Associate Director Of Ads Sales - Agency Partnerships

About the Company

Careem is building the Everything App for the greater Middle East — making it easy to move around, order food and groceries, manage payments, and more. Our purpose is simple: to simplify and improve people’s lives and build an awesome organisation that inspires.

Since 2012, Careem has enabled earnings for over 2.5 million Captains, simplified the lives of more than 70 million customers, and built a platform where the region’s best talent and entrepreneurs thrive. We operate in 70+ cities across 10 countries, from Morocco to Pakistan.

We’re now entering our next chapter — one powered by AI. We’re looking for AI talent: curious problem-solvers who know how to apply AI to build tools, automate workflows, and create real impact. Whether it’s streamlining operations, enhancing customer experience, or reimagining internal systems — we want people who can make Careem work smarter and move faster.

Careem Ads is on a mission to redefine how brands connect with consumers across the region’s most powerful everything app ecosystem. We are looking for an Associate Director / Lead, Agency Partnerships, a senior, strategic operator who can architect Careem’s agency-led commercialization model, build scalable frameworks, and unlock multimillion-dollar growth.

This is not just another partnership role. You will be one of the founding leaders building Careem Ads to a multi-million dollar business.

What You’ll Lead

• Set the Agency Strategy for the Region
• Develop and own the UAE + KSA + Egypt agency partnership strategy across Publicis, OMG, Havas, MCN/FP7, and GroupM.
• Build annual commercial agreements (JBPs), reseller/rep models, and multi-market expansion plans.
• Lead & Mentor the Agency Partnerships Function
• Manage and develop a growing team of agency partnership managers across markets.
• Drive excellence in pipeline planning, forecasting, relationship mapping, and quarterly business reviews (QBRs).
• Establish the operating rhythm, rituals, success metrics, and governance for the function.
• Drive Enterprise-Level Revenue Growth
• Influence Careem Ads’ revenue plan for endemic and non-endemic businesses by scaling agency-led buying.
• Unlock multimillion-dollar contributions via structured partnerships, playbooks, and new channel expansion (e.g., hybrid reseller models).
• Shape Product + Market Fit
• Lead strategic feedback to Product, Measurement, Creative Ops, and Finance to ensure strong PMF for Brand Ads.
• Guide prioritization of formats (carousels, brand moments formats, interstitials), measurement solutions, and advanced reporting needs for agencies.
• Drive agency demand for new innovation and beta pilots.
• Be a Foundational Builder
• Act as a core member of the founding team building Careem Ads’ infrastructure, playbooks, brand narrative, and GTM motions.
• Work closely with the Director of ads, Product, Finance, and Senior Leadership to turn Careem Ads into a regional ad-tech success story.
  
  

• 8–12+ years in digital advertising, agency partnerships (Meta, Google, TikTok, Snap, Amazon Ads, or top-tier agency groups).
• Proven ability to build and scale agency or reseller ecosystems in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Executive presence: capable of influencing senior stakeholders including C-suite across agencies and large advertisers.
• Entrepreneurial, strategic thinker with a strong bias to action.
• Experience with non-endemic categories & brand advertising ecosystems is a strong plus.
• Comfortable in ambiguous, 0-to-1 environments and motivated by creating impact.
  
  

• You will architect the agency ecosystem for Careem Ads: your work becomes the blueprint for the next decade.
• Join the founding force in one of the region’s most ambitious advertising transformations.
• Massive ownership and visibility with senior Careem leadership
• Shape and grow a multi-market ad business with scale across UAE, KSA, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and future expansion markets.
• Your impact will be measurable, meaningful, and career-defining.
  
  

• Work and learn from great minds by joining a community of inspiring colleagues.
• Put your passion to work in a purposeful organisation dedicated to creating impact in a region with a lot of untapped potential.
• Explore new opportunities to learn and grow every day.
• Work 4 days a week in office & 1 day from home, and remotely from any country in the world for 30 days a year with unlimited vacation days per year. (If you are in an individual contributor role in tech, you will have 2 office days a week and 3 to work from home.)
• Access to healthcare benefits and fitness reimbursements for health activities including gym, health club, and training classes.