Role Purpose: To provide senior legal and regulatory expertise to support the legal needs of the Authority in key areas including real property, infrastructure, and planning matters. 

• Provide thought leadership on these key regulatory issues.
• The Authority’s work will be high profile, complex and fast moving, within a dynamic and agile environment and ultimately should enable and support NEOM’s Vision.
• The position requires organizing, planning, managing and leading various activities, people and workstreams in line with the OGC strategy of being an effective, efficient and ultra-lean legal function.

Key responsibilities:

Regulatory workstreams and instruments

• Act as the lead for regulation in key strategic areas, providing support to the GC, Authority senior leadership and Authority proponents on all regulatory aspects of relevant NEOM laws and regulations and any other laws relevant to the Authority.
• Provide clear and pragmatic guidance on the most important and/or complex matters from their early stages.
• Work with proponents to develop new and amend existing regulatory instruments, compliant with relevant laws and ensuring this approach is aligned with NEOM’s values and objectives.
• Maximise the use of technology and innovation to ensure best-in-class laws and regulations, effective and pragmatic legal implementation (whilst upholding rule of law principles) and transparency on the NEOM legal and regulatory system to all stakeholders.

Stakeholder management

• Build and manage stakeholder relationships principally focused on the property, infrastructure and planning sectors and relevant Government entities within the Kingdom.
• Build strong, collaborative relationships and an open dialogue with all component heads to ensure efficient ways of working and support the vision of a unitary, ‘one-team’, collaborative Authority.
• Represent OGC on various task forces and committees or chairing these, as requested by the GC or Authority leadership.
• The Authority’s work will be high profile, complex and fast moving, within a dynamic and agile environment and ultimately should enable and support NEOM’s Vision.
• [Already stated above in “Role and Purpose”].The work involves responsibility for managing and making decisions on regulatory and government policies, formulation of budgets to support regulatory workstreams, implementation of plans and strategies, governance and administrative arrangements, internal processes as well as supporting Authority components on the development of regulatory instruments.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Extensive experience of working at a senior level in a regulatory environment focused on property, infrastructure, and planning;
• Understanding of the impact of regulation on the spectrum of businesses, investors, residents and the broader social and environmental agenda and NEOM Vision;
• First-class intellectual and analytical skills, with a key focus and specialty in the property, infrastructure, or planning industries (supported by post graduate study and/or sector-relevant publications), able to bring intellectual and analytical rigor to complex regulatory issues and develop/deliver robust and pragmatic solutions;
• Demonstrable ability to persuade, influence and build collaborative working relationships with a wide range of senior stakeholders, including the deputy CEO, across NEOM and the wider public and private sectors;
• Experience in developing and implementing regulatory policies and procedures in the property, infrastructure, and planning sectors;
• Experience in legislative development in the property, infrastructure, and planning sectors;
• Personal resilience and flexibility;
• Embraces NEOM’s vison as an Accelerator of Human Progress and is excited and motivated to help deliver this vision; and
• Aligned to and champions NEOM values and supports others in doing so – Catalyst, Care, Curious, Passionate, Respect and Diversity.

Qualifications

• Senior-level legal and regulatory experience as a qualified lawyer, gained across the public and/or private sectors (relevant areas of legal expertise include administrative, regulatory, public and commercial law)
• 15 years+ legal and regulatory experience from major law firms, in house, government or regulators
• Good awareness of GCC Region culture and sensitivities, preferably having worked in, or otherwise had exposure, to the Region over a number of years
• Qualified to practice as a lawyer in a reputable jurisdiction