Associate Director, Strategy, MENA

This role is based in Dubai and will work closely with the growth team, intelligence team, and marketing team to deliver exceptional new business responses. As a Growth Strategy Associate Director, you will be part of one of several squad teams, spearheading the delivery of compelling strategies to win and retain key multi-market clients for the group and agencies. You will play a key role in supporting and leading strategic work across pitches, prospecting and growth initiatives, working closely with the Head of Growth and senior strategy leadership.

Responsibilities

Supporting strategic workstreams across multi-market pitches and global prospecting opportunities, while supporting local pitches and growth opportunities where required; Leading on medium and small local pitches from strategy writing, to connection planning, to presenting; Developing and presenting compelling strategies in pitch, prospecting and internal meetings; Working with agency brand planning teams to apply the distinctive planning approaches of Mindshare's Good Growth Platform, Wavemaker's Provocative Planning and EssenceMediacom's Breakthrough; Bringing together inputs from multiple disciplines into a clear and compelling strategic story; Working closely with the Insights team to identify and incorporate category, company, consumer and cultural insights into strategic recommendations; Supporting the Head of Growth across multiple pitches and growth initiatives; Building productive relationships across WPP practices; Sharing strong work, learnings and best practice across the wider strategy team; Working with Strategy Squad counterparts to develop growth stories and strategic propositions for pitches, client work and award opportunities; Contributing to the evolution of the growth approach, including best-in-class work, emerging client needs, market trends and pitch learnings; Sharing thought leadership, trends and category insights with the wider squad

Requirements

Strong experience in strategy, growth, new business or client-facing strategic roles, ideally within a media, marketing or agency environment; Proven ability to develop and present compelling strategic thinking, particularly in pitches and prospecting situations, with strong storytelling and presentation skills; Ability to translate business and marketing challenges into clear, differentiated strategic opportunities and ideas; Strong collaboration and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to work effectively across disciplines, markets and seniority levels; Proactive, commercially minded and adaptable, with the ability to independently lead strategic workstreams while working closely with senior leadership; Experienced strategist with strong client-facing experience

Nice to have

Exposure to multi-market work across UAE, KSA and wider markets