Associate Business Director Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Move people. Change the world.

Founded in Chicago in 1935, Leo Burnett Worldwide is one of the largest agency networks with 96 offices and nearly 10,000 employees.

In the Middle East, we're consistently making an impact in KSA, Lebanon, UAE, Egypt, and Jordan thanks to our teams of go-getters.

In a historic achievement, our agency was voted #1 Creative Agency for Effectiveness in the World, while Leo Burnett UAE has claimed the top spot in the WARC Effective 100, earning the title of the most effective creative agency in the world. Additionally, Leo Burnett enjoys the title of "Most Innovative Company" for driving brand purpose, as recognised by Fast Company. In 2024, Leo Burnett UAE was ranked #1 most Effective Agency, and it also secured the titles of #1 Agency and Network of the Year at the MENA Effies 2023, as well as at Dubai Lynx in both 2023 and 2024.

At our core lies the Humankind philosophy, a belief that creativity has the power to transform human behaviour. We focus on people and purpose, not just advertising.

The primary role of the Associate Business Director - Creative Operations is to lead the creative operations, find solutions internally, and report to the Business Director - Creative Operations. Working with all stakeholders, have an overview of the capacity and utilization of each creative resource. The responsibility includes but is not limited to ensuring the agency is running efficiently almost as a profit centre, and no client deadlines are missed.

Keeping the focus on quality, people and process must ensure the smooth running of all areas within the agencies by resolving key production/workflow issues, whilst working with seniors to define optimum resources and processes that underpin the agency's success.

Pre-Briefing Phase:

Operates as a functional channel between Creative and Account management by working before assignments to assess implications and anticipate workload needs.

Attends status meetings and collaborates with Creative Resources and Communications team throughout the creative development and stays informed of timing, scope, and priority changes.

Takes ownership of the Capacity Plan. Ensure that the capacity plan is updated regularly.

Briefing Phase:

Receives and reviews new assignment briefs to ensure assignment syncs with forecasting and to understand actual creative needs (scope of assignment, timing, and priority)

Evaluates the available creative resources (aptitude, workstyle, Skill, and workload) against creative needs.

Working to prepare staffing solutions based on matching the right teams (and several teams) with the suitable projects.

Presents staffing solutions to assign appropriate creative team and works with the CCO & CD to organize and inform the team.

Organizes creative briefing and pit stops with time, location, and team members and attends briefing.

Post Briefing phase:

Tracks individuals' creative contributions to the agency.

Manage all resources and ensure all projects/accounts are staffed accordingly.

Ensure department leads see all briefs before dispatching the work to the team.

Manage the team's time and make recommendations to prioritize their workload to ensure timely work delivery.

Work closely with the team leads in prioritizing/reallocating workloads.

Serve as Casting Manager who understands the ins and outs of employees' skill sets, strengths, and weaknesses to map talent to the business appropriately.

Anticipate trends within the group and create innovative solutions

Assesses skill sets and specialities, assigning the best possible resources for every project.

Continually monitors the group for efficiencies and overloaded reports concerns and opportunities to the head of creative services.

Works to share the appropriate level of communication with creative teams, understanding what might be best suited to share in the hallway, via email, or through scheduled meetings.

Maintains open-mindedness to ideas and welcomes feedback on changing or improving processes.

Manage the day-to-day running of the workload allocations.

Regularly watch timesheets and vacations for the full team and prepare reports.

Monitors the repository and remains gatekeeper for asset management.

Follows and leads the Groupe GDPR policy and guides others to follow.

Support company culture; actively seek new, more innovative ways of doing things. 

Possesses good verbal and written communication skills to enhance negotiation and liaison with key stakeholders.

Tracks creative contributions and helps people do their best.

Projects optimism in the face of challenges

Confidently brings escalated situations to resolution.

Gains support and ownership of all key stakeholders to deploy resources efficiently and effectively.

Problem-solver and solution-oriented

To keep calm under extreme work pressure and yet deliver.

• Takes initiative to challenge an established point of view with respect and openness.
• Able to use storytelling to connect with internal and external stakeholders in a compelling manner to influence and inspire.
• Able to handle complex issues and make decisions even when missing information.
• Capable of proactively developing meaningful relationships with key decision makers. 
• Accepts responsibility for client problems, manages conflict and actively works to solve issues internally and externally.
• Able to build succession plans and grow and mentor future talent.
• Able to provide constructive feedback to others in a timely manner.
• Demonstrates a collaborative and positive spirit and showcases inclusivity towards all people.
• Listens and proactively seeks views from others to create an environment that is transparent and comfortable for others to share.
• Able to motivate their team to pursue goals and deliver beyond their beliefs.
• Able to assess ideas and people on merit alone, without bias or favoritism and gives recognition when due.
• Empowers individuals to solve problems with full support when needed.
• Capable of coaching and supporting others by aligning career expectations providing actionable, open and constructive feedback.
• Capable of persuading others with integrity by understanding their motivations and identifying their concerns and work toward solving them.
• Proactively and continuously work towards improving effective team working and collaboration.
• Able to handle complex messages and is able to convey issues to facilitate others' understanding. 
• Able to initiate and lead open conversations with internal and external stakeholders to build a culture of trust.
• Capable of creating opportunities for others to grow and demonstrate their learning agility.
• Drives a culture of trust with peers, clients and other stakeholders.

• Able to adjust performance based on experiences and feedback and showcases agility and flexibility.
• Displays openness to the ideas of others and leverages them when beneficial for the business.
• Demonstrates the growth mindset and proactively adapts behavior and performance for sustained success.
• Able to set high impact objectives and goes above and beyond to exceed performance.
• Able to demonstrate agility and flexibility to respond and reprioritize based on different situations.
• Able to constructively challenge the status quo and take risks to challenge internal and external perspectives.
• Approaches situations and individuals with honesty, integrity, transparency and humbleness.
• Showcases resilience and maintains drive and a positive outlook when faced with challenges.
• Actively listens and is receptive to others' feedback on performance.
• Able to take justified risks when appropriate and take accountability and responsibility when things don't go as planned.
• An early identifier of change, able to proactively develop and share plans to seize opportunities.
• Acts ethically and makes ethical decisions in line with local regulations and contracts, even in the face of ethical challenges.
• Able to listen to other people in a way that they feel understood, and is respectful of others.
• Able to make timely decision that take into account different factors in ambiguous circumstances, considering impacts internally and externally.
• Able to build initiatives despite doubts or resistance from others to deliver strategic impact.

At least 8+ years of experience in a relevant or operations-related job role 

Demonstrates understanding strategy, creative, data & analytics, digital & film production processes and terminology.

Extremely organized and good negotiation skills

Able to take calculative risks.

An operations background with a 'can do' positive attitude.

Possesses good verbal and written communication skills to enhance negotiation and liaison with key stakeholders.