Budget Producer / Cost Controller

Role overview

Budgeting and estimating

• Translate creative briefs and concepts into detailed line-by-line budgets; maintain budgets for pitches, approved projects, and revisions.
• Develop estimates and budget options to match project scope and client requirements; identify savings without compromising creative quality.

Cost analysis

• Review supplier quotes across event production, fabrication, staging, AV/LED, lighting, rigging, food and beverage, hospitality, logistics, and talent.
• Compare quotes on a like-for-like basis, identify discrepancies, missing costs, and outliers, and flag supplier follow-up queries.
• Develop cost benchmarks from historical project data.

Budget control and reconciliation

• Prepare client-facing budgets with commercial assumptions and margins; track approved budgets, client invoicing, and actual supplier costs.
• Maintain budget versions, document scope changes, identify variances and margin risks, and support change requests.
• Track costs through event build-up, show days, and de-rig; monitor purchase orders, approvals, and invoices with Finance.
• Reconcile invoices against quotes, purchase orders, and approved budgets; prepare final reconciliations of actual costs, margins, variances, and lessons learned.

Requirements

• At least 5 years in an event agency, experiential agency, or event production company, including 3 years in budget production, cost control, or estimating.
• Experience managing budgets for large-scale events, brand activations, product launches, conferences, exhibitions, or live experiences.
• Advanced Excel, including complex formulas, lookups, pivot tables, scenario modeling, and budget trackers.
• Strong understanding of margins, mark-ups, agency fees, and UAE VAT.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines.
• Fluent written and spoken English.
• A related degree is preferred; equivalent experience will be considered.