Al-Futtaim Looking for Assistant Creative Manager at Saudi , Dubai Full Time

Job Requisition ID: 153926

Established in the 1930s as a trading business, Al-Futtaim Group today is one of the most diversified and progressive, privately held regional businesses headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Structured into five operating divisions; automotive, financial services, real estate, retail and healthcare; employing more than 35,000 employees across more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, Al-Futtaim Group partners with over 200 of the world’s most admired and innovative brands. Al-Futtaim Group’s entrepreneurship and relentless customer focus enables the organization to continue to grow and expand; responding to the changing needs of our customers within the societies in which we operate.

By upholding our values of respect, excellence, collaboration and integrity; Al-Futtaim Group continues to enrich the lives and aspirations of our customers each and every day

Overview of the role:

The role will provide support on a variety of design management tasks for the Development & Design department, including consultant and stakeholder management, technical review of and advisory on design quality, functionality, engineering and systems, statutory considerations, constructability and completeness of deliverables, along with periodic internal design studies, research and other creative and technical analysis.

What you will do:

Responsible for:

Design Management (Design and Delivery Focused)

Support the Definition of the Design Brief

• Provide support on the detailed assessment of plots, including evaluations of the physical characteristics, location and context, visibility, access and circulation, etc.
• Provide support in defining a detailed design brief, incorporating product objectives, project and context description, collating all relevant background information and related documents, and defining the key design objectives and technical criteria.
• In coordination with the Project Management department, define a set of detailed infrastructure, engineering, delivery or statutory considerations to be included in the design brief.

Support the Design Process

• Support projects through the various stages of the project, from design vision to tender documentation.
• Support reviews of projects for development and design priorities, including compliance with development objectives, hard and soft costs, efficiency, user experience, functionality, public realm interface and aesthetics, along with all technical requirements and compliance with the contractual requirements.
• Support comprehensive technical reviews on design criteria and performance, engineering and systems coordination, constructability and delivery considerations, and statutory authority issues.
• Provide commentary on design deliverables required for executive presentations, including visualizations, diagrams, illustrative plans, etc.
• Prepare summary presentations to executive Al-Futtaim stakeholders on various topics, as and when required.
• Support the development of marketing collateral, including all required materials for the project launch (ex. unit plans, lease outline drawings, renderings, supplementary graphics and physical models).

Complete Research on Product Types and Characteristics

• Complete research on relevant topics related to city design, including smart city technologies, advanced mobility models, sustainability, thermal comfort, public realm and art, etc.
• Complete research on relevant topics related to product design, including smart living technologies, alternative parking strategies, amenities, urban farming, and other product characteristics, etc.

Support the Development of Project Resources, Templates and Guidelines

• Support the development and/or refinement of key departmental systems, including processes, design guidelines, standards, templates, review processes and procedures, reporting documentation and other resources.

Business / Financial / Strategy

Support Market Research and Development Strategy

• Occasionally support with market and economic analysis, or with research on new product types and positioning strategies.
• Support development potential assessments of parcels, that consider the site, context, regulations and market analysis.

Support the Definition of Development Briefs and Budgets

• Provide support on various aspects of the development brief documents, including project positioning, development statistics targets, and project programme.
• Provide support on the identification of key design, infrastructure, engineering, delivery or statutory considerations that have impact on the development strategy.

General Management / Administration

Support Project Schedule and Progress Reporting

• Provide support for detailed project schedules to account for the major work streams, notable milestones, and statutory authority approval process.
• Provide support for regular progress reports highlighting the status of the project and suitable for review by the AFGRE’s executive leadership.

Support Contract and Commercial Management of Projects

• Support the day-to-day contract and commercial management of projects, coordinating between the consultant(s) and Commercial departments to ensure completeness of submissions, evaluation, approvals and recommendations on invoices and related contractual issues.

Support the Procurement Strategy and Manage the Process

• Support the pre-qualifications and assessments of consultants for real estate advisory, architecture, engineering and various other design and pre-contract services, including technical advisory on the consultant RFP responses.
• Provide support on relevant RFP documents, including detailed scopes of work, services, deliverables and time schedules.

Job Context:

This position is directly related to our overall business plan and our ability to manage critical design and research efforts required by executive management. The roll-out programme for our projects is defined by our 5-year plan, which can be subject to change when our business plan is impacted by external factors and market forces beyond our immediate control.

Required Skills to be successful:

Job-Specific Skills:

• Skills across various design disciplines, including architecture and interior design, with skills in graphics and presentations
• Awareness of technical requirements of buildings, including advanced understanding of structural and MEP systems, civil works, construction and statutory authorities.
• Ability to prepare clear and compelling presentations to executive management.
• Proficiency in MS Office (i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Capabilities in Adobe Suite (i.e. Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign) is a plus
• Capabilities in Primavera or Microsoft Project is a plus

Behavioural Competencies :

Delighting Our Customers

• Demonstrates a passion to understand the impact of design on user experience, with a natural obsession for identifying the customer journey.
• Emphasizes human-centric product design approach, prioritizing specific sets of human needs, desires and behaviors related to how they would use or interact with a place or object.

Working Across Boundaries

• Makes it easy for other parties to respond, providing clear and concise descriptions, clear and accountable requests that enable the other party to respond quickly and with the precise feedback required.
• Employs an empathetic approach, seeking to clearly understand the priorities and motivations of the other parties in order to communicate more effectively.
• Avoids pointing faults in others, but admits mistakes in him or herself, seeking the best outcome for the team over the best outcome for the individual.

Managing Complexity

• Identifies and set priorities, with a clear process for addressing new requests according to relative urgency and importance.
• Creates or works with systems that have typical processes, templates and references for tasks that are highly complex and/or repetitive, in order to more rapidly and consistently complete the tasks with high quality.
• Anticipates areas of uncertainty and works to clarify these between parties to ensure an expedient outcome.

Influencing Others

• Applies an empathetic approach to communication, building rapport and regularly framing the issue from the other person’s perspective in order to demonstrate alignment of goals.
• Employs clear and consistent follow-up, applying regular and increasing degrees of pressure as needed, while being respectful of the parties concerned.

Taking Initiative

• Assumes an ‘extreme ownership’ mindset, taking full responsibility for the outcomes of his/her project and ensures others are held accountable for their inputs.
• Flips timeframes, asking not when is the latest an activity can be completed, but seeking out the earliest it can be achieved.
• Assumes a growth mindset, curious about new possibilities and ever seeking to learn new things and improve themselves

Drive for Results

• Assumes an entrepreneurial mindset, considers all aspects of the project – quality, timeframe, reputational, cost, financial performance and so on.
• Insists on relentlessly high standards, with an aim to consistently deliver world-class outcomes across the range of activities and outputs of responsibilities.
• Has high ambitions for themselves, their colleagues and their projects, embedding this mindset in their work.
• Accomplishes more with less, being resourceful and inventive on ways to deliver outsized results.

Engaging Leadership

• Effectively communicates goals, objectives and considerations with clear and compelling written, verbal and graphical materials, suited to the needs of the audience and circumstances.
• Consistently models the values of the team, the business and of Al-Futtaim.

Developing Talent

• Cultivates the skills and behaviors of in-house talents or colleagues with consistent coaching and explicit feedback and advice.
• Seeks to understand the team’s explicit and implicit motivations, working to support their goals in line with the business objectives.

What equips you for the role:

Minimum Qualifications and Knowledge:

• Master’s or bachelor’s degree in architecture or similar
• Supplementary training in business or real estate is a plus
• Fluent in English, Arabic a plus

Minimum Experience:

2 to 3 years’ experience in design and management-related roles, preferably having worked with leading local developers or consultancy firms

About Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate

The real estate development and operations arm of Al-Futtaim, Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate is responsible for a multi-billion-dollar portfolio across MENA. With high-quality residential, business, retail, tourism, educational and healthcare developments, the master developer caters to the diverse needs of cities and communities in the region. From origination, conception, development, sales, procurement and construction of mega-projects and the leasing, operation and management of these projects after completion, Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate (AFGRE) has been developing and managing owned landbanks, unlocking the economic potential of the region and contributing to future development for more than 40 years.

Our focus is to enable and invest in meaningful relationships to make our properties the best places to live and work, build additional products and services and enable partnerships to create true value to our customers throughout their entire experience with us.

AFGRE is responsible for master planning of all projects in its portfolio, including two large scale mixed use destinations: Dubai Festival City and Cairo Festival City