Head of Community Engagement

We are currently looking for a Head of Community Engagement to support a key initiative within the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) on a 12-month freelance contract.

DCT Abu Dhabi is the government entity responsible for driving the sustainable growth of Abu Dhabi’s culture, tourism and creative industries, playing a central role in positioning the emirate as a global hub.

The role owns the community and events pillar of a high-impact sector activation program. The successful candidate will design and build a thriving community through a year-round program of activities, local B2B and B2C events, and the attraction and hosting of global and local IPs.

• Design the community-building strategy: target segments, engagement channels (physical venues, online platforms), flagship events, and a year-round activity calendar.

• Build and run recurring community programs: from concept definition to execution
• Grow and activate ecosystem around the sector’s programs and events.

• Design the organic event portfolio: B2C events and B2B events (industry conferences, summits, showcases).
• Build the business case for each event: objectives, target audience, budget, revenue and sponsorship model, and expected community and sector impact.
• Oversee event delivery through operating partners, agencies, and venues; own quality, budget, and outcome accountability.

• Identify global IPs whose hosting in the UAE would accelerate community growth and sector positioning.
• Lead bids and negotiations to bring these IPs to the UAE, in B2B and B2C formats.
• Structure hosting arrangements: rights, obligations, delivery model, support requirements.

• Define, own, and report the community and events KPI framework: community growth and engagement, event attendance and satisfaction, global IPs secured, sponsorship and partner revenue, and economic impact.
• Manage the community and events budget.

• Demonstrated track record of building event portfolios end-to-end: strategy, business case, partner selection, and delivery to measurable results.
• Track record of executional excellence of high-profile MICE events
• Experience negotiating and managing commercial partnerships or hosting agreements with stakeholders, including organizers, sponsors, and IP holders.
• Strong commercial and financial-assessment skills: comfortable building and defending business cases, owning budgets, and evaluating partnerships on strategic and financial merit.

• Deep familiarity with the creative industries, media, interactive entertainment ecosystem.
• Established network among event organizers, content creators, and industry media.
• Arabic language ability is an asset;
  English fluency is required.

12-month freelance contract

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates