Creative Director jobs in United Arab Emirates

ITP Media Group seeks a portfolio-level Art Director to lead the visual identity and execution of Harper s Bazaar Arabia plus the Saudi and Qatar editions across print, digital, social, and video. You will set the creative bar, codify systems that scale across a monthly flagship and quarterly regional editions, and partner closely with editorial photo/video and production to deliver world-class design in both English and Arabic. The role demands deep print craft (typography, grid, prepress colour) and platform-native sensibility, and social with meticulous standards in bilingual/RTL applications and colour‑managed workflows.

• Maintain and evolve the Harper s Bazaar portfolio visual language (typography grid imagery palette illustration motion) ensuring cohesion with each edition s local nuance.
• Enforce brand style guides and cross-platform design systems for print/digital including bilingual/RTL specifications and component libraries.

• Lead flatplans and pacing; art-direct covers features departments and special supplements; approve layouts from concept to press-ready files.
• Partner with the Managing Editor and Production teams on schedules and closes appropriate to a monthly (Arabia) and quarterly (Saudi/Qatar) cadence.
• Design and lay out all pages in line with our global standards.

• Commission and direct photographers stylists set designers illustrators and retouchers across fashion portrait still-life architecture/interiors.
• Write treatments and shot lists; supervise on-set art direction and retouching standards; build and maintain a best-in‑class regional contributor network.

• Translate print features into platform-native packages (.com templates social carousels Reels/Shorts graphic systems thumbnails); set motion/graphics rules for video lower-thirds and opens.
• Collaborate with social/video leads to ensure visual consistency and high engagement across channels.

• Own colour-accurate output across devices and presses: CMYK conversions profile selection proofing paper stock recommendations and press checks.
• Implement ICC-profiled colour management and preflight/QC practices to ensure predictable premium print reproduction.

• Ensure excellent Arabic typography spacing ligatures and mirroring logic; set rules for mixed writing directions (numbers units dates) and bilingual hierarchy.
• Curate Arabic-compatible type families and oversee RTL adaptations of layouts and UI elements for digital.

• Maintain file architecture versioning and DAM hygiene (naming metadata reuse).
• Oversee image rights credits licenses and clearances in partnership with Legal/Editorial; manage third‑party fonts/artwork usage.

• Partner with editorial leaders to shape visual storytelling; collaborate with commercial/branded content teams on premium executions while protecting editorial integrity.

• 8 10 years art direction in luxury fashion/editorial environments with a portfolio of landmark covers/features and cross-platform systems.
• Mastery of typography and grid; expert in InDesign/Photoshop/Illustrator; working knowledge of Lightroom/Capture One; motion basics (After Effects/Premiere) and Figma for digital systems.
• Proven prepress/print expertise (proofing press checks colour pipelines/ICC); strong retouching oversight.
• Bilingual/RTL experience strongly preferred; Arabic/English fluency is a plus with sensitivity to regional cultural context and luxury aesthetics.
• Calm under pressure deadline‑reliable and excellent at cross‑functional communication with editorial production and commercial teams.

• Visual excellence & consistency across editions/platforms; external recognition/benchmarks.
• On-time delivery for monthly and quarterly closes; reduced rounds and rework.
• Colour/print quality (proof‑to‑press fidelity ICC adherence).
• Digital/social performance of visual packaging (CTR saves/shares completion/retention where applicable).
• Contributor network strength and development of regional talent; internal stakeholder satisfaction.