Finance Director - MENA  Location: Dubai (UAE & KSA remit)  Elevate is a global agency network specialising in sport and fan-first strategies powered by cutting-edge insights and proprietary AI technology.
Established in 2018, we support over 1,000 ambitious brands across sports, entertainment, consumer products, and retail, delivering personalised strategies that turn followers into devoted fans.
  Central to our approach is the synergy between our team’s deep expertise and EPIC, which integrates tools for consumer insights, ticketing, property analytics, and more.
This combination empowers clients to maximise ROI, enhance fan engagement, and craft campaigns that inspire lasting loyalty.
  Our team of 500+ employees spans the globe with in 20 locations worldwide.
We value recruiting diverse individuals to our team to bring new perspectives to our company and look forward to learning more about you in the recruitment process.
To learn more and see what we’ve been up to, follow Elevate on X, LinkedIn or Instagram.
Role Overview  The Finance Director will act as a strategic business partner to the Executive Director, Corporate Finance and leadership team, providing clear, real-time insight into the financial health, performance, and trajectory of the Elevate business across KSA and the UAE.
    The role goes beyond financial control and reporting, focusing on interpreting what the numbers are telling the business, supporting strategic decision-making, advising on growth, liquidity, and risk, and ensuring strong fiscal discipline and fiduciary governance across the organisation.
  Key Responsibilities  Financial Leadership & Stewardship    Lead day-to-day financial management across KSA and UAE entities  Act as custodian of the organisation’s fiscal position and fiduciary responsibilities  Maintain robust financial controls, policies, and governance frameworks aligned with group standards  Ensure compliance with all statutory, tax, Zakat, VAT, and regulatory requirements  Provide leadership with a clear, real-time understanding of financial performance, cash position, and risk  Identify financial risks and proactively recommend mitigation strategies    Management Reporting, Controls & Visibility    Deliver accurate, timely management accounts with clear insight into performance drivers  Maintain full visibility of cash flow, working capital, liquidity, and funding headroom  Ensure consistency, integrity, and auditability of financial data across entities  Provide clear variance analysis explaining performance against budget and forecast    Forecasting, Budgeting & Financial Cadence    Review and stabilise existing budgeting and forecasting processes, addressing gaps inaccuracy, assumptions, and ownership  Improve forecast reliability through tighter definitions, stronger inputs, and disciplined governance  Provide quarterly forecast updates supported by a variance analysis vs the annual budget  Separate committed revenue, probable pipeline, and upside within forecasts  Strengthen integration between pipeline data, delivery plans, headcount, and financial forecasts  Establish and lead a structured monthly financial cadence with leadership  Improve visibility of seasonality, client concentration, and revenue timing  Enhance variance analysis to focus on root causes and corrective actions  Ensure alignment with group planning and reporting cycles    Commercial, Client & Project Economics    Develop a deep understanding of the agency’s business model, revenue streams, and cost drivers  Analyse client portfolios, revenue concentration, pricing, and margin performance  Track peaks and troughs in client demand and pipeline volatility  Analyse project-level costing, profitability, and delivery efficiency    Strategic Finance & Decision Support    Advise leadership on priorities, trade-offs, and investment decisions  Define and refine performance metrics reflecting true commercial performance  Provide forward-looking insight into business trends, risks, and outlook  Embed strategic finance into growth planning and organisational decision-making    Liquidity, Funding & External Relationships    Identify options for liquidity, funding, and financial support  Build and manage relationships with banks, auditors, advisors, and financial partners  Lead long-term financial planning, scenario modelling, and stress testing    Shared Services & Group Integration Leadership    Lead the finance function’s collaboration with shared service teams across HR, buisness operations, procurement, marketing and legal  Act as primary owner of shared service relationships for finance  Ensure effective information flow, issue escalation, and resolution  Drive alignment and horizontal integration between local operations and group systems and processes    Skills & Experience  Senior finance leadership experience within an agency, consulting, or professional services environment  Strong understanding of KSA and UAE financial, tax, and regulatory frameworks  Proven ability to deliver strategic financial insight beyond reporting  Experience with project-based costing, margin analysis, and client profitability  Strong commercial acumen and stakeholder management skills  Ability to bring “best in class” finance experience to an agile agency environment  Experience in growth-stage or multi-entity regional businesses  Experience partnering closely with founders or boards    Personal Attributes   Strategic, commercially minded, collaborative and analytically strong  Able to translate complex financial data into clear, actionable insight  Confident advisor at executive and board level  Pragmatic, hands-on, and comfortable in a fast-paced agency environment  High integrity with a strong sense of fiduciary responsibility