Head of Strategic Partnerships

Overview

Compensation: Open to Discussion

• Reporting line: Direct to founder; cross-functional with Tech Lead, Ops Lead, and Sky Blue Media commercial team
• ****Mission****
• Convert Sky Blue Media Group's ~AED 1.65M/month allocated OOH inventory into binding partnership deals with aggregators (Talabat, Careem, Fresha, Booksy, Keeta), POS platforms (Foodics, Zenoti), and a major UAE bank (ADCB), unlocking elevated commission tiers, API access, and merchant supply that the DialEase AI Voice Concierge can serve to consumers from Day 1.
• ****Key Responsibilities****
• Aggregator negotiations — Originate, structure and close commercial agreements with Talabat, Careem, Fresha, Booksy, Keeta, and OpenTable that deliver:
• + Commission tiers materially above standard affiliate rates (target 10–15%)
• + API access (production tier, not sandbox)
• + Co-marketing rights using Sky Blue OOH inventory as primary consideration
• Merchant aggregation platform partnerships — Land Foodics, Zenoti and Booksy integration agreements to unlock 2,000+ merchants in 90 days.
• Bank pilot — Lead the ADCB conversation (NOT Emirates NBD; locked to Ten Lifestyle) for a M9 launch of a premium concierge-as-retention pilot.
• OOH inventory governance — Work with Sky Blue Media's commercial team to maintain the transfer-pricing ledger, track inventory consumed vs. value delivered, and report monthly partnership ROI to the founder.
• Pipeline & reporting — Own a CRM-tracked pipeline (HubSpot or Salesforce), weekly partnership scorecard, and monthly board update.

Required Experience

• 6–10 years business development / strategic partnerships in UAE, with at least 3 years in digital platforms, food/lifestyle aggregators, telecom, fintech, or media.
• Proven deal closures of AED 1M+ commercial agreements (provide 3 references).
• Existing network at one or more of: Talabat, Careem, Delivery Hero, Fresha, Booksy, Foodics, Network International, ADCB, Mashreq, e&, du.
• Understanding of UAE media and OOH advantageous — must be able to value barter consideration in commercial terms.
• Arabic + English fluency required; Hindi/Tamil/Urdu a plus given Dubai demographics.
• UAE residency or transferable visa; immediate availability preferred.