Policy Lead

Role overview

The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi is hiring a Policy Lead for a 12-month freelance engagement based in Abu Dhabi. The role supports a strategic initiative designed to reinforce the emirate’s creative economy by building practical policy structures, incentive mechanisms, and regulatory models for key creative sectors.

DCT Abu Dhabi is the government body tasked with advancing the long-term growth of Abu Dhabi’s culture and tourism sectors and helping position the emirate as an international centre for culture, creativity, and tourism.

What the role will focus on

• Converting sector-level strategies into executable policy frameworks for creative industries such as Film & TV, Gaming, and Digital Publishing.
• Setting up and defining intellectual property-related policy structures and registration systems.
• Adapting policy tools to suit different business profiles and investment scenarios.
• Building, running, and refining government incentive and subsidy programmes.
• Setting eligibility rules, benefit models, compliance expectations, and governance processes.
• Comparing global policy practices and tailoring suitable approaches for the local environment.
• Keeping bespoke incentive packages aligned with approved policy boundaries.
• Managing the full policy lifecycle, including scheduled reviews, revisions, and updates.
• Carrying out impact reviews and proposing policy improvements.
• Maintaining a policy register and version-control system.
• Monitoring active incentive agreements for compliance, delivery milestones, reporting duties, and performance.
• Handling agreement amendments, renewals, and escalations when required.
• Serving as the internal specialist on policy-related regulatory and legal matters.
• Coordinating with internal legal teams and external ecosystem stakeholders.
• Tracking regulatory changes and converting them into practical policy actions.
• Supporting the creation and launch of a policy function, including structure, roles, governance, processes, and operating model design.
• Acting as secretariat for external regulatory committees and supporting orderly governance and decision-making.

Candidate profile

This position calls for a senior consulting background, particularly from recognised strategy or management consulting firms, along with direct exposure to policy design, regulation, or incentive programme work. The successful candidate should be comfortable operating in a complex, evolving environment and working closely with senior stakeholders across public and private sectors.

Requirements

• 7 to 10 years of experience in top-tier management consulting, such as McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Strategy&, Kearney, Oliver Wyman, Roland Berger, or ADL.
• A track record of career growth within a single firm, including at least 1 to 2 promotions.
• Hands-on experience in policy creation, regulatory frameworks, or incentive programme design.
• Strong logical structuring and problem-solving ability.
• High-quality policy writing and analytical capability.
• Skill in turning complex regulation into practical implementation models.
• Effective stakeholder management across government and private-sector groups.
• Strong attention to detail with a governance- and compliance-focused mindset.
• Comfort working in ambiguous and fast-changing settings.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills for senior leadership audiences.
• Experience in policy development and governance, with creative-industry exposure preferred but not essential.
• Exposure to subsidy or grant programme design and administration.
• Background in regulated environments and compliance frameworks.
• Understanding of IP-related policy or legal structures.
• Experience working with government entities and cross-sector stakeholders.
• GCC experience is preferred.
• Familiarity with AI and emerging technologies is an added advantage.

Additional information

Location: Abu Dhabi. Contract length: 12 months. Interested candidates are expected to submit an updated CV.