Director Commercial Planning

Team: Commercial Planning

Activity: Full-time

Role grade: Director (8)

Direct reports: 2

Indirect reports: 1

Reporting to: Chief Commercial Officer

Role location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Job Purpose: As the Director Commercial Planning, you will be responsible for shaping, driving, and operationalising the commercial strategy of the Esports World Cup Foundation. This role ensures that all commercial initiatives - including sponsorship,media rights, ticketing, merchandising, licensing, and on-site monetisation - are aligned with the broader vision, revenue goals, and long-term growth strategy of the EWCF. The Director acts as the central strategic integrator within the Commercial vertical, building the commercial masterplan, monitoring execution, and enabling cross-functional alignment across Product, Games & Publishers, Festival, Marketing, Finance, and Operations. This role will directly oversee the Ticketing and Merchandising functions, ensuring world-class fan experiences and maximized revenue performance.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain the annual and multi-year commercial strategy for the EWCF, ensuring alignment with organisational objectives and revenue targets.

• Build and manage the commercial masterplan covering partnerships, ticketing, merchandising, media rights, on-site monetisation, and fan revenue streams.

• Conduct market analysis, competitor benchmarking, and opportunity assessments across new markets, product categories, and revenue verticals.

• Translate commercial strategic priorities into actionable workstreams, timelines, KPIs, and resource plans.

• Define commercial processes, implementation frameworks, reporting mechanisms, and approval flows.

• Drive integration across all commercial verticals to ensure a unified approach to revenue generation and fan experience.

• Oversee the ticketing strategy, pricing architecture, segmentation, and commercial optimisation for all EWCF events.

• Ensure seamless coordination with the Product teams on capacities, layouts, ticketing technologies, and customer experience.

• Monitor sales performance and fan insights, adjusting strategy in real time to meet revenue and occupancy targets.

• Lead the merchandising strategy, product roadmap, retail operations, and revenue planning.

• Oversee licensing partnerships, category expansions, and product quality & brand integrity.

• Coordinate with Marketing, Brand, and Creative to ensure cohesive storytelling and design alignment.

• Build and manage dashboards, revenue models, and KPI frameworks across all commercial streams.

• Partner closely with Finance to set budgets, forecasts, and performance targets.

• Identify commercial risks, opportunities, gaps, and growth levers; propose mitigation and acceleration plans.

• Act as the primary commercial liaison to external ticketing and merch partners, agencies, and retail operators.

• Negotiate commercial terms, scopes of work, and performance expectations.

• Ensure all commercial partners meet EWCF quality, delivery, and performance standards.

• Build, lead and mentor high-performing team

• Build strong internal capabilities, tools, and processes to support long-term growth.

• Foster a high-performance, data-driven, and collaborative culture.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Economics, Marketing, Finance, or a related field; Master’s degree preferred.

• 10+ years of experience in commercial strategy, revenue planning, ticketing, merchandising, or related commercial functions (sports, live entertainment, mega-events, esports, or consumer brands preferred).

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strong strategic and analytical capabilities, with proven ability to translate strategy into executable plans.

• Demonstrated experience leading ticketing and/or merch programs for large-scale events or entertainment properties.

• Experience managing cross-functional teams and driving alignment across multiple senior stakeholders.

• Strong financial acumen: forecasting, P&L management, revenue models, pricing, and ROI analysis.

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills; able to influence at senior levels.

• Experience managing external vendors, agencies, and commercial partners.

• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth, entrepreneurial environment.

• Strong leadership and people management experience.

• Passion for esports, sports, entertainment, or fan-centric experiences is a plus.

Benefits

• Relocation support

• Transportation allowance

• Competitive compensation

• Housing allowance

• VIP medical insurance

• Opportunity to work on a new exciting project with a group of passionate professionals. You will get the freedom to excel and make a real impact

Diversity disclaimer

Our mission is to build a diverse organization where our members, regardless of background or identity, have a sense of belonging. We genuinely believe that thanks to creating a collaborative environment where different perspectives are valued, we can achieve more. Together, we want to reshape the boundaries of what is achievable in the esports domain.