Company Description

Informa PLC is a leading international events, intelligence and scholarly research group.

Our purpose is to champion the specialist. Through hundreds of powerful brands we work with businesses and professionals in specialist markets, providing the connections, intelligence and opportunities that help customers grow, do business, make breakthroughs and take better informed decisions. Informa is listed on London Stock Exchange and a member of FTSE 100, with over 11,000 colleagues working in more than 30 countries.

Informa Markets is one of the largest pure-play providers of speciality business-to-business market access services in the world. We have the leading position in twelve distinct commercial marketplaces on a global basis. We help buyers and sellers grow their businesses in industries as diverse as pharmaceutical and food through to luxury yachts, fashion and beauty products. We connect, educate, and provide actionable insights across specialty commercial sectors.

And we do this through scale trade exhibitions as well as innovative digital market access services for B2B suppliers and buyers.

Now, by leveraging our unique first party market data, we have embarked upon an ambitious programme to expand the way that we assist these communities in uniquely powerful ways.



Director of Strategy & Research

Informa Markets

Reports to: Location:
Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Dubai

The Role

Informa Markets Middle East, India, T\xc3\xbcrkiye and Africa is looking for an experienced Director of Strategy & Research to join one of the fastest growing parts of Informa.

As the Director of Strategy & Research for our dynamic exhibition company, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the strategic direction of our event portfolio through meticulous research and comprehensive insights. Your primary responsibility will be to lead in designing and conducting quantitative and qualitative market research, analyzing industry trends, and gathering data to inform decision-making processes. Your insights will drive new launches, acquisitions, strategic positioning of existing events, enhanced exhibitor and attendee experiences, and contribute to the overall success of our events.

The role requires strong communication skills and a highly collaborative spirit, coordinating research requirements and efforts with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders. This position requires a visionary leader who can leverage data-driven strategies to propel our company to new heights in the highly promising geographic territory of our portfolio.

Job Summary- Key Performance Indicators

• Achievement of both annual and long-term commercial objectives across geography / portfolio as set out by the portfolio President and Chief Commercial Officer.
• Revenue growth: monitor the correlation between research-informed decisions and the financial success of our exhibitions.
• Market expansion: measure the success of researched organic and inorganic initiatives that contribute to the expansion of our events into new markets.
• Development and execution of research that supports our commercial strategy aligned to key strategic pillars (i.e. Pricing & Value Creation, Productivity, Business Development and CX) and geographic / market opportunities
• Development and execution of special research projects to achieve agreed business outcomes.
• Exhibitor and attendee metrics: evaluate the impact of research-driven strategies on enhancing attendee engagement and satisfaction.

Main Responsibilities

The Director of Strategy & Research will spearhead multifaceted research and insights initiatives across four strategic priority areas:

Pricing & Value Creation

• Conduct qualitative and quantitative research to understand customer demand and foster value creation strategies.
• Implement market-centric assessments to gauge price sensitivity and value perceptions across our exhibition space and sponsorship offerings.

Customer Experience

• Utilize qualitative and quantitative methodologies for comprehensive customer experience evaluations to gauge service quality, customer satisfaction and improvement strategies.

Productivity

• Employ diverse qualitative and quantitative methodologies to assess customer demand and perceive the value of offerings.
• Investigate factors influencing productivity to enhance operational efficiency.

Business Development

• Initiate, design and perform extensive country-specific research (notably India, KSA, Bahrain and Turkey) encompassing location and sector attractiveness analyses, competitor landscape studies, and Go-to-Market (GTM) analysis.
• Conduct thorough launch feasibility studies to evaluate the viability and potential success of new events and initiatives.
• Engage in customer demand research to identify potential market entry points and value creation strategies.
• Contribute to Commercial Due Diligence (CDD) projects for potential acquisition targets within the Middle East, India, T\xc3\xbcrkiye and Africa through qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to support strategic decision-making processes.

Additional responsibilities include:

• Strategic Research Planning: Devise and execute a comprehensive research strategy aligned with overarching business objectives.
• Market Analysis: Conduct in-depth assessments to identify emerging trends, competitor activities, and growth opportunities.
• Data Collection and Analysis: Oversee the collection and analysis of pertinent data to generate actionable insights.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Collaborate extensively with marketing, sales, content, event management teams as well as Central functions to integrate insights into the overarching business strategy.
• Reporting and Presentation: Effectively communicate research findings through comprehensive reports and presentations. Develop, in coordination with the Chief Commercial Offer and with support from any relevant internal stakeholders, best practice research and reporting templates and processes to optimize reporting and productivity.

This role is flexible and may include additional duties commensurate with the grade and level of responsibility.

Qualifications

Qualities & skills needed for the role

• Over 10 years of experience in a wide range of research strategies and tactics.
• Extensive track record of proven understanding of vertical and geographic markets and exhibitions.
• Strong analytical skills to interpret complex data and draw meaningful insights.
• Strategic vision: ability to align research efforts with long-term commercial business objectives and market trends.
• Innovative thinking: capacity for creative and innovative thinking to drive continuous improvement.
• Excellent communication skills to convey research findings and insights to diverse audiences.
• Highly collaborative
• Strongly customer-focused
• Be adaptable and willing to take on new challenges and risks, be adaptable to change, able to quickly recover from setbacks or changing parameters and be ready to adopt alternative approaches to achieve goals.

Desired

• MBA
• Middle East exhibitions experience
• Relevant sector experience

Informa