Lead Digital Marketing Manager

Job description / Role

Role overview

Decide where Ounass’s paid media budget goes and prove what it returns. You own the cross-channel budget envelope, the allocation rules channel leads execute against, the measurement standard that determines which numbers count, and the forecast. You run the incrementality programme and take over the marketing mix model. You also know how to set up and interpret marginal economics tactics on performance marketing channels.

Every allocation decision you make can be defended with data in front of the VP of Marketing and Finance, and the forecast you sign off on is the one the business plans against.

You report to the Director of Marketing and work alongside the channel leads for Paid Search, Paid Social, Influencer Marketing, and other channels. They run their channels; you do not run campaigns. You set the budget envelope, the rules, and the measurement standards, while they own execution and pacing within them. BI, Data, Growth, and Finance are your closest partners. Commercial and Retail Media are your main internal clients for the numbers.

Responsibilities

• Own the paid media budget envelope across Paid Search, Paid Social, Display and Programmatic, Affiliates, and Influencer Marketing, by market (UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain), against GMV, new-customer, CAC, and efficiency targets.
• Set the allocation rules and marginal efficiency, growth, and CAC thresholds that channel leads use to make trade-offs. Move money between channels and markets when the data supports it, and document why.
• Run the reallocation cycle: weekly pacing reviews, monthly rebalancing, and quarterly resets tied to the reforecast. Steer and optimise the budget control tower.
• Separate brand-funded spend (Brand Exposure, booked through Retail Media) from Ounass-funded spend so Net DM is reported clearly with Finance.
• Balance short-term efficiency against the planned shift of investment towards the upper funnel. Show the impact of the shift on blended efficiency and when it is expected to pay back.
• Define the measurement standard: which numbers determine budget moves, when platform attribution and last-click are overruled, and when a lift study or geo holdout is required before a channel scales.
• Run the incrementality programme, including geo holdouts or lift studies for each major channel. Design studies with BI and document the budget decisions that follow.
• Read and act on the marketing mix model’s insights.
• Triangulate platform attribution, GA4, the app MMP (Adjust), and the mix model into one view. Publish diminishing-returns curves by channel and market.
• Maintain a sound tracking foundation with Tech and BI, including server-side events, consent, and app attribution (SKAdNetwork). Treat any tracking error that corrupts a budget decision as a serious miss.
• Own the paid media forecast (weekly, monthly, and annual) by channel and market. Forecast accuracy is a tracked KPI for this role.
• Build the paid media input to the annual budget and each reforecast, with scenarios Finance can use, such as what AED 5 million more or less buys and where.
• Set targets by channel and market with the channel leads, and defend them during the planning cycle.
• Own the performance story for the VP of Marketing and Finance: what moved, why, and what changes. Build one source of truth with BI; avoid parallel decks.
• Turn the numbers into decisions for Commercial and Retail Media, including category- and brand-level investment views and readiness for private sales, Ramadan, Eid, and peak periods.
• Automate reporting, pacing alerts, and allocation recommendations. Use AI tools daily in your work and track the hours saved.
• Govern platform automation: decide where it runs, which guardrails apply, and how it is measured against manual control.
• Manage measurement across the marketing mix model, lift studies, and the Marketing Platform’s measurement teams.
• Protect the brand by rejecting placements or tactics that cheapen it, even when the CPA looks good.
• Document standards for allocation rules, test designs, and forecasting methods so the team works consistently with or without you.

Requirements

• At least 8 years of experience in performance marketing, including ownership of a multi-channel paid media budget in-house at a scaled e-commerce or consumer business.
• Experience designing and interpreting incrementality tests, such as geo holdouts and conversion lift studies, and changing a budget decision based on the results. Be prepared to share two examples from the last 12 months, including what was tested, how it was measured, what was learned, and what changed.
• Experience building, owning, or using a marketing mix model, with the ability to explain its limitations. Experience owning a budget forecast and being accountable for its accuracy.
• Proficiency in SQL and experiment statistics, including sample size, power, significance, and holdout design. Ability to read raw data independently. Python or R is an advantage.
• Working fluency in GA4, an app MMP (Adjust or AppsFlyer, including SKAdNetwork), and a BI tool (Tableau or Looker). Ability to identify data issues and investigate their causes.
• Hands-on experience with Google Ads and Meta at scale, and working knowledge of Snap and TikTok. Able to challenge channel leads on setup, bidding, and attribution without needing to run the accounts.
• Experience allocating budgets across multiple markets, ideally including an app component and a market the size of KSA.
• Experience working cross-functionally with Finance, Commercial, BI, and Data, with fluency in their terminology, including margin, CAC, payback, CLV, and contribution.
• Clear writing and presentation skills, including the ability to produce a one-page recommendation that leadership can act on and a weekly review that channel leads can use.
• Daily use of AI in your workflow, with examples of time saved.
• A degree in marketing, economics, statistics, or another quantitative field, or equivalent experience.

Preferred qualifications

• Arabic language skills, written and spoken, and experience understanding KSA and UAE audiences.
• Experience in luxury, fashion, or beauty e-commerce, ideally in the GCC.
• Python or R experience; familiarity with a modern data stack such as dbt, Athena, or BigQuery; and builder-level experience with Looker Studio or Tableau.
• Experience writing decision documents in a culture that relies on them, such as Amazon-style narratives.
• Experience with brand-funded, co-op, or retail media, including partner reporting.

About the Company

Established in 1979, Al Tayer Group is a privately-held, diversified company with operations in 12 countries in the Middle East and beyond. With over 7,800 employees from 95 different nationalities, the Group has its headquarters in Dubai, UAE.

Al Tayer Group operates leading, quality-focused businesses in automobile sales and service, luxury and lifestyle retail, perfumes and cosmetics distribution, engineering as well as interiors contracting. The Groups portfolio includes several of the worlds leading brands such as Armani, Bvlgari, Banana Republic, Ford, Ferrari, Gucci, Gap, Harvey Nichols and Maserati. The Group operates over 180 stores across multiple markets in the Middle East. In addition, Al Tayer Group has investments in commercial real estate, contracting, supply chain management, precision tools manufacturing and travel agency services.