Fair Manager

About the Art Dubai GroupArt Dubai Group is a public-private partnership with Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) founded in 2007 and has grown to become the most experienced cultural programming company in the Gulf. Comprising more than 30 initiatives, including the region’s leading art and design fairs and festivals, it is a provider of industry expertise to the business and government sectors, alongside year-round commissioning and professional development programmes.The group’s flagship initiatives include Art Dubai Fair, the cornerstone art fair in the region, and Art Dubai Projects, a cultural innovation and development practice; Dubai Design Week, the region’s leading design festival; Downtown Design, the leading fair for contemporary and quality design in the Middle East; and Prototypes for Humanity, the world’s largest and most diverse assembly of academics addressing social and environmental challenges.About the RoleThis is a key role within Art Dubai, responsible for the year round planning, management and successful delivery of the annual Art Dubai fair.The Fair Manager holds day to day ownership of fair delivery, turning the fair's plan into action across timelines, budgets, production, exhibitors, partners, suppliers, staffing and on-site operations. The role keeps teams and external partners aligned and actively manages milestones, dependencies and risks throughout the fair cycle.Key ResponsibilitiesFair Planning and Delivery:Develop and maintain day to day oversight of the fair plan, ensuring agreed actions, deadlines and decisions are progressed across all participating teams.Lead the operational delivery of the fair through installation, live days, dismantling and close out.Identify emerging delivery risks, resource constraints and competing priorities and resolve them where possible.Operations and Logistics:Support the Production team with the venue build, exhibition layout and fair infrastructure, ensuring venue layout and build information is communicated to Marcomms, Partnerships and Exhibitor Relations teams as required.Oversee ticketing, event access and accreditation, together with operational planning for the services that support a safe and well run fair.Ensure compliance with venue requirements and applicable health, safety, licensing and operational regulations.Oversee F&B planning and delivery including requirements linked to sponsor commitments.Partner and Programme Management:Own the operational delivery of partner and sponsor commitments and monitor exhibitor and participant deliverables.Work with the Marcomms and Design teams to ensure the fair's visual identity and collateral, including invitations, signage, guides and accreditation, are delivered on schedule.Vendor, Venue and Budget Management:Own key operational relationships with the venue, contractors, fabricators and suppliers engaged for the fair.Monitor supplier performance against agreed scope, quality, timelines and budget, addressing delivery issues promptly and maintaining operational readiness.Prepare the detailed fair delivery budget, monitor expenditure and commitments against it, and report material variances.Team Leadership and Cross Functional Coordination:Lead the fair planning rhythm through regular meetings, action trackers and delivery updates.Identify temporary staffing requirements and recruit, brief and lead fair staff, volunteers and relevant external teams during the delivery period.Prepare regular progress reports and lead the review process after the fair, documenting lessons learned for future editions.RequirementsExcellent cross cultural communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build and maintain relationships with diverse stakeholders.Proven project management skills, with experience planning and delivering multi workstream projects against fixed timelines, milestones and approvals.End to end experience managing event budgets, including budget preparation, tracking expenditure and commitments, and reporting variances to senior stakeholders.Working knowledge of event production requirements, including exhibition layout, ticketing, accreditation and health and safety complianceExperience leading and briefing teams, including temporary or seasonal staff, through a peak delivery period.Strong attention to detail, with the ability to manage time, meet deadlines and work effectively across multiple teams.Please note that this is an on-site role requiring office attendance five days a week.