakeholder consultations, and regulatory discussions.
• Lead stakeholder engagement activities with government agencies, developers, landowners, investors, communities, consultants, and other interested parties.
• Support community consultation, public workshops, stakeholder meetings, and engagement programs associated with planning projects.
• Identify stakeholder concerns and incorporate relevant feedback into planning recommendations.
• Assess social, economic, environmental, and infrastructure implications of proposed urban development.
• Develop strategies that support sustainable, inclusive, accessible, and resilient communities.
• Integrate climate resilience, environmental sustainability, resource efficiency, green infrastructure, and low-carbon principles into urban plans.
• Assess urban heat, flood risk, water management, biodiversity, environmental constraints, and climate adaptation opportunities.
• Develop strategies for walkability, active mobility, public transportation, connectivity, and multimodal accessibility.
• Coordinate transportation and mobility planning with land-use and development strategies.
• Evaluate road networks, pedestrian networks, cycling infrastructure, public transport, parking, loading, and mobility hubs.
• Support transit-oriented development and compact, connected urban development where appropriate.
• Develop public-realm strategies covering streets, plazas, parks, open spaces, waterfronts, civic spaces, and pedestrian environments.
• Establish urban design principles relating to built form, streetscape, frontage, height, density, massing, public realm, and visual character.
• Coordinate with landscape architecture teams on parks, open-space networks, green corridors, and public-realm strategies.
• Evaluate development capacity, population projections, employment growth, land requirements, and infrastructure needs.
• Conduct demographic, socioeconomic, land-market, and development-trend analysis to inform planning decisions.
• Develop urban growth scenarios and long-term development forecasts.
• Prepare phasing and implementation strategies for large-scale developments, districts, and city expansions.
• Establish planning priorities, implementation actions, governance structures, and delivery mechanisms.
• Develop development-control frameworks and planning standards that support consistent implementation.
• Use GIS, spatial analysis, mapping, planning databases, and other digital tools to analyze urban conditions and communicate planning concepts.
• Prepare spatial datasets, thematic maps, development scenarios, land-use diagrams, and planning visualizations.

Key Performance Indicators

• Urban planning project delivery rate
• Project schedule adherence
• Project budget performance
• Planning deliverable quality
• Planning approval success
• Regulatory submission timeliness
• Regulatory compliance rate
• Master plan completion
• Development framework completion
• Planning study completion
• Stakeholder satisfaction
• Client satisfaction
• Stakeholder engagement participation
• Planning consultation response rate
• Development scenario completion
• Land-use optimization
• Development capacity accuracy
• Infrastructure planning alignment
• Transportation and mobility integration
• Public-realm planning quality
• Sustainability target achievement
• Climate-resilience integration
• GIS and spatial-data accuracy
• Planning analysis quality
• Consultant performance
• Planning review turnaround time
• Regulatory issue resolution
• Planning risk closure
• Implementation-plan completion
• Development-phasing performance
• Planning-policy improvement initiatives
• Community feedback incorporation
• Planning-related project changes
• Technical review completion
• Planning team productivity
• Staff development and mentoring
• Business development contribution
• Client retention
• Continuous-improvement implementation

Ideal Candidate

The successful candidate should have strong experience in urban planning, master planning, spatial planning, land-use planning, urban development, city planning, development planning, or urban design, preferably within an international consultancy, government authority, real estate developer, infrastructure organization, or multidisciplinary planning environment.

The candidate should demonstrate:

• Strong understanding of urban planning principles, land-use planning, development frameworks, and spatial strategy.
• Experience leading complex urban planning and master-planning projects.
• Strong knowledge of zoning, development controls, planning policies, and regulatory approval processes.
• Experience preparing master plans, structure plans, land-use plans, development frameworks, and planning studies.
• Strong understanding of urban design, built form, density, development capacity, and public-realm principles.
• Experience integrating transportation, infrastructure, environmental, economic, and social considerations into urban plans.
• Strong knowledge of sustainable urban development, climate resilience, and inclusive planning principles.
• Experience conducting site analysis, spatial analysis, development scenarios, and planning feasibility assessments.
• Strong GIS and spatial-analysis capabilities.
• Experience working with government authorities, municipalities, developers, landowners, communities, and technical consultants.