Associate Strategy & Partnerships

About Disrupt

Role overview

Ecosystem and market access

• Manage ecosystem partners including Hub71, Dubai Economy & Tourism, Terminal Istanbul, DIFC, in5, and the KSA ecosystem.
• Turn signed MoUs into activation plans with named owners, dates, and outcomes such as licences, grants, customer introductions, and co-created ventures.
• Map market-entry routes for ventures entering KSA, Türkiye, the UK, and the US, broker introductions, and channel partner benefits to ventures.

Platform partnerships and cost savings

• Manage relationships with AWS, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Stripe, and the wider AI and SaaS ecosystem.
• Secure credits, partner programs, early model and product access, and technical enablement for ventures.
• Run a cost-savings program with Finance, map group-wide spending categories above $150,000 annually, and negotiate targeted savings of 15–25% or more across cloud, tools, travel, event spaces, and services.
• Track savings by venture and category and report results.

Investors and events

• Build relationships with VCs, family offices, accelerators, and co-investors across MENA, Europe, and the US; maintain the investor CRM and arrange warm introductions for ventures raising capital.
• Develop fund partnerships that provide distribution and support investor mapping and event-based investor meetings with the Investments team; the role does not lead fundraising.
• Set partnership objectives for events, secure venue, community, media, and sponsor partners, and prepare executives for flagship events with target meeting lists, briefs, and follow-up.
• Set signup and pipeline thresholds for partnered events and recommend stopping events that do not meet them.

Founder search and venture support

• Build a partner network for the Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Founder-in-Residence funnels, including universities, founder communities, operator networks, accelerators, and diaspora groups.
• Run the partner side of the Founder Search Program across hubs including London, New York, San Francisco, Berlin, Amsterdam, Boston, Riyadh, and Istanbul.
• Keep registrant data flowing from Luma to the CRM and track which partners bring founders who reach experiments and MVPs.
• Maintain a live catalogue of partner benefits and run sessions so venture teams use secured credits, programs, perks, and introductions.
• Manage distribution partnerships until a dedicated sales and commercial function is established.

Strategy and partnership operations

• Support the SVP with research, market and competitor mapping, benchmarking, financial and commercial analysis, and board- and executive-ready memos, decision papers, models, and decks.
• Run discrete workstreams for named venture situations through to a conclusion and track relevant executive decisions and follow-ups.
• Own the partnerships pipeline and Attio CRM, recording stage, owner, next step, and value delivered for each partner.
• Draft MoUs, term sheets, and partnership proposals with Legal; publish monthly scorecards and conduct six-monthly partner reviews.

Who you are and must-haves

• Uses AI for work such as research, partner mapping, briefs, outreach drafts, CRM hygiene, and follow-ups; has built at least one workflow or agent that saves time and can demonstrate it.
• Has founder mentality, works effectively amid ambiguity, takes initiative, and finds alternative routes when partnerships stall.
• Takes a commercial, value-led approach to relationships and can assess partnership value and recommend ending ineffective partnerships.
• Can identify creative strategic combinations, write clearly, and turn complex discussions into concise proposals.
• One to four years in partnerships, business development, venture building, VC or accelerator platform roles, strategy consulting, or as a founder.
• Demonstrated relationships originated that produced measurable revenue, savings, capital, or users; can independently build market maps, simple models, and board-ready memos.
• Has a working network in the European, US, or wider MENA ecosystem; strong negotiation skills and experience drafting MoUs, proposals, or commercial terms.
• Excellent written and spoken English, confidence presenting to senior leaders and officials, willingness to travel on short notice, and strong CRM discipline.

Nice to have

• A second or third language, with Arabic as one option.
• Experience with Attio or a similar CRM, Luma, Zapier, or other automation tools.
• Exposure to procurement, vendor negotiation, or cloud cost optimization.
• Background in startups, cybersecurity, fintech, digital assets, or AI infrastructure.

What Disrupt offers

• High-speed, hands-on learning and direct reporting to the SVP, with exposure to executive committee members and venture CEOs.
• An early mandate with an owned partner portfolio, decision rights, and a partnerships budget held by the SVP.
• Exposure to venture building, financing, and scaling across industries, plus global travel and leading ecosystem events.
• Competitive UAE package with performance-linked upside through an LTIP equity scheme.