Marcom Strategic Planner, CEMEA

Lex; Dubai; On-site; AED 250,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

Apple is seeking a Marcom Strategic Planner for the CEMEA region to shape the local marketing agenda. You will drive insights, craft briefs, and guide partner agencies, influencing cross-functional teams to deliver campaigns that deepen Apple’s connection with local audiences.

You will collaborate with the Geo Lead and other Marketing and Sales peers to translate regional priorities into actionable briefs, ensuring marketing excellence across owned and partner touchpoints.

Qualifications

• 12+ years in strategic delivery within marketing (creative development, brand building, or business consulting)
• Experience leading strategic conversations with creatives, agency partners, and cross-functional teams
• Ability to translate complex information into clear, compelling narratives for diverse stakeholders
• Proven track record building relationships and influencing across functions
• Business-level English fluency for verbal and written communication

Responsibilities

• Deepen market understanding and consumer insights for Apple and local markets
• Map the customer journey across direct and partner touchpoints
• Synthesize internal data, third-party sources, and primary/secondary research into actionable market opportunities
• Identify opportunities to grow local business and strengthen brand relevance
• Lead annual local marketing planning in collaboration with Product Marketing and PR
• Draft clear briefs for local campaigns and guide agency partners through development
• Align cross-functional teams around strategy with senior stakeholders
• Develop best-in-class strategic frameworks and share learnings globally

Skills

Strategic planning

Stakeholder management

Storytelling

English fluency

Cross-functional leadership

Market insights

Job description

Summary

Marcom is the creatively-led global team that oversees Apple’s consumer facing marketing. We ensure the flawless development and execution of world-class communications across all medias and platforms. Every day, hundreds of millions of Apple customers around the world interact with our products. We drive the strategy and creative work that provide both new and existing customers with simple, engaging and inspiring marketing experiences.

The work of Marcom CEMEA (Central, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa) includes Localization, Advertising, partner Retail Experience and Communications, Interactive/Digital, Video & Motion Graphics, and Direct. It is the organization that plans, localizes, conceptualizes and implements Apple’s product and services communications.

Description

As a Marcom Strategic Planner, you play a critical role in shaping the future of Apple in your market. Your focus is on driving initiatives across the entire customer journey, through Apple-owned and partner touch-points, to grow Apple's business and deepen connection of the brand with local audiences.

Working closely with your market's Geo Lead and other Marketing and Sales peers, you are expected to maintain a detailed understanding of business priorities, channel dynamics, regional partnerships, and sales priorities. You are the strategic engine for your market: Mining insights, keeping your finger on the pulse of the local zeitgeist (across business, political, consumer, and marketplace dynamics), and translating these insights into actionable briefs for our agency partners and internal creative teams.

Responsibilities

• Insight and Analysis:
• Deepen Market Understanding - Continuously develop insights into the dynamics of Apple's business, the consumer technology category, our audiences, and their evolving relationship with our products.
• Map the Customer Journey - Analyze and understand consumer journeys across both direct and indirect channels.
• Synthesize Data - Combine various inputs, including internal data, third-party sources, and primary/secondary research, to construct a clear, actionable picture of market opportunities.
• Opportunity Identification:
• Drive Growth - Proactively identify key opportunities to grow our business locally and strengthen the brand's cultural relevance.
• Stay Agile - Maintain an "always-looking" mentality to spot and surface opportunities both within and outside of the formal annual planning process.
• Strategic Planning
• Lead Annual Planning - Drive the development of the annual local marketing plan in close cooperation with Product Marketing and PR teams.
• Prioritize Initiatives - Build a comprehensive plan that prioritizes key opportunities across all Apple touchpoints, owned and partner, serving as the tangible scope of work for the upcoming year.
• Creative Development:
• Draft Actionable Briefs - Write and execute clear, inspiring initiative and creative briefs for local campaigns, ensuring they are informed by the right sources of data.
• Guide Agency Partners - Collaborate directly with partner agencies, acting as their strategic guide throughout the creative development process.
• Strategic Leadership:
• Cross-Functional Alignment - Guide a multi-functional marketing team, working in lockstep with the Brand and Channel Lead, Corp Comms Lead, and Product Marketing Lead to ensure marketing excellence.
• Global Impact - Function as a leader within the broader strategy and Marcom network. You are expected to develop best-in-class cases and frameworks in your market that can be shared and scaled to impact Apple’s presence globally.
• Influence and Inspire - Lead, influence, and inspire cross-functional project teams and external partners without direct reporting lines. Outstanding communication and presentation skills to align stakeholders at all levels.

Minimum Qualifications

• 12+ years experience of strategic delivery in a marketing capacity, whether in creative development, brand building, or business consulting
• A track record of leading strategic conversations with creatives, agency partners, and people from various internal disciplines
• Experience synthesizing and translating complex information into easily understandable and compelling narratives for a diverse range for stakeholders
• Proven track record building relationships, collaboration and influence with key stakeholders among different functions
• Business Level fluency in English for verbal/written communication

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong analytical skills with the ability to aggregate and spot patterns within multiple sources of data (sales, business, behavioral and media data). Equipped with the knowledge of CEMEA’s digital social and commerce landscape
• Demonstrated leadership skills with the ability to effectively advocate and shepherd the strategy through a large cross functional organization
• Highly collaborative with the ability to actively engage with and consider multiple perspectives in pursuit of the best approach to the idea
• Strong commercial instincts and proven experience in research/business problem identification and resolution.
• Strong knowledge of digital devices (especially mobile phone) sales channel environment which includes carriers, eCommerce, retailers, or 3rd-party stores
• Phenomenal writing, visual story-telling, and presentation skills are required
• Spent considerable number of years living and working in the CEMEA region

At Apple, we're not all the same. And that's our greatest strength. We draw on the differences in who we are, what we've experienced, and how we think. Because to create products that serve everyone, we believe in including everyone. Therefore, we are committed to treating all applicants fairly and equally. We will work with applicants to make any reasonable accommodations.

At Apple, we believe accessibility is a fundamental human right. You’ll find that idea reflected in everything here — in our culture, our benefits and our digital tools. By welcoming as many perspectives as possible, we help you build a career where you feel like you belong.

Learn about accessibility in Apple’s workplace

Role Number: 200681140-1319