ABOUT THE ROLE
The Art Director is a senior creative delivery role within MC Saatchi Sport & Entertainment Middle East responsible for leading the visual and conceptual development of sport and events campaigns across the agencys client portfolio.
Reporting to the Senior Client Director the Art Director will take briefs from strategy and account teams and translate them into compelling creative territories campaign identities event experiences and activation assets that perform across all channels and touchpoints.
This is a hands-on high-output role suited to a creative who understands the energy pace and visual language of sport and live events. You will be expected to concept and create at speed uphold quality standards across a busy client roster and contribute to the creative direction of the agencys most visible and complex campaigns.
The Art Director will play an important role in shaping the agencys creative output - working across event branding sponsorship activations fan engagement social content and pitch development - while supporting and developing the wider creative team.
Key Responsibilities
Campaign Creative & Concept Development
Lead creative development from brief to delivery across sports and events campaigns ensuring all work is on-brief on-brand and commercially sound.
Translate strategic briefs into visual creative territories mood boards campaign frameworks and creative rationales.
Develop and present multiple creative routes with clarity and confidence both internally and in client-facing settings.
Oversee creative quality and visual consistency across all client touchpoints and across the full campaign lifecycle.
Sports & Events Creative
Design and develop event identity systems environmental branding wayfinding fan zone concepts and large-format experiential assets.
Create campaign visual assets for major sporting events sponsor activations athlete partnerships and fan engagement activations.
Produce creative across OOH digital social print broadcast and environmental formats as required by client campaigns.
Stay ahead of design and visual communication trends in global sports marketing live events and fan culture.
Client & Agency Presentations
Support the development of new business pitch decks credentials presentations and agency marketing materials.
Present creative work to clients with confidence manage feedback clearly and see revisions through to final artwork.
Help the agency bring creative ambition to pitches and proposals positioning MC Saatchi S&E ME as a best-in-class creative partner.
Creative Team & Production
Brief direct and review work from freelance designers illustrators photographers and video producers.
Manage multiple projects simultaneously maintaining quality and meeting deadlines without compromising standards.
Oversee artwork trafficking and file management ensuring all assets are delivered to specification for print and digital use.
Manage relationships with print suppliers production studios and external creative partners where required.
Support and mentor junior members of the creative team helping to build capability and a culture of high standards.
Cross-Department Collaboration
Work closely across all departments to deliver integrated creative solutions.
Collaborate with the Social Media team to ensure campaign creative works effectively across all social platforms.
Contribute to internal creative reviews and help raise the quality of creative output across all agency accounts.
ABOUT YOU
Essential
5 years of experience as an Art Director Senior Designer or equivalent creative role with a strong portfolio demonstrating sport and/or events work.
Exceptional design craft with a sharp eye for typography layout colour and visual storytelling.
Proven experience across multiple formats: campaign identities event branding social content large-format production and presentation design.
Expert-level proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite: Illustrator Photoshop InDesign.
Strong conceptual thinking - able to generate original ideas and develop them from sketch to final delivery.
Experience working in a fast-paced agency environment managing multiple client briefs simultaneously.
Excellent communication and presentation skills - confident in client-facing situations.
Understanding of the GCC and Middle East market cultural sensitivities and visual communication norms.
Desirable
Proven experience on major sporting events - rugby football motorsport tennis athletics or equivalent.
Motion graphics and video editing skills: After Effects Premiere Pro.
Experience working with government entities tourism boards rights holders or sports federations in the region.
Bilingual creative capability in English and Arabic.
What Great Looks Like
Success in this role means producing creative that is confident original and purposeful - work that wins pitches elevates client campaigns and makes the agency proud.
You are the person who brings energy and clarity to a brief. You concept quickly execute with precision and know how to read a room when presenting. You understand the difference between a great idea and a great execution - and you deliver both.
You work well with strategy and account teams without needing to be spoon-fed. You push back constructively when a brief is not right and you take responsibility for quality at every stage of the process.
You are as comfortable art directing an event identity system for a major sports property as you are turning around a social asset for a sponsor activation at pace. You understand sport you understand the region and you bring both to your work.
Ready to lead. Built for sport and entertainment industry. Focused on quality originality and delivery.
This role is suited to a strong confident Art Director who wants to be at the centre of one of the regions most exciting creative agency environments.
Applications close on Friday June .
ABOUT OUR LOCAL OFFICE
We were born out of the need for strategic and brutally effective creativity in the region. With every successful campaign we have grown and cherry-picked the best professionals to work with us from all over the region and the 2012 we opened our Abu Dhabi office and expanded our team with our Dubai office in 2016 and then our Riyadh office in 2023. From these offices we manage a number of local and global brands across the Middle East and Europe. Brutal Simplicity of Thought is the creative philosophy of MC Saatchi. It defines the way we work and the work we produce. We believe: Its easier to complicate than simplify. Simple ideas enter the brain quicker and stay there longer. Brutal Simplicity of Thought is therefore a painful necessity.
ABOUT MC SAATCHI GROUP
MC Saatchi Group is a creative federation of companies who navigate create and lead meaningful change for clients across five specialist divisions connected through people culture data technology and creativity MC Saatchi Group aims to unlock new value for clients and leave a positive impact on the world. MC Saatchi Groups work is informed by two core principles - Brutal Simplicity of Thought and Diversity of Thought. Together they guide how problems are solved and integrated specialist teams are built. Headquartered in London MC Saatchi Group have circa 2500 employees globally. Our global operations span 23 countries with major hubs in the UK Europe Middle East & Africa Asia and Australia.
OUR AMBITION
At MC Saatchi Group our ambition is to create and curate Cultural Power for our clients. We do this by connecting specialist expertise powered by creativity data and technology to help build famous brands and solve the most complex business and societal challenges.
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