رئيس قسم التسويق

The Head of Marketing, will report into the Marketing Director and will manage a diverse team based in Riyadh.

The Head of Marketing will lead the brand, audience and go-to-market strategy for LIONS Riyadh, establishing the Festival as one of the most important new creative industry platforms in the region and a recognised part of the global LIONS community.

The individual will be a highly motivated, dynamic marketing leader with a track record of commercial collaboration to develop products and positioning reflective of customer demand.

This role requires a distinctive combination of brand thinking, creative judgement, audience insight and commercial marketing expertise. The successful candidate will understand how to build desire around a premium global brand while making it culturally relevant to Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East.

Managing a diverse team of managers, marketing executives and specialist functions the Head of Marketing will be a skilled marketing strategist and be able to drive creativity and enthusiasm in others.

The individual needs to be analytical and data orientated with a history of testing and optimisation, but with creative flair and exceptional attention to detail.

They will be responsible for creating a marketing platform that feels unmistakably LIONS bold, intelligent, culturally connected and creatively distinctive while delivering measurable audience, revenue and brand-growth objectives.

The candidate should have extensive experience of digital marketing, content marketing and marketing technology and be accustomed to delivering in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

The role will work closely with LIONS, Content, Creative, PR, Commercial and Partnerships to ensure every campaign strengthens the Festival's positioning, builds community and attracts the highest-value regional and international audiences.

The individual must be extremely adaptable, accustomed to working with differing market dynamics and be able to guide marketers and steer campaign strategy accordingly.

Key Performance Indicators

• Working alongside commercial leads to develop value propositions and go-to-market strategy

• Ongoing customer insight and engagement strategies

• Overseeing delivery of marketing campaigns in line with business objectives

• Adherence to timelines and budgets

• Marketing KPI report

• To manage a cross functional marketing team which includes marketers from all backgrounds with a diverse range of skills and training

• To design and deliver campaigns for specific projects as and where required

• Building strong awareness, consideration and demand for LIONS Riyadh across Saudi Arabia, the GCC and priority international markets

• Growing the Festival s reputation as a leading regional platform for creativity, marketing, media and culture

• Driving qualified registrations, ticket sales and attendance from priority audience segments

• Increasing engagement with senior CMOs, creative leaders, agencies, brands, creators and emerging talent

• Ensuring all campaigns reflect the LIONS brand, tone and creative standards

• Maximising the impact of speaker, content and partner announcements across paid, owned and earned channels

• Delivering strong digital engagement, conversion and return on marketing investment

• Building an active year-round community around the LIONS Riyadh brand via content marketing

• Driving effective collaboration across Marketing, Content, PR, Commercial, Creative and LIONS teams

• To act as a change management ambassador, demonstrating a positive and constructive attitude towards challenges and change

Key Responsibilities

LEADERSHIP

• Recommend team structures and delivery solutions based on requirements

• Line manage senior marketers and specialists working across a range of events

• Work with Group Director to ensure right structure, specialisms and level of resources to meet agreed KPI s

• Provide guidance, feedback and inspiration to line reports

• Build a high-performing, creatively ambitious marketing team capable of delivering to LIONS brand standards.

• Champion bold thinking, strong creative judgement and audience-first marketing across the team.

• Champion the adoption and optimisation of marketing technology solutions and digital marketing more broadly

• Work with line reports to ensure successful delivery of marketing campaigns in line with agreed KPI s, event and divisional strategy

• Work with line reports to develop skills and competencies and ensure they have a clear development roadmap

• Ensure line reports are competent managers and have the skills and training required to manage junior team members or specialists

• Ensure adoption and optimisation of marketing technology solutions, identify training needs and ensure line reports are technically proficient

• Create strong collaboration across Marketing, Content, Creative, PR, Commercial and the LIONS team.

• Reflect the high-performance culture of the marketing team.

ANALYSIS & INSIGHT

• Monitor campaign performance by supervising the production of relevant and timely reports. Recommend changes to campaign execution based on data insights

• Share relevant insights with sales, event team and senior management to drive revenues or pursue new opportunities

• Analyse and report trends over time and use these insights to build more effective campaigns

• Ensure relevant and timely data is captured (onsite & post show surveys, registration forms, industry research etc)

• Work with internal teams to ensure data governance and data management policies are adhered to

• Ensure delivery and accuracy of pre-agreed reports during and post campaign to monitor channel effectiveness and ROI

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Desired Candidate Profile

Degree or professional background in marketing, communications, media, business, creative industries or a related field is advantageous.

Relevant senior-level marketing experience may be considered in place of formal qualifications.

Experience

• Significant senior-level marketing experience within major events, media, creative industries, entertainment, culture or premium global brands.

• Proven track record of launching, repositioning or scaling brands in competitive markets.

• Experience developing and delivering integrated marketing campaigns across paid, owned, earned, digital, social and CRM channels.

• Experience building brand awareness, audience demand and commercial growth across multiple audience segments.

• Strong experience managing agencies, partners, budgets and cross-functional marketing teams.

• Experience in a start-up environment and/or scaling a new business is desirable.

• Experience marketing to international as well as regional audiences is highly desirable.

• Experience within the creative, advertising, marketing, media or cultural sectors would be a strong advantage.

• Middle East experience, particularly Saudi Arabia or the GCC, is desirable.

Skills & qualities

• Good written and oral communication skills in both Arabic and English is essential

• Excellent quantitative skills

• Excellent Excel, PowerPoint and financial modelling skills

• Strong analytical and presentation skills

• Good attention to detail and accuracy.

• Self-starter with proactive nature, and ability to work autonomously

• Experience using SAP, TM1 (IBM) and/or Oracle would be advantageous

• Highly collaborative

• Thrives on constant change.

• Strong creative judgement with the ability to recognise and develop standout brand ideas.

• Excellent understanding of brand positioning, audience development and premium marketing.

• Ability to balance creativity with commercial performance and measurable results.

• Strong understanding of digital, social, CRM and data-led marketing.

• Ability to work confidently with senior stakeholders, global partners, agencies and creative teams.

• Strong cultural awareness and sensitivity to both Saudi/regional audiences and international markets.

• A genuine interest in creativity, marketing, media, culture and emerging industry trends.

• Comfortable working in a fast-paced launch environment with high expectations and evolving priorities.

• Middle East experience (desirable)

• Relevant sector experience (desirable)