Head of Events & Partnerships — Strategy & Growth

Mackenzie Jones Middle East; Dubai; On-site; AED 420,000 - 700,000; Full time

Job summary

Mackenzie Jones Middle East is partnering with a leading UAE bank to recruit an AVP - Head of Events & Partnerships. The role focuses on shaping and delivering the events and partnerships strategy, strengthening brand presence and market visibility within the UAE.

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in events, partnerships, corporate communications, and stakeholder engagement, with a proven track record in government, business, and financial services partnerships.

Qualifications

• 7-8 years of relevant experience is required.
• Background in events, partnerships, corporate communications, marketing, stakeholder engagement, or a related discipline.
• Track record of building and managing strategic partnerships across government, business, community, sustainability, innovation, or financial services.
• Solid grasp of partnership and event governance activation, stakeholder management, and performance measurement.
• Comfortable working with agencies, media partners, suppliers, government bodies, and other external stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Shape and drive the bank's overall events and partnerships strategy, ensuring it supports brand priorities, commercial goals, Islamic banking positioning, and presence in the market.
• Spot untapped opportunities to build greater visibility, relevance, and stakeholder engagement, generating meaningful market presence.
• Grow and maintain a strong pipeline of partnerships spanning government, Islamic finance, Emirati-focused, SME, sustainability, innovation, community, and broader business platforms.
• Assess potential events and partnerships against brand alignment, audience relevance, commercial value, reputational impact, cost, visibility, and overall strategic fit.
• Establish clear governance around how events and partnerships are selected and approved, including activation planning, defined stakeholder roles, risk controls, and structured post-event evaluation.
• Work closely with internal teams, event organizers, agencies, partners, and suppliers to ensure every activation is delivered consistently and represents the brand well.
• Monitor how events and partnerships perform visibility, engagement, stakeholder sentiment, reputational impact, and business results and turn that into clear reporting and recommendations.
• Run structured reviews after each event or partnership to capture lessons learned, measure return against objectives, and continuously sharpen governance, partner selection, and stakeholder engagement.

Skills

Events & Partnerships

Stakeholder engagement

Corporate communications

Marketing

Governance activation

Reporting

Job description

Mackenzie Jones Middle East is partnering with a leading UAE bank to recruit an AVP - Head of Events & Partnerships. The role focuses on shaping and delivering the events and partnerships strategy, strengthening brand presence and market visibility within the UAE.

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in events, partnerships, corporate communications, and stakeholder engagement, with a proven track record in government, business, and financial services partnerships.