Client Director - MENA

GSIQ Limited.; Abu Dhabi; Hybrid; AED 350,000 - 520,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working environment

Competitive compensation

Performance-based rewards

Job summary

GSIQ Limited is seeking a Client Director, MENA to lead major client relationships and deliver high-impact insights across sports, sponsorship and entertainment in the Middle East.

Based in Dubai with a hybrid work model, you will drive consultancy projects, identify growth opportunities, and build senior client trust while shaping the regional proposition and expanding the company’s footprint.

Qualifications

• 7–10 years experience across sports, sponsorship, research, insights or consulting, in an agency, consultancy, rights-holder or brand.
• Excellent written and spoken English is essential; Arabic language skills and regional network advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Lead senior client relationships, ensuring delivery excellence and valuable engagement.
• Transform data and insights into compelling storytelling for senior decision-makers.
• Identify opportunities to deepen relationships, expand scopes and drive growth in the MENA region.

Skills

Senior stakeholder management

Strategic consulting

Client leadership

Storytelling & insights

Business development

Autonomy

English proficiency

Job description

Job Title: Client Director, MENA

Location: Dubai, UAE - Hybrid

ABOUT GSIQ

GSIQ is an award-winning, high-growth research and insights agency helping some of the world's leading sports, entertainment, sponsorship and tourism organisations turn data into better decisions.

We combine media intelligence, consumer research and data-driven consultancy to go beyond simply reporting the numbers – uncovering the so what, telling the story behind the insight and helping clients understand what it means for their business.

We are a specialist, entrepreneurial business with global reach, combining the expertise and client exposure of an established agency with the pace, autonomy and ambition of a scale-up.

THE OPPORTUNITY

The MENA sports and entertainment industry is experiencing extraordinary growth. As investment accelerates, the need for robust data, independent measurement and high-quality insight has never been greater.

GSIQ is right at the heart of that opportunity. In just two years, we have covered ground that has taken many established agencies significantly longer, building a strong portfolio of major brands, rights-holders and events across the region.

On the back of significant client wins and continued growth, we are now looking for a senior strategic hire to help take the business to its next level. You will have significant responsibility across our clients, our proposition and our growth – strengthening client relationships, bringing greater consultative depth to our work, and helping identify opportunities to drive the business forward.

For the right person, it is an opportunity to join at an important point in our journey, make a visible contribution to what GSIQ becomes and share in the success they help create.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Senior Client Leadership & Delivery Excellence

Lead some of our largest brand and rights-holder relationships, ensuring we combine exceptional delivery with genuinely valuable client engagement.

• Build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders and become a go-to partner on their key challenges.
• Oversee major ongoing accounts and projects, ensuring outputs are accurate, insightful, commercially relevant and delivered to an exceptional standard.
• Bring senior judgement and quality control to our work, particularly across high-profile reports, presentations and client engagements.
• Proactively identify opportunities to deepen relationships, expand scopes and create additional value for clients.

2. Consultative Insight & Strategic Projects

Help go beyond telling clients what the data says to helping them understand what it means and what they should do with it.

• Act as a subject‑matter expert, bringing deep knowledge of the sector and landscape into our client work by adding industry context, trends, benchmarks and best practice
• Transform research and data into compelling storytelling, making complex findings simple, engaging and relevant to senior decision‑makers.
• Lead bespoke data‑driven consultancy projects that sit adjacent to our core research and measurement work.
• Help identify and develop new insight‑led solutions that respond to evolving client needs.

3. Commercial Growth & Market Development

Play a leading role in the next stage of GSIQ MENA's growth.

• Identify priority clients, sectors and opportunities across the region, and take ownership of pursuing them, leading pitches, proposals and new business conversations.
• Build senior relationships across brands, rights-holders, agencies and the wider sports ecosystem.
• Help expand GSIQ's footprint across the region, particularly in Saudi Arabia and other priority markets.
• Be visible in the industry – attending events, travelling across the region and actively developing GSIQ's network and reputation.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

You are likely to have 7–10 years experience across sports, sponsorship, research, insights, consulting or a related field, gained within an agency, consultancy, rights‑holder or brand.

We are particularly looking for someone who combines:

• Subject-matter expertise and consultative thinking – deep industry knowledge and the ability to connect research and data to the wider commercial picture.
• Client gravitas and relationship skills – credible, personable and comfortable building trusted relationships with senior stakeholders.
• Exceptional quality standards and storytelling – able to recognise what great work looks like and turn complex information into clear, compelling narratives.
• Commercial instinct – able to spot opportunities, develop relationships and convert ideas into growth.
• Ownership & a proactive self‑starter who thrives with autonomy; accountable, collaborative and someone who makes the people around them better.

Excellent written and spoken English is essential. Arabic language skills, MENA experience and an established regional network would be advantageous.

WHY GSIQ

GSIQ offers something increasingly rare: the opportunity to have a genuine influence on the business you are joining.

You will get direct exposure to major regional and international clients, and the opportunity to shape our client proposition and growth at a pivotal stage in the company's development.

We offer a flexible working environment, competitive salary and benefits, and a performance‑related reward structure that means when GSIQ succeeds, you share in that success.