Head - Marketing & Communications

This role is responsible for the overall implementation of the Education & Culture division’s Sales and Education Strategies, as well as the division’s positioning in the community. This role communicates Education and Culture division’s various venues and programmes, to different stakeholders in a manner that is relevant and meaningful and identifies mediums/channels through which to drive visitation and promote messages effectively. It is important that the community perceives Expo City Dubai and its venues as a rich educational and cultural destination that inspires learners of all ages, encourages repeat visitation and drives positive word of mouth. The Head of Comms role is key in ensuring that relevant content and communication materials are developed and spread effectively and in a timely manner through the relevant channels.

The main responsibilities for this role include:

Strategic Responsibilities:

• Devise the comms strategy, objectives and delivery plans for the Education & Culture Division, its venues, initiatives and programmes; this includes but is not limited to: stakeholder mapping and segmentation, channels strategy, engagement strategies.
• Develop and execute strategies to support increasing visitation to Expo City Dubai.
• Enhance and strengthen the brand presence of Education and Culture’s key assets including Terra, Alif, Vision, Women, Stories of Nation.
• Lead on crisis communications; Develop and deliver strategic, proactive communications that secure positive media coverage for the Educations & Culture division and its various venues and programmes
• Identify opportunities and stories to attract media attention and repeat visitations, particularly from schools, families, tourists and visitors interested in culture and learning.
• Manage relationships with Education and Sales leads under Education & Culture to align on strategic direction and understand their needs and design requirements
• Support and contribute to strategic efforts to build brand awareness, consideration, and drive conversion to deliver visitation targets to the destination and encourage repeat visitations.
• Create and manage communications requirements for Education & Culture Division, including: press releases, interviews, key messages, etc. requirements to support in driving awareness and visitation.
• Establish and maintain external stakeholder relationships with several media outlets in coordination with Comms Team.
• Manage relationships with the Marcomms departments of various entities collaborating with Education and Culture, including educational and tourism entities and align on messaging and stories and push content through their channels.
• Manage the Comms budget and all contracts with social media, freelancers and translation agencies.

Operational Responsibilities

• Oversee positioning, messaging, and reputation management of Education & Culture division.
• Work with the Education and Sales teams to provide a robust calendar of activity that drives visitation, enhances visitor experience
• Ensure that all activity is amplified through social channels and the website
• Ensure issues and crisis management plans are developed and maintained, calling upon additional resources for key crisis activities as required
• Drive the creation of relevant content (Press releases, social media, emailers, marketing collaterals) and manage the suppliers in charge.
• Establish and maintain effective and continuous relations with Expo City Dubai MarComms team to collectively manage the different agencies (media buying, social media and advertising) to ensure proper content distribution
• Maintain positive coverage and share of voice of the division amongst the UAE’s various communities; manage and maintain relationships with media.
• Align with the relevant internal stakeholders on Expo City Dubai’s strategic messaging and marketing campaigns and identify ways to utilize them for the Education & Culture division.
• Monitor and report the performance of campaigns and activity using learnings to improve results.
• Support with events coordination and planning and content creation.

People Responsibilities

• Lead a team of design, social media and content professionals; mentor team members and provide support.
• Build and maintain a network of freelancers to tap into for specific projects
• Establish and maintain effective and continuous relations with media departments within government entities, educational entities, etc.
• Establish a good working relationship with MarComms teams to ensure shared suppliers and agencies are being briefed in a timely and clear manner.
• Work closely with the Operations, Education and Sales teams within Education & Culture and different departments at Expo City Dubai to gather relevant information and share accordingly with the relevant communities.
• Embed culture and vision of Expo City Dubai by role-modelling organizational behaviors through performance management, feedback and coaching

12+ years’ experience in similar role as well as:

• Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in relevant field
• Solid experience in communications planning, media engagement, and social media
• Experience in delivering multi-channel campaigns, including ATL, social media, email, & online promotions.
• Experience in communicating with general public and targeted communities
• Has strong relationships with media
• High level of proficiency in written and spoken English in a PR context,
• A track record of successful script writing delivery of a wide range of complex projects
• Excellent interpersonal skills (written and verbal)
• Demonstrated ability to identify creative narrative and anchor points and create relevant story lines
• Flexible, resilient and positive through organizational growth and change
• Transparency, integrity, honesty and humility
• Self-driven and hands-on. Reliable and can help manage projects independently.
• Excellent command of English grammar and writing
• Very good written and spoken Arabic