Freuds Group | Associate Director

We look for smart and resilient problem solvers; for creative minds; for individuals who want to push boundaries; to look at things from different angles; and connect the dots in a way others can\’t.

Our employees come to us to work with some of the world’s best-known brands and influential people, helping our clients identify and tell meaningful stories that drive real change, and genuine connection. Love & Work is our foundation because we do what we love, and we love what we do.

Many of our alumni have gone on to run their own top 150 agencies; to lead the communications and marketing for well-known global brands; and are leaders in their fields of expertise.

We pride ourselves on the ability to assemble teams of passionate specialists from all over the world with a huge variety of backgrounds, all experienced in solving tricky problems.

As an equal opportunity employer, we encourage all applicants to apply, regardless of race, religion, origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability. Freuds Group strives to ensure a sense of belonging for all; we’re proud to support and utilise a diverse range of thoughts and perspectives in the teams we build as well as the work we create. Our belonging behaviours are built on the foundation of Collaboration, Connection, Empathy & Understanding and Allyship, these pillars are entwined into our daily life and are one of the markers for how we measure both company and individual success.

The Team

Freuds MENA practice sits within core Freuds and is supported by a team of corporate communications specialists. Our corporate experts drive meaningful conversations with a range of stakeholders including customers, consumers, partners, activists, policy makers and current & future employees. Our MENA work currently includes a range of corporate, private sector and Government clients.

The Role

We are seeking an experienced native Arabic speaking corporate communications Associate Director to join our strategic communications team, to support the delivery and leadership of our work in the UAE. reporting into the Director and the Partner of our MENA work you will be a generalist PR practitioner who is able to provide client counsel to our Government clients, be strategic and hands on with regards to media relations, play a role in new business development and also day-to-day management of teams both in the UK and the UAE.

You will be the client lead for Freuds, you’ll be adept at giving strong strategic direction and confident in sharing your sector expertise and experience. You will be a team player and when necessary, get stuck in to ensure media relations and activations are delivered within short timelines. You will have a key role in driving the communications narrative for local and international media, partnerships and stakeholder management. You’ll have a positive outlook, be ambitious, organized, proactive, team orientated, collaborative and passionate about delivering work the agency and you can be proud of. You will have a strong track record of landing global and local media, delivering interviews and managing media relations.

Responsibilities:

• Securing the confidence of the client and colleagues as a senior communications advisor and operational member of the team on a wide range of consumer and corporate campaigns; across earned, social, experiential
• Contributing to strategy, solutions and proactively introducing new ideas to improve our offering
• Run meetings, workshops and steering committees both with senior comms people and senior stakeholders within a business
• Develop crisis and issues preparation plans for clients to anticipate and mitigate against media-facing reputational challenges, stress testing client crisis strategies through issues workshops and simulations
• Handling day-to-day issues for a portfolio of major clients, including front line media relations
• Developing corporate positioning, messaging and narrative frameworks
• Participating in, and leading, new business development, including originating leads and managing pitch meetings, presentations and proposals
• Proactively building internal and external networks with colleagues, opinion leaders, journalists, professional associations, online influencers and other relevant third parties
• Line managing and mentoring junior team members, including responsibility for their evaluation and professional development. Promoting a supportive working environment for your team, demonstrating exceptional leadership qualities and lead by example in your commitment to your role
• Ability to manage budgets, including drafting Scopes of Work, proposals and fee forecasting
• Embrace our cornerstones of Love & Work, which require a passion for what we do and an ability to persevere. In addition, you will take an active role in our belonging values – collaborating to achieve common goals, connecting with one another in an authentic way, sharing our perspectives and embracing others, and actively supporting each other and our experiences.