Senior Artist Partnerships And AandR Manager

Role purpose

Serve as the primary point of contact for artists and their management teams across Anghami's key artist initiatives, building trusted, long-term relationships, and ensuring that the artist's perspective is represented across the company. Own artist engagement for Anghami Elite and Sawt Jdeed, while connecting artists with relevant opportunities across Music, Editorial, Marketing, Social, PR, Product, Events and other internal teams.

Key responsibilities

1. Own Anghami Elite and Sawt Jdeed artist partnerships. Lead artist identification, outreach, relationship development, negotiations and monthly artist commitments for both programs, ensuring a consistent pipeline of relevant artists and timely campaign confirmations.
2. Build and nurture artist relationships. Establish trusted relationships with artists, managers, labels and their teams; maintain regular contact, understand their priorities and challenges, and provide ongoing support beyond individual campaigns.
3. Act as the artist's internal representative. Bring artist feedback, needs and expectations into internal discussions, helping teams make informed decisions that support stronger artist relationships and experiences.
4. Connect artists with internal opportunities. Serve as the central liaison between artists and Music Marketing, Editorial, Social, PR, Product & Tech, and Events & Concerts, identifying opportunities for collaboration and ensuring effective communication across teams.
5. Identify artists and emerging talents. Stay close to the MENA music ecosystem, identify emerging voices and established artists with potential for deeper partnerships, and recommend artists who align with Anghami's music strategy and audience opportunities.
6. Develop quarterly artist workshops and masterclasses across different countries in the MENA region, having at least 4 workshops a year.
7. Support artist development and growth. Understand artists' career ambitions, upcoming releases and long-term priorities, and proactively connect them with relevant Anghami tools, content opportunities, editorial teams, events and platform initiatives.
8. Represent Anghami within the music industry. Attend industry events, concerts, showcases and artist meetings to strengthen relationships, stay connected to local music scenes, and identify partnership opportunities.
9. Provide industry intelligence. Share insights on emerging genres, rising artists, market trends, artist sentiment, label priorities and shifts in the regional music landscape to inform Music team strategy and programming.
10. Partner closely with the Head of Music Marketing. Act as a trusted partner on artist relationships, industry engagement and strategic initiatives, helping translate priorities into actionable opportunities while keeping the artist's perspective at the center.
11. Liaise with artists to constantly share and communicate about Anghami, growing brand awareness and brand love among the artist scenes.

Candidate Requirements

• 3-6 years of experience in A&R, artist relations, artist partnerships, label relations, music, entertainment, or the wider music industry.
• Deep understanding of the MENA music ecosystem and strong existing relationships with artists, managers, labels and industry stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain trusted relationships with artists and their teams.
• Strong understanding of artist careers, release cycles, labels, management structures, and the dynamics of the regional music industry.
• Highly connected and proactive within the music ecosystem, with a strong ability to identify emerging talent and relevant industry opportunities.
• Strong stakeholder management skills and the ability to work effectively across creative, commercial and operational teams.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and relationship-building skills.
• Highly organized, proactive, and able to manage multiple artist relationships and opportunities simultaneously.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced environment with a high degree of autonomy and ambiguity.
• Fluent in Arabic and English. French is a plus.
• Based in the UAE, with flexibility for regional travel.

Core Skills & Traits

• Trusted artist relationship builder
• Deeply connected to the MENA music ecosystem
• Artist-first and commercially aware
• Strong A&R instinct and talent radar
• Excellent communicator and negotiator
• Proactive and highly resourceful
• Strong cross-functional collaborator
• Highly organized and detail-oriented
• Culturally plugged-in
• Strategic thinker with strong industry intuition
• Comfortable representing Anghami externally
• Able to build trust internally and externally