Head of Loyalty will support the strategic development and lead delivery of the Yas Annual Passholder program and be responsible for retention, acquisition, and engagement performance. The Head of Loyalty is responsible for supporting the development of the loyalty vision and strategy for Miral Group and building an industry-leading annual passholder experience for Miral Groups theme park/attraction(s) brand(s). This important leadership role will oversee delivery of the loyalty function and partner with cross-divisional stakeholders across the Miral Group business to deliver the loyalty masterplan.

Working closely with the Loyalty Director, the Head of Loyalty will be a lead contributor in the development of various pivotal strategies, including:

· The Passholder customer journey masterplan

· The Loyalty Product strategy

· The Passholder lifecycle engagement strategy

· The Passholder retention/acquisition strategy

· The Loyalty partner integration strategy

· The Loyalty insights & action strategy

· The Loyalty technology development transition strategy

· The Passholder experience enhancement strategy

Job Scope

Loyalty & Annual Pass

• Development of the Annual Pass & Loyalty Strategy alongside the Loyalty Director for the theme park/attraction(s) and deliver on Annual Pass budgeted attendance numbers, sales revenue and yield targets.
• Development of the Annul Pass Passholder retention / acquisition strategy with the objective of long-term business growth (revenue, per-cap, attendance).
• Develop and execute Passholder engagement strategy that fosters repeat visitation and amplifies in-park spending. This strategy entails enhancing the entire Annual Pass Guest experience, from the online journey to the in-park experience. It includes the creation of exclusive events and enticing in-park discounts designed to reward and elevate loyalty toward the Yas Island Theme Park(s)/attraction(s) brand(s).
• Work with the Loyalty Director, Revenue Management and Business Insights team to ensure accurate understanding of Annual Pass numbers and revenue per product type. Support with insights to focus on forecasting annual pass expirations and analyzing the data to identify future revenue opportunities.
• Assist the Loyalty Director to develop the ability to monitor Annual Pass Member satisfaction, working with Guest Services, theme park/attraction(s) Operation teams, IT and Business Insights teams
• Manage internal stakeholders across all relevant parties across the business involved in Annual Pass initiatives to ensure cross-departmental ownership of the product.
• Support the integration of loyalty schemes across the wider (Miral Group) business.
• Engage with key long term global strategic partners with the goal to increase product strength and acquire new and relevant customers in key markets.
• Support the development of the Loyalty partner integration strategy to on-board / enhance the benefit offering of each Annual Pass tier.
• Support the Loyalty Director in the development of a comprehensive digitization strategy aimed at modernizing the product. This strategy encompasses the seamless integration of reservation systems, streamlined onboarding processes, personalized one-on-one user engagement initiatives, and the implementation of a user-friendly payment facility.
• Understand individual customer segments, buying patterns and preferences by analysing and understanding behaviours and trends and recommending specific initiatives to retain and grow the various customer segments. Ensure the effectiveness of data mining and analysis techniques in the forecasting of buying habits and preferences.

Stakeholder Management:

• Establish relationships with relevant senior stakeholders (within Miral Group) to ensure all requested deliverables are in line with the group loyalty strategy and ensure that the business is working together on all critical loyalty initiatives.

Team Leadership

• Lead the day to day running of the Annual Pass Loyalty team under the guidance of the Loyalty Director.
• Lead the team to plan and execute the annual engagement strategy with a key focus on achieving positive return on investment against initiative spend.
• Lead the team to execute all in-park exclusives to deliver on a positive guest journey and increase guest incremental spend.
• Focus on competitor movement, locally, regionally, and globally to equip the team with development / growth opportunities.
• Constant focus on learning and development for the team with the goal to maximize business efficiency and create strategic leaders of the future
• Adopt a team culture of positivity to drive successful outcomes for the business.
• Day to day lead for Annual Pass within Sales and Marketing; across Digital Marketing, CRM, social media, Public Relations, Call Centre and Sales teams to drive a singular brand goal for mutual business success.
• Ensure that internal policies and processes are followed and adhered to at all times

Project Management

• Leading Annual Pass development projects and managing internal and external stakeholders in the development for new technology / assets.
• Leading the day to day marketing development of the project and ensuring that team members are carrying out their tasks efficiently while upholding the company’s standards. Coordinating workshops to obtain outcomes, summarizing project deliverables; planning project management, setting deadlines, prioritizing tasks, and workflow management.
• Managing projects to budget, managing potential risks and delivery using available resource allocation.
• Supporting the Loyalty Director to present project status, outcomes, risks, and decisions to senior stakeholders.

Digital Customer Journey Optimization

• Leading the day to day management of the Online Passholder consumer journey, for all digital channels (website, apps, and portals), working with the Brand Marketing team to ensure all content is kept up to date and compliant with IP rules/regulations and in-line with internal brand standards. Developing/maintaining guest/partner communication with the objective of incrementally increasing conversion and revenue generation.

Commercial, Budget & Reporting

• Supporting the Loyalty Director in the development of senior management strategic reports, board presentations and other documents required by the Senior Leadership team.
• Owning the day to day management of the Annual Pass budget and reporting and proposing recommendations to the Loyalty Director around potential reallocations of budget to support business objectives.
• Understand key marketing performance metrics and tracking tools to provide market research, forecasts, competitive analyses, campaign results, and consumer trends in order to translate results into actionable insights for marketing team to optimize campaigns.
• Support with identifying short-term and long-term scheduling, budget, and resource needs, including the development and management of an annual marketing budget for Annual Pass expenditure spending, and other financial considerations.
• Ensure that the Passholder engagement / retention Calendar is executed to ensure campaign drivers are meeting expected business revenue and attendance targets.
• Review Post Campaign Overview for all marketing initiatives to identify future opportunities / advice on any remedial actions for improved success for future initiatives.
• Create other reports and document as required.

Essential

• Hold a Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent qualification in Marketing
• Minimum 8 years of Marketing experience
• Proven expertise in loyalty function roles.
• A natural team leader with a confident, assertive and approachable personality
• Creative thinker and customer focused
• Commercially astute, data-driven and results oriented
• Resourceful, pro-active and innovative thinker
• Strong project management skills and deadline driven
• Ability to navigate a busy and challenging environment
• Strong presentation skills in both public speaking and PowerPoint format
• Solid attention to detail
• Agency management
• Analytical in thinking and able to manipulate data in Excel
• Strong copywriting skills

Desirable

• Worked in theme parks, marine life theme parks, attractions or entertainment venues
• Worked in the UAE or GCC countries in a marketing environment
• Fluent Arabic speaker and writer
• Event management