KAYALI
Director of Strategy and Corporate Development
KAYALIUnited Arab Emirates17 hours ago
Full-timeStrategy/Planning
Who We Are

Fueled by passion, KAYALI was founded in 2018 by beauty mogul and fragrance fanatic, Mona Kattan. Translating to ‘my imagination' in Arabic, KAYALI provides a modern fragrance experience inspired by Mona's rich Middle Eastern heritage and the art of layering scents to help you create your mood; where sharing scents is a ritual and smelling good is both an act of goodwill and self-love. Mona collaborates with some of the world's most renowned perfumers and sources the finest ingredients to create unique juices that are infinitely memorable, long-lasting, and cruelty-free. Each luxurious fragrance is an ode to true craftsmanship and tells a special story, from the addictive notes to the multi-faceted jeweled bottles.

The Director of Strategy and Corporate Development champions KAYALI's long-term roadmap, orchestrating organic and transformative growth across the brand. The Director empowers collaboration, leads strategic planning, and explores new markets and opportunities, ensuring our portfolio and projects radiate excellence, scalability, and positive impact. Through partnership with leadership and cross-functional teams, the role delivers crystal-clear insights, actionable strategies, and business solution helping KAYALI remain a trailblazer, while making everyone feel like the diamond they are.

Requirements

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

  • Strategic Direction, Market Expansion & Business Planning
  • Develop and maintain a 3-5 year strategic roadmap aligned with Kayali's growth and exit ambitions
  • Lead strategic planning cycles, including setting KPIs, defining business priorities, with cross-functional alignment
  • Conduct structured analysis of new category, channel, or geographic expansion opportunities; deliver go/no-go recommendations with supporting data and business cases
  • Deliver regular strategy reviews for leadership and key stakeholders with clear progress tracking
  • Portfolio Operations & Value Creation
  • Partner with cross-functional leads to identify and unlock value drivers across the business
  • Build and manage a performance dashboard to track growth, margin, and operational health
  • Deliver operational improvement plans for underperforming areas and ensure execution of value-creation initiatives
  • Strategic Projects & Executive Support
  • Work closely with the C-suite to define and lead the execution of high-impact strategic initiatives that drive business transformation, operational efficiency, and long-term growth
  • Provide ongoing reporting to the CEO on key strategic projects and overall business performance, synthesizing complex information into clear insights, risk assessments, and actionable recommendations to support executive decision-making
  • Prepare executive and board-level materials
  • Support the development and execution of Kayali's M&A and investment strategy, and help operationalize key investment ventures (e.g. Kayali Ventures)
  • Investment support includes: target identification, business case development, due diligence, valuation, and integration planning, managing third party stakeholders where necessary
  • Drive alignment and execution of complex cross-functional programs

Key Outputs

  • Kayali Strategic Plan
  • Market & Segment Feasibility Reports
  • Information Reporting to CEO
  • Board Materials (ongoing)
  • Value creation tracking
  • Strategic Projects Reports

Requirements

  • Bachelor's degree in Business, Economics, Finance, Engineering or related discipline; MBA from a top-tier program strongly preferred.
  • 7+ years of relevant strategy, consulting, investment banking, private equity, or executive-level corporate development experience, experience in beauty and luxury sectors highly valued.
  • Extensive strategic planning and corporate development experience, ideally within beauty, luxury, or consumer industries.
  • Proven track record in market analysis, business development, and identifying growth opportunities across new markets or revenue streams.
  • Deep expertise in mergers, acquisitions, and partnership strategies, including deal origination, evaluation, and integration planning.
  • Ability to design and execute organic and inorganic growth initiatives and lead major strategic projects that align with the brand vision.
  • Advanced quantitative, financial modeling, and analytical capabilities for market sizing, valuation, and scenario planning.
  • Strength in stakeholder management, influencing, and relationship-building with internal and external partners.
  • Experience collaborating cross-functionally with senior leadership, operations, brand, and external agencies to deliver high-impact results.
  • Exceptional communication, storytelling, and presentation skills for sharing crystal-clear insights and recommendations.
  • Demonstrated ability to lead, inspire and mentor teams, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement in line with KAYALI's magical value

Benefits

  • Premium Medical/Dental/Vision coverage
  • Find Your Magic Days
  • Volunteer Day
  • Professional Development Days
  • Birthday leave
  • Employee discounts Kayali products
  • Product gifting
  • Egg Freezing Benefits

Kayali is committed to building diverse and inclusive teams and upholding an equal employment workplace that is free from discrimination. We hire stellar individuals regardless of their race, color, ancestry, religion, gender identity, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, medical conditions, disability, or veteran status. If you need reasonable accommodations at any point in the application or interview process, please let us know.

Key Skills

Ranked by relevance
Apply