Senior Associate - Retail Festivals & Events

Job Objective

This role supports the operational coordination of retail festivals, DSF events, activations, and related initiatives. It involves building workplans, keeping trackers up to date, following up on deliverables, liaising with internal and external stakeholders, checking on-site readiness, and preparing event progress updates and reports to help ensure smooth and timely delivery.

Key Accountabilities

• Support the planning and delivery of assigned retail festivals, DSF events, activations, and related initiatives by setting up workplans, monitoring timelines and deliverables, chasing stakeholder inputs, coordinating vendor and partner needs, checking site readiness, and escalating issues to keep delivery aligned with the approved calendar and deadlines.
• Create and keep updated detailed workplans for assigned activities, including milestones, timelines, trackers, deliverables, dependencies, approvals needed, and follow-up actions.
• Prepare event briefs, project summaries, presentation decks, planning documents, trackers, and internal status updates for assigned retail festival activities.
• Maintain action logs covering requirements, approvals, stakeholder inputs, procurement status, vendor deliverables, risks, pending decisions, and implementation progress.
• Work with internal teams to ensure events and activations fit the wider DFRE calendar, campaign schedules, operational needs, and delivery priorities.
• Track assigned budgets, commitments, purchase requests, quotations, invoices, and spending updates with Finance, Procurement, and other internal teams.
• Gather procurement inputs for assigned events, such as scope details, technical specifications, supplier requirements, evaluation inputs, and supporting documents for RFPs, RFIs, supplier onboarding, and contracts.
• Follow up with Procurement, agencies, vendors, venues, malls, retailers, sponsors, and service providers to secure inputs, approvals, quotations, contracts, and deliverables on time.
• Keep procurement and budget records accurate, including approvals, contracts, purchase requests, invoices, payment follow-ups, and supplier correspondence.
• Coordinate with internal teams, government entities, retailers, mall operators, sponsors, commercial partners, agencies, venues, and service providers to support successful implementation of assigned retail festivals and activations.
• Attend and arrange coordination meetings with internal and external stakeholders, document minutes, capture action points, and track follow-ups.
• Serve as an operational point of contact for assigned stakeholders by sharing updates, gathering inputs, following up on open actions, and escalating issues when needed.
• Support Event Marketing and Communications teams by supplying event details, content inputs, activation information, promotional requirements, schedules, and stakeholder updates.
• Build strong working relationships with assigned partners, malls, retailers, sponsors, vendors, and service providers to enable effective delivery.
• Carry out site visits and operational checks to review venue readiness, setup needs, branding locations, access arrangements, logistics, crowd movement, and implementation requirements on the ground.
• Prepare and refresh run sheets, implementation schedules, contact lists, operational checklists, site requirements, delivery timelines, and escalation trackers.
• Coordinate on-ground event requirements such as setup arrangements, supplier attendance, delivery timing, branding installation, access passes, operational readiness, and issue escalation.
• Monitor events and activations during implementation to assess progress, flag operational issues, and escalate risks, delays, or stakeholder concerns for quick resolution.
• Coordinate permits, approvals, NOCs, health and safety requirements, and compliance documents with the appropriate internal and external stakeholders.
• Ensure assigned activities follow DET/DFRE policies, procurement rules, contractual commitments, operational standards, and applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
• Work with Health, Safety, and Environment and other relevant functions to maintain safety, compliance, and operational readiness for assigned events.
• Monitor operational, scheduling, stakeholder, and delivery risks for assigned activities and escalate issues together with proposed mitigation actions where needed.
• Keep event records complete and accurate, including approvals, budgets, contracts, reports, trackers, meeting minutes, permits, correspondence, and post-event documentation.
• Ensure event files are organized and maintained for governance, audit readiness, reporting, and future reference.
• Prepare periodic updates and post-event reports covering delivery status, outcomes, challenges, stakeholder feedback, lessons learned, and recommendations for improvement.
• Gather and combine feedback from retailers, malls, sponsors, vendors, partners, participants, and internal teams to identify opportunities to improve future events and activations.
• Identify ways to improve event planning, stakeholder coordination, supplier performance, visitor experience, documentation, reporting, and process efficiency.
• Stay informed about local regulations, event management standards, market trends, retail activation practices, and best practices relevant to festivals, public events, and customer-facing experiences.

Additional Information

Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Employment type: full-time, onsite.