Senior Manager, Regional Partnerships

This is a Full Time Job

Senior Manager - Regional Partnerships (MENA)

About the role

The Senior Manager, Regional Partnerships – MENA will play a key role in building and scaling partnerships business across the Middle East and North Africa. The role will identify, negotiate, launch, and grow strategic partnerships that expand distribution, drive subscriber acquisition, strengthen commercial performance, and deepen the brand’s relevance across the region.

The role will focus on two complementary growth pillars: Distribution Partnerships - including telcos, streaming platforms, aggregators, connected devices, and other distribution channels and Growth Partnerships, including SVOD promotions, payments, commerce, retail, loyalty, and other customer-acquisition opportunities.

The successful candidate will combine strong commercial judgment and relationship management with the ability to lead complex, multi-market initiatives from opportunity development through launch and ongoing growth.

This is a highly cross-functional role, working closely with Growth, Marketing, Content, Product, Engineering, Finance, Legal, Communications, Localization & Operations, Customer Experience, and global partnership teams.

Drive the MENA Partnerships Strategy
• Help shape and execute the partnerships strategy across priority MENA markets.
• Build a strong pipeline across Distribution and Growth/SVOD Promotion partnerships.
• Identify opportunities that expand reach, accessibility, subscriber base, and fan engagement.
• Translate market dynamics and regional business priorities into actionable partnership opportunities.
• Maintain a strong understanding of the MENA ecosystem, including competitors, platforms, consumer behavior, commercial trends, and emerging opportunities.
• Prioritize opportunities based on strategic fit, commercial potential, scale, and execution feasibility.

Build and Grow Strategic Partnerships
• Establish and manage senior relationships with telcos, streaming platforms, aggregators, technology companies, payment providers, retailers, commerce and loyalty platforms, and other strategic partners.
• Develop 3/6/12-month growth plans for priority partners, identifying opportunities to expand distribution, acquisition, engagement, marketing, and commercial performance.
• Build joint business plans that align objectives, investments, milestones, and success measures.
• Lead regular business reviews and identify opportunities to unlock incremental value from existing partnerships.
• Represent the company in partner, industry, and commercial forums across the region.

Drive Commercial Development & Execution
• Own selected opportunities from origination and business case development through negotiation, execution, launch, and growth.
• Develop commercial models, forecasts, and investment recommendations with Finance and relevant functional teams.
• Lead partnership opportunities including distribution, bundles, SVOD promotions, payments, loyalty programs, co-marketing, retail activations, and other strategic propositions.
• Ensure opportunities are commercially viable, operationally executable, and aligned with regional and global priorities.
• Manage partner performance, renewals, expansion opportunities, risks, and commercial commitments.
• Maintain clear reporting against partner KPIs, milestones, and growth plans.

Lead Cross-Functional Delivery
• Serve as a key regional Partnerships contact connecting external partners with internal teams.
• Coordinate Product, Engineering, Marketing, Content, Finance, Legal, Communications, Operations, CX, and other teams throughout the partnership lifecycle.
• Drive launch excellence, ensuring clear ownership, dependencies, timelines, risks, and launch-readiness criteria.
• Proactively identify and resolve commercial and operational blockers.
• Maintain transparency across stakeholders and escalate material risks and decisions in a timely manner.
• Share learnings and opportunities across MENA, Asia, and global Partnerships teams to enable cross-market collaboration.

About You
• 8 years of experience in strategic partnerships, business development, distribution, commercial strategy, platform partnerships, or a related field.
• Strong experience developing and managing partnerships across MENA, with an established understanding of regional business practices and partner ecosystems.
• Demonstrated track record of negotiating, launching, and scaling commercial partnerships.
• Experience with telcos, streaming/media, technology, payments, commerce, retail, gaming, loyalty, or consumer platforms strongly preferred.
• Strong commercial judgment with experience developing business cases, financial models, forecasts, and negotiating commercial agreements.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and coordinate across Product, Engineering, Marketing, Content, Finance, Legal, and Operations.
• Experience managing the full partnership lifecycle, from origination through launch, performance management, renewal, and expansion.
• Strong understanding of MENA consumer behavior, digital ecosystems, and market dynamics.
• Excellent communication, presentation, negotiation, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to combine strategic thinking with hands-on execution.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-moving global organization with evolving priorities and ambiguity.
• Willingness to travel regularly across MENA and internationally as required.