# Chief Design Officer (Real Estate & Hospitality Developments)

> The Greater Change · Dubai, United Arab Emirates · Full-time · Posted 2026-08-01

**Salary:** unknown currency 650,000–720,000

**Workplace:** on_site

**Department:** The Greater Change

## Description

### About the Company

Our client is an ambitious and rapidly growing real estate and lifestyle development group committed to creating exceptional destinations that blend innovation, luxury and timeless design.

With a strong focus on premium developments, design excellence and customer experience, the organisation is building a portfolio of iconic residential, hospitality and mixed-use projects.

The business believes great design creates lasting value and is investing significantly in building a world-class in-house creative capability.

This is an opportunity to shape the design vision of a growing organisation and leave a lasting impact on landmark developments across the region.

### About the Role

We are seeking an accomplished Chief Design Officer to establish and lead a newly created design studio responsible for defining the creative identity across a diverse portfolio of real estate and lifestyle developments.

Reporting directly to the CEO and Group Leadership, you will lead design strategy, creative excellence, innovation and studio operations while building a high-performing team capable of delivering world-class design solutions.

This is a unique executive opportunity for a visionary design leader who combines creativity with commercial thinking and operational excellence.

### Key Responsibilities

### Design Strategy & Creative Leadership

-   Define and lead the overall design vision aligned with business objectives.
-   Establish design standards and creative benchmarks across every project.
-   Drive innovation by introducing emerging design trends, technologies and best practices.
-   Ensure design excellence from concept through project completion.

### Studio Development

-   Build and scale the internal design studio.
-   Recruit, mentor and develop multidisciplinary creative teams.
-   Create collaborative design processes and governance frameworks.
-   Foster an innovative, high-performance creative culture.

### Project Leadership

-   Oversee design delivery across hospitality, residential and lifestyle developments.
-   Collaborate closely with Development, Marketing and Commercial teams.
-   Manage consultants, architects, vendors and specialist partners.
-   Ensure projects are delivered on time, within budget and to the highest quality standards.

### Stakeholder Management

-   Present design concepts and creative strategy to executive leadership.
-   Act as the principal design ambassador for the organisation.
-   Ensure brand consistency across every customer touchpoint.

### Performance

Success will be measured by:

-   Design quality
-   Creative innovation
-   Studio growth
-   Team performance
-   Project delivery
-   Brand consistency
-   Stakeholder satisfaction

## Requirements

-   10–15 years of senior design leadership experience.

-   Previous experience as Chief Design Officer, Creative Director, Head of Design or similar executive role.
-   Proven experience leading creative strategy and multidisciplinary design teams.
-   Experience building or scaling an internal design studio.
-   Strong background in luxury real estate, hospitality, lifestyle or brand design.
-   Experience designing hotels, restaurants, F&B concepts and residential developments.
-   Excellent leadership and people development capabilities.
-   Strong communication and executive presentation skills.
-   Commercial awareness with the ability to balance creativity, timelines and budgets.

## Benefits

### What We Offer

-   Competitive executive salary
-   Performance-based annual bonus
-   Opportunity to build and lead an entirely new design function
-   High level of creative ownership
-   Long-term executive career opportunity

## Apply

[Apply at The Greater Change](https://apply.workable.com/the-greater-change-1/j/D7B0535FAA/apply)

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