ABOUT THE ROLE

The Design Manager is a central operational and creative role within M+C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment Middle East, responsible for ensuring the studio runs efficiently, design output meets the agency's quality standards, and every project is delivered on time and to brief.

Reporting to the Art Director and Senior Client Director, the Design Manager sits at the intersection of creative production and project management. You will own the day-to-day traffic of creative requests and deliverables - coordinating briefs, managing workloads, and ensuring the right resource is on the right job at the right time.

This is a hands-on role that requires both design capability and operational discipline. You will produce and oversee creative work across the agency's client portfolio while maintaining the systems and processes that keep the studio performing at pace.

The Design Manager will be a key figure in the day-to-day life of the creative team - supporting the Art Director, working closely with account and marketing teams, and ensuring that creative delivery across all clients is consistent, organised, and to the standard the agency demands.

Key Responsibilities

Traffic & Workflow Management

• Own the studio traffic system - managing the intake, prioritisation, and scheduling of all creative briefs across the agency.

• Maintain a clear and up-to-date overview of all active projects, deadlines, and resource allocation at all times.

• Work with the account and marketing teams to brief in work accurately, ensuring all jobs are scoped correctly before entering the studio.

• Anticipate capacity pressures and flag resource conflicts early, escalating to the Art Director and Senior Client Director when required.

• Manage freelance and supplier relationships to flex studio capacity during peak periods, ensuring quality and consistency are maintained.

Design Output & Quality Control

• Produce design work across a range of formats - social content, campaign assets, event branding, presentation design, OOH, print and digital, to a high and consistent standard.

• Review and quality-check all creative output before it leaves the studio, ensuring work is on-brief, on-brand, and production-ready.

• Maintain brand consistency across all client accounts, upholding the visual standards set by the Art Director.

• Manage the preparation and trafficking of final artwork files for print, digital, and environmental use, ensuring all assets are delivered to specification.

• Oversee version control and file management across the studio, keeping asset libraries organised and accessible.

Project & Delivery Management

• Track all jobs from brief through to final delivery, proactively managing timelines and communicating progress to relevant stakeholders.

• Identify and resolve production issues before they impact delivery, problem-solving under pressure without compromising quality.

• Manage the review and approval process for creative work, coordinating feedback rounds efficiently and keeping projects moving.

• Produce clear status reports and delivery schedules as required by the account and client teams.

• Ensure all project documentation - briefs, schedules, sign-off records — is accurate, complete, and properly filed.

Client & Stakeholder Collaboration

• Work closely with the wider team and departments to manage workload, set realistic timelines, and ensure creative capacity is allocated effectively.

• Communicate clearly and proactively with internal teams on project status, flagging risks and changes as they arise.

• Support the Art Director and Senior Client Director in preparing and presenting work where required.

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with external suppliers - print partners, production studios, photographers, and video producers and build a strong database of contacts, suppliers and agency friends we can tap into.

Creative Team Support

• Support and coordinate junior members of the creative team, helping to manage their workload and develop their understanding of agency processes.

• Contribute actively to the studio's creative culture - bringing energy, rigour, and a commitment to standards to everything you do.

• Stay current with design trends, production techniques, and tools relevant to sport, events, and brand marketing.

• Contribute to internal creative reviews and play an active role in maintaining the quality of the agency's output across all accounts.

ABOUT YOU

Essential

• 4+ years of experience in a design or studio management role, with demonstrable experience across both design production and traffic or workflow coordination.

• Solid design skills with proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite: Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign. Able to produce and adapt creative work independently to a high standard.

• Proven experience managing studio traffic and creative project delivery in a fast-paced agency environment.

• Strong organisational skills with a methodical approach to managing multiple projects, deadlines, and stakeholders simultaneously.

• Experience overseeing artwork preparation and file management for print, digital, and large-format production.

• Excellent communication skills - clear, direct, and confident in working across creative, account, and client teams.

• A high standard of personal output combined with a genuine drive to maintain quality standards across the work of others.

• Experience working with or managing freelance designers, external suppliers, and production partners.

• Strong interest in the sports and entertainment industry.

• Experience in a sport, events, or entertainment marketing environment.

Desirable

• Familiarity with project management tools such as Monday.com, Asana, or equivalent studio management platforms.

• Motion graphics or video editing capability: After Effects, Premiere Pro.

• Experience working with government entities, rights holders, or major event organisers in the GCC region.

• Understanding of the UAE and wider Middle East market, including cultural sensitivities and regional production requirements.

What Great Looks Like

Success in this role means the creative and design delivery runs without drama. Briefs are clear, deadlines are met, quality is consistent, and the creative team has the space to do their best work because the operational infrastructure around them is solid.

You are the person who knows where every job is at any given moment. You are across the detail without losing sight of the bigger picture. You care about the quality of the work as much as the efficiency of the process - and you understand that one enables the other.

You are proactive, not reactive. You spot a capacity issue before it becomes a crisis. You push back on a brief that is not ready. You maintain standards under pressure and bring the team with you when the pace picks up.

You work comfortably across creative and operational worlds. You can sit in a briefing with a client director and a production call with a printer on the same day, and add value in both. You bring professionalism, consistency, and craft to everything that carries the agency's name.

Built for pace and precision. Committed to quality at every stage. This role is suited to a highly organised, creatively capable Design Manager who wants to play a central role in one of the region's most active sport and entertainment agencies.

Applications close on Friday, June 26, 2026. No recruiters please.

ABOUT OUR LOCAL OFFICE

We were born out of the need for strategic and brutally effective creativity in the region. With every successful campaign, we have grown, and cherry-picked the best professionals to work with us from all over the region and the world. In 2012, we opened our Abu Dhabi office and expanded our team with our Dubai office in 2016 and then our Riyadh office in 2023. From these offices we manage a number of local and global brands across the Middle East and Europe. Brutal Simplicity of Thought is the creative philosophy of M+C Saatchi. It defines the way we work and the work we produce. We believe: It’s easier to complicate than simplify. Simple ideas enter the brain quicker and stay there longer. Brutal Simplicity of Thought is therefore a painful necessity.

ABOUT M+C SAATCHI GROUP

M+C Saatchi Group is a creative federation of companies who navigate, create, and lead meaningful change for clients across five specialist divisions connected through people, culture, data, technology and creativity, M+C Saatchi Group aims to unlock new value for clients and leave a positive impact on the world. M+C Saatchi Group’s work is informed by two core principles - Brutal Simplicity of Thought and Diversity of Thought. Together they guide how problems are solved and integrated specialist teams are built. Headquartered in London, M+C Saatchi Group have circa 2,500 employees globally. Our global operations span 23 countries with major hubs in the UK, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Asia and Australia.

OUR AMBITION

At M+C Saatchi Group, our ambition is to create and curate Cultural Power for our clients. We do this by connecting specialist expertise, powered by creativity, data and technology, to help build famous brands and solve the most complex business and societal challenges.