Deputy Director, EMEA, Frieze

Frieze is hiring a Deputy Director, EMEA to deliver all aspects of Frieze’s EMEA fairs with specific emphasis on cross-department coordination, budget and timeline management.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities

• Support the Director, EMEA in developing and executing the EMEA fairs strategic vision and delivery.
• Relay EMEA initiatives strategy across all teams, ensuring it is considered and reflected in all decisions and processes.
• Implement and coordinate the delivery of EMEA fairs across all departments, tracking and pushing deliverables.
• Support decision-making process for all new and existing EMEA initiatives where requested.
• Monitor budgets, manage finances, and ensure financial resilience.
• Support the drafting and management of funding applications and grant proposals.

Operational Oversight:

• Manage the day-to-day EMEA operations to ensure efficiency and smooth execution.
• Oversee staff, providing leadership and guidance, ensuring high quality departmental output.
• Collaborate with the Director to deliver artistic programs and initiatives where requested.
• Be a representative of Frieze in external meetings and maintain relationships with key stakeholders, as agreed with Director, EMEA.

Project Management:

• Build and track overall fair timeline in collaboration with Director, EMEA and all departments, resolving timeline conflicts cross fairs with other regional teams.
• Oversee internal processes and communication across departments, ensuring key deliverables are met according to the timeline, and to the highest standard, signing off on departmental outputs on behalf of EMEA Director.
• Drive the agenda forward and organise key cross-department meetings to ensure cross department deliverables are met, establishing and following up on action points.
• Ensure quality of the output delivered to all stakeholders in the lead up to the fairs and onsite, including signing off on key departmental deliverables.
• Proactively flag potential issues and implement solutions as agreed with Fair Directors and teams.
• Coordinate and lead debrief process, follow up on priorities and action points, ensuring improvements are implemented on time and budget.
• Produce external proposals, including funding, sponsorship, promotion and marketing opportunities.
• Conduct market research and benchmark to drive decisions and maintain Frieze competitiveness.
• Any other business as directed by senior management team.

Budgets:

• Build and track budgets in relevant areas, as instructed by Fair Directors.
• Support the finance team in liaising with all departments to keep track of the overall fair budgets and reforecasts.
• Identify possible savings, flag risk areas; ensure cost effectiveness of all solutions implemented.
• Sign off invoices coding and submission process.

People Management:

• Fulfil vacant positions within the Fair and Programming teams, including signing off budgets and job descriptions, organising job posts, candidate screening, interviewing and onboarding.

Knowledge and Experience

• Significant relevant professional experience in the arts.
• Proven team leadership and management skills within an organisational context.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Thrive in dynamic fast-paced environments, where precision and organisation are necessary.
• Ability to work autonomously, be proactive and self-motivated are essential.
• Strategic planner and forward thinker.
• Ability to motivate teams across departments and organisational levels.
• Work well under pressure and successfully multitask while handling multiple responsibilities.
• Proven experience of managing annual budgets.
• Adapt well to a constantly changing project and environment, and evolving targets and objectives.
• Comfortable interacting with a diverse range of stakeholders in a professional and friendly demeanour.
• Ability to work and communicate effectively with artists, curators, museum and gallery professionals.
• Ability to time manage, meet deadlines, and work effectively with multiple teams.
• Integrity and respect for colleagues and clients, team player, and exceptionally quick learner.
• Knowledge of art/art history and experience in the art world.
• Experience delivering large scale complex projects, involving multiple deadlines and stakeholders.

Working Conditions:

• Working hours: 9am-5pm.
• Please note this is a 1 Year Fixed-term Contract.
• Weekend work likely required around the week of the fairs with travel in EMEA.

Our Diversity & Inclusion Statements

Frieze unites people in our love of the arts. We understand this can only be accomplished when we harness the entirety of our company and lead with a lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion in everything we do. As a global company that drives culture, we are committed to practicing anti-discrimination including race, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability, together with artists, writers, and cultural practitioners from all backgrounds. There is still much work to be done to address systemic inequality and discrimination within the arts and culture industry, and we are dedicated to making progress both within our own organization and the art world at large.