“My immediate priority is to build the regional team.” That is how James Duncan described his first job at KBR, the engineering and technology group that announced on 16 September 2026 that it had hired him as Vice President, Infrastructure, Global South. TradeArabia carried the news of the appointment.
Duncan will work from Dubai. The brief is to expand KBR’s major-project delivery business in rail, aviation and urban development, starting with the Middle East and North Africa. “We will start in the Middle East and North Africa before expanding further across the Global South,” he said.
Thirty years of project work
KBR said Duncan has more than 30 years in infrastructure, project and development management, with senior client-side and consultancy posts in the Middle East and elsewhere. He arrives from Hill International, where he was First Vice President.
Before that he served as Chief Project Officer at Al Farwaniya Property Developments, where he led delivery of Reem Mall in Abu Dhabi, and as Chief Development Officer at Emaar. Earlier still, he was Group Head of Projects at Eurotunnel, overseeing multiple programmes of work.
Why the Gulf, and why now
TradeArabia tied the hire to the pace of construction in the Gulf. MEED Projects reported in April that $943 billion of work was under execution across the region, with a further $321 billion at the bidding stage. KBR said it wants a bigger part in major transport and urban development programmes as governments spend on infrastructure to support growth and diversification.
Duncan framed the opportunity in plain terms. “The scale of infrastructure development in this region is enormous,” he said. Governments and developers, in his words, are planning major rail links, aviation projects and new urban communities, and they need “experienced delivery partners who can turn that ambition into effective infrastructure.”
He pointed to KBR’s record in the region, naming Yas Island and the Doha Expressway. The firm, he said, already has strong programme and project delivery capability in mega projects and can work with clients from early planning through procurement and construction.
Programme oversight
Duncan will also build up KBR’s programme management and project management office capability. On large, complex programmes, the company can sit inside the client’s oversight team and give it a view across projects.
“Major programmes are rarely just one project or one contract,” Duncan said. “The client needs someone at their right hand who can oversee the whole programme and keep delivery moving.” He added that the modern market wants partners who are flexible commercially and can deliver innovation at speed.
