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Here is my experience:

How to choose your mobile operator in Saudi Arabia? - Go with STC or Mobily. With all other service providers, you will face challenges in terms of network connectivity.

What documents are required to subscribe to a mobile plan in Saudi Arabia? - If landing for the first time, you can get a SIM using the passport at the airport itself. Once you have Iqama, just change it by giving Iqama. Nothing else.

What criteria should you consider when choosing a plan matching your needs? - This depends on the individual. My suggestion is to consider a plan which has international calling minutes included. For e.g. STC has SAWA Flex plans which can cover both local and international calling. Some people may not need international calling because there are multiple options to connect to their Home countries like Google Meet, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. But for this, make sure to get a good data pack.

Are e-sim cards a suitable option for expats? What are the conditions? - It's an option and there are no challenges in adopting eSIM. What I do is - keep eSIM for my home country number so that I can receive OTPs etc. for the transactions in my home country. This eSIM is fixed. Then you can use a physical SIM for a Saudi number. The challenge with this option that I faced is - that if something happens to the phone, and you want to change the phone, my home country's telecom operator, does not allow you to switch unless the phone is on its own network. so I cannot change my phone. This may be different for the home country and local laws but its good to keep in mind.

What are your local tips for saving money on your mobile plan, especially for international calls (apps, operators, etc.) or mobile data? - In my experience, you should still keep international calling minutes available. I had some medical issues at home and this was a life savior for connecting to people at home because I can't connect via Google Meet or Instagram throughout the day. But for people who can, keep the bare min. plan for calling and data high. In Saudi, you get data separate for social media apps vs general data. In a way good because it will keep check on your screen time.

Additional Advice and an example of what I do:

1. Unless your company is paying, don't choose postpaid. It's costly.
2. Use office wifi as max as possible.
3. If you can afford it, get a wifi connection for home. It's costly but this can reduce your mobile data requirements so you can go with Bare min basic requirements.
4. Buying only Data will be a huge dent in your pocket.
5. Here is my example - My overall home data consumption is very high because we are a family of 4 with kids. I have a Mobily broadband for my home which costs SAR 287.5 per month. This is unlimited data so all my devices at home (YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, etc.) use it including smart TV. I use wifi in my office. We have 2 mobile connections - my and my wife's. For my wife, I have taken a bare min plan which is SAR 30 which gives some 100 min, 1 GB social, and 1 GB general data. For me, I have taken the STC SAWA 65 plan which gives 300 min local + international (my home country is covered in it) and also gives 4 + 4 GB data. This is more than enough for me. The majority of calls to my home country are via Apps only but I prefer to have an option of mobile call whenever required.
6. So my total monthly cost for telecom services is around SAR 400 (including taxes).