Business Development/Sales Manager

About Us!

At Sourcing Unicorns, we recruit globally across the creative and experiential industry, always on the lookout for exceptional talent to bring bold ideas to life. For this opportunity, we’re proud to collaborate with the team at Talking Birds & Flying Fisg to find the unicorn, the one who will truly make a difference. Together, we ensure a smooth and human-centered hiring experience that reflects the studio’s vision.

About Talking Birds & Flying Fish

Talking Birds & Flying Fish is an international multimedia studio creating large-scale shows, exhibitions, museum installations, event visuals and interactive experiences, combining technology, storytelling and design to bring ambitious projects to life.

We work across creative content, multimedia production, development and interactive experiences for international clients. Over 220 delivered projects, including:

•      Live and spectacle: Expo 2020 Dubai, Global Championship Arabians Tour, the English Premier League, six NHL franchises, international stadium and arena tours

•      Brands: Microsoft, Lamborghini, Genesis, Volkswagen, Ford, Shell, Unilever, FedEx, Maersk, Levi's

We are now expanding our international presence, with a particular focus on Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and the wider MENA region, and are looking for an experienced Business Development / Sales Manager to help drive this growth.

This is the first dedicated commercial role in the region, and you will own it.

The Role

You will be responsible for developing new business opportunities and building long-term relationships with clients and partners across the region.

This is a hands-on business development role: we are looking for someone who can not only identify prospects, but also open doors, build trust, understand client needs, manage negotiations and convert opportunities into projects.

You will act as a key commercial representative of Talking Birds & Flying Fish, working closely with our Creative Directors and Producers throughout the pre-sale process.

What you will be selling: event and experiential multimedia — show content, event visuals, stage and venue content, exhibition and stand multimedia, interactive installations.

Typical project value: $50,000-200,000

Typical sales cycle: 1-3 months from first meeting to signature

This is a business built on momentum: a steady flow of mid-size projects, with a scoreboard that moves every month.

Key Responsibilities

•      Identify and proactively develop new business opportunities across the Gulf and wider MENA region.

•      Build and manage relationships with creative and production agencies, event organisers, producers, creative directors, venues, entertainment operators and brands.

•      Leverage and expand your existing professional network to generate new opportunities and projects, while systematically building a new pipeline in parallel.

•      Initiate contact, secure meetings and develop long-term client relationships.

•      Understand client briefs, ask the right questions and identify opportunities where Talking Birds & Flying Fish can add value.

•      Lead the commercial process from initial contact through qualification, negotiation and closing.

•      Present the studio's capabilities and proposals to prospective clients, and act as the main commercial point of contact during the pre-sale phase.

•      Attend relevant industry events, conferences and networking opportunities to strengthen the company's presence and pipeline.

•      Maintain and develop a structured sales pipeline in the CRM and regularly report on business development activity and opportunities.

•      Successfully hand over won projects to the relevant Producer and creative team for delivery.

How pre-sale works here

You assemble your own standard decks from our existing library of case studies and materials. When an opportunity calls for a unique concept, our Creative Director builds the full presentation, bringing in a Producer for costing and production feasibility where needed. You are never left to invent the creative answer on your own.

About You

We are looking for a commercially minded and highly relationship-driven professional who understands how creative projects are sold.

You should have:

•      3-6 years of experience in business development, sales or commercial roles in the Gulf, within creative, multimedia, experiential, entertainment, events, advertising or production companies. We are particularly interested in people from established international agencies and studios who are ready for a step up.

•      Current residency in the UAE or Saudi Arabia, with the right to work and the ability to travel across the region.

•      An existing network of relevant contacts in agencies, production, events, entertainment, venues or brands, and the appetite to grow it considerably.

•      A proven track record of developing new business and converting opportunities, including deals you personally sourced and closed.

•      A proactive and self-driven approach to identifying opportunities rather than waiting for inbound leads.

•      Strong understanding of the creative / multimedia industry and how projects are developed and sold.

•      Excellent communication, presentation and negotiation skills, and the ability to build trust with senior stakeholders.

•      Strong commercial judgement and the ability to recognise a good opportunity.

•      Fluent English. Arabic is a strong advantage, particularly for work with government and semi-government entities in Saudi Arabia.

•      The ability to work autonomously in a distributed international team.

First 12 Months

We would rather be explicit about expectations than let you discover them later:

•      Months 1–2: target market mapped, 15–20 first meetings per month, of which 8–10 with real decision-makers; pipeline built in the CRM.

•      By months 3–4: first signed project.

•      Months 4–12: a repeatable flow of deals and 2–3 accounts generating repeat business.

In the early months you are measured on the quality of meetings and pipeline, not on revenue alone.

What Talking Birds & Flying Fish Offers

•      Base compensation + uncapped commission on closed deals, with transparent deal economics — you will always see how your commission is calculated.

•      Ownership of the region. You are not one line in a sales team. You are the commercial presence of Talking Birds & Flying Fish in the Gulf, with a clear path to a senior commercial role as the region grows.

•      A portfolio that opens doors — 220+ projects for clients including Expo 2020 Dubai, the English Premier League, six NHL franchises, Microsoft, Lamborghini and Shell.

•      Speed. No approval chains. A custom concept for a pitch in days rather than weeks, because the Creative Directors and Producers are one call away.

•      A competitive edge on price. You will be able to win work that larger international studios lose on budget, at a quality level local suppliers cannot match.

•      Infrastructure that already exists: a UAE entity for local contracting and invoicing, CRM, packaged case studies and presentation materials, and an in-house pre-sale team behind every proposal.

•      The opportunity to play a key role in shaping the company's international business development strategy and to work on ambitious multimedia, entertainment and experiential projects.

•      Flexible remote / hybrid working, an international creative and collaborative team, and long-term collaboration potential.

Ready to Build What Comes Next?

If you are a relationship-driven business developer who knows how to open doors, build trust and turn conversations into ambitious creative projects, we'd love to hear from you.

Join Talking Birds & Flying Fish and help us build partnerships across the region while bringing large-scale multimedia experiences to life

Thank you for applying. We’re committed to an inclusive process and we welcome talent from all walks of life. We aim to review every application. Roles in experiential can be ultra-specialized, if it’s not a fit for this one, we may still flag your profile for future opportunities. Thanks for helping grow the Sourcing Unicorns talent ecosystem.