Business Director - Media Planning & Buying

Location: Dubai, UAE

Industry: Global Media Agency

The Opportunity

We are looking for an experienced Business Director to join a leading global media agency in Dubai, leading strategic media planning and buying across key client accounts.

This is a senior leadership opportunity for a commercially minded media professional who combines strong strategic thinking, excellent client leadership and a deep understanding of the media landscape. The successful candidate will be responsible for driving media excellence, building trusted client partnerships and identifying opportunities for account growth, while ensuring campaigns deliver against business objectives.

Working closely with internal specialist teams and regional stakeholders, you will oversee integrated media strategies, lead planning and investment decisions, and ensure the effective delivery of campaigns across traditional and digital channels.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the strategic planning, development and execution of integrated media campaigns across online and offline channels.
• Oversee media planning and buying activities, ensuring investment is optimised against client objectives, audience insights and campaign KPIs.
• Act as a senior point of contact for key clients, building strong relationships with senior stakeholders and providing strategic media counsel.
• Lead annual media planning, budget allocation, forecasting and investment management across assigned accounts.
• Drive media buying negotiations, securing competitive rates, added value and strong commercial outcomes.
• Monitor media effectiveness through campaign measurement, performance analysis and optimisation, providing actionable insights and recommendations.
• Work closely with digital, performance, social, data, analytics and specialist teams to deliver integrated media solutions.
• Maintain a strong understanding of the UAE and wider MENA media landscape, including TV, radio, outdoor, print, digital, programmatic, search and social.
• Identify emerging platforms, audience trends and innovative media solutions to strengthen campaign performance.
• Lead, mentor and develop a team of media planners, buyers and account managers, ensuring high standards of delivery.
• Manage account profitability, resource planning, budgets and commercial performance, ensuring delivery against financial targets.
• Identify opportunities to grow existing accounts, develop new business relationships and contribute to pitches and proposals.
• Build strong relationships with media owners, publishers, platforms and external partners to maximise value for clients.
• Ensure campaign delivery, reporting and client servicing meet the agency's standards and expectations.

Requirements

• 8-12+ years of experience in media planning and buying, ideally within a media agency environment.
• Previous experience at Business Director, Associate Business Director or equivalent senior account leadership level.
• Strong expertise across integrated media planning, media investment, buying negotiations and campaign optimisation.
• Proven experience managing large media budgets and complex, high-profile client accounts.
• Strong understanding of traditional and digital media channels, with the ability to develop integrated media strategies.
• Experience leading, mentoring and developing media teams.
• Excellent client relationship management skills, with the confidence to engage and influence senior stakeholders.
• Strong commercial acumen, including budget management, account profitability and revenue growth.
• A track record of driving media effectiveness, delivering measurable results and identifying account growth opportunities.
• Strong analytical and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to translate data and insights into actionable media recommendations.
• Excellent communication, presentation and negotiation skills.
• Experience in the UAE or wider MENA market is highly desirable, with a strong understanding of the regional media landscape.

The Ideal Candidate

You are a strategic and commercially driven media leader who understands how to combine media investment, planning excellence and client partnership to deliver business growth.

You are confident managing senior client relationships, leading multidisciplinary teams and overseeing complex media campaigns from strategy through to execution. You bring a balance of strategic vision, hands-on media expertise and commercial awareness, with the ability to identify opportunities that strengthen both client relationships and agency performance.

If you are looking to take the next step with a globally recognised media agency in Dubai, we would love to hear from you.