Social Strategy & Planning Manager (UAE National )

Etihad; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 955,000 - 1,322,000; Full time

Job summary

Etihad Airways seeks a Performance Marketing Lead to drive the airline’s digital performance across paid channels, aligning acquisition and conversion strategies with commercial goals and brand objectives.

The role bridges data, creative, and media, combining analytical rigor with creative problem-solving to maximize ROI, revenue, and long-term customer value. Lead a cross-functional team, manage budgets, and deliver excellence at scale.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in digital or performance marketing, with at least 3 years in a managerial or leadership role.
• Proven track record of managing multi-channel campaigns and large digital media budgets (USD 20M+ annually).
• Experience in airline, travel, or e-commerce sectors preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, Business, or a related field; master’s degree is an advantage.
• Commercial understanding of Paid Social, Programmatic, PPC, SEO and Affiliate ecosystems, with hands-on experience in at least two channels.
• Strong command of analytics and data tools such as Adobe Analytics, GA4, SA360, Meta Ads Manager, DV360, BigQuery, and LookerStudio/Power BI.
• Exceptional leadership, collaboration, and communication skills - able to align teams around a shared vision and deliver results under pressure.
• Highly analytical mindset with a passion for innovation, testing, and continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

• Lead the strategy, planning, and execution of always-on paid digital channels to drive revenue growth and cost efficiency.
• Manage and mentor a team of channel leads and specialists, fostering a high-performance, data-driven culture.
• Define annual and quarterly performance marketing targets in alignment with commercial goals and global campaign plans.
• Oversee multi-million-dollar digital budgets, ensuring optimal allocation and pacing to deliver maximum ROI.
• Collaborate with analytics, data, and finance teams to build forecasting, attribution, and reporting models.
• Partner with brand, Marketing, CRM, and e-commerce teams to ensure consistent messaging and seamless customer journeys across channels.
• Evaluate and onboard new tools, technologies, and partners to advance automation, targeting, and optimization.
• Establish a rigorous A/B testing and experimentation roadmap to improve performance metrics.
• Analyze performance data and present actionable insights to senior leadership to influence strategy.
• Ensure campaigns adhere to data privacy regulations, brand standards, and governance processes.
• Foster collaboration with media buying agency and digital vendors such as Google and TikTok.

Skills

Leadership

Analytics

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in marketing or related field

Master’s degree advantage

Tools

Adobe Analytics

GA4

SA360

Meta Ads Manager

DV360

BigQuery

LookerStudio/Power BI

Job description

The Performance Marketing Lead will be responsible for leading Etihad’s digital performance strategy across all paid channels to drive measurable business growth and efficiency. This role is responsible for developing an integrated acquisition and conversion strategy across always on Paid Social, Display, Programmatic, and Affiliate channels, ensuring all activities align with commercial priorities and brand objectives. Acting as a bridge between data, creative, and media, the Performance Marketing Lead will combine analytical rigor with creative problem-solving to maximize ROI, revenue, and long-term customer value. The ideal candidate is both a strategist and an operator - comfortable defining vision, managing budgets, and empowering a cross-functional team to deliver excellence on a scale.

• Lead the strategy, planning, and execution of always on paid digital channels to drive revenue growth and cost efficiency.
• Manage and mentor a team of channel leads and specialists, fostering a high-performance, data-driven culture.
• Define annual and quarterly performance marketing targets in alignment with commercial goals and global campaign plans.
• Oversee multi-million-dollar digital budgets, ensuring optimal allocation and pacing to deliver maximum ROI.
• Collaborate closely with analytics, data, and finance teams to build accurate forecasting, attribution, and reporting models.
• Partner with brand, Marketing, CRM, and e-commerce teams to ensure consistent messaging and seamless customer journeys across channels.
• Evaluate and onboard new tools, technologies, and partners to advance automation, audience targeting, and creative optimization.
• Establish a rigorous A/B testing and experimentation roadmap to continuously improve performance metrics and customer acquisition efficiency.
• Analyze performance data and present actionable insights to senior leadership, influencing future strategy and investment.
• Ensure all campaigns adhere to data privacy regulations, brand standards, and internal governance processes.
• Foster and maintain a close and collaborative working relationship with our media buying agency, and digital vendors such as google and Tik Tok.
• Work with the agency to create annual joint business plans for each channel and report on their effectiveness on a quarterly basis.

Job Description

The Performance Marketing Lead will be responsible for leading Etihad’s digital performance strategy across all paid channels to drive measurable business growth and efficiency. This role is responsible for developing an integrated acquisition and conversion strategy across always on Paid Social, Display, Programmatic, and Affiliate channels, ensuring all activities align with commercial priorities and brand objectives. Acting as a bridge between data, creative, and media, the Performance Marketing Lead will combine analytical rigor with creative problem-solving to maximize ROI, revenue, and long-term customer value. The ideal candidate is both a strategist and an operator - comfortable defining vision, managing budgets, and empowering a cross-functional team to deliver excellence on a scale.

Qualifications

• Minimum 7 years of experience in digital or performance marketing, with at least 3 years in a managerial or leadership role.
• Proven track record of managing multi-channel campaigns and large digital media budgets (USD 20M+ annually).
• Experience in airline, travel, or e-commerce sectors preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, Business, or a related field; master’s degree is an advantage.
• Commercial understanding of Paid Social, Programmatic, PPC, SEO and Affiliate ecosystems, with hands-on experience in at least two channels.
• Strong command of analytics and data tools such as Adobe Analytics, GA4, SA360, Meta Ads Manager, DV360, BigQuery, and LookerStudio/Power BI.
• Exceptional leadership, collaboration, and communication skills - able to align teams around a shared vision and deliver results under pressure.
• Highly analytical mindset with a passion for innovation, testing, and continuous improvement.

Additional Information

Etihad Airways is more than the UAE’s national airline - we’re shaping the future of global aviation. From our hub in Abu Dhabi, we connect people across continents and cultures, while driving our “Journey 2030” ambition to double our fleet, expand our network and grow our people for a new era of excellence. Join us and become part of a vision where the world is your workplace and extraordinary experiences take flight.

To learn more visit www.etihad.com