General Manager, Middle East

About the Role We are looking for an entrepreneurial General Manager, Middle East to lead Wati’s next phase of growth across the region. The Middle East is an important growth market for Wati, with strong long-term potential across WhatsApp-led customer engagement, conversational commerce, AI agents, customer support automation and digital sales workflows. This is a market-building role. We are looking for someone who can combine commercial leadership, local market understanding, customer-facing execution, partner ecosystem building and strong operating discipline. You will be responsible for building Wati’s Middle East presence, driving revenue growth, strengthening local customer and partner relationships, and helping shape the right GTM motion for the region. This role is ideal for someone who is hands-on, commercially sharp, comfortable operating in ambiguity, and able to move between strategy and execution. What You’ll Do Build and lead the Middle East GTM motion Own the Middle East growth strategy across target markets, segments and priority verticals. Identify the strongest ICPs, customer use cases and market entry opportunities. Build local traction through direct sales, partnerships, customer relationships and ecosystem development. Translate market feedback into clear GTM, Product, Partnership and CSM inputs. Drive revenue and customer growth Own regional revenue outcomes across new business, expansion and strategic customer opportunities. Work closely with the AE, CSM and Partner Manager to drive pipeline, conversion, adoption and retention. Prioritise high-potential opportunities and ensure the team is focused on the right customer segments. Support customer conversations, demos, commercial negotiations and executive engagement where needed. Build the local partner and ecosystem motion Develop relationships with agencies, technology partners, WhatsApp / Meta ecosystem players, digital transformation partners and local business communities. Identify partnership opportunities that can generate higher-value customer opportunities. Work with internal teams to strengthen partner enablement, co-selling and co-marketing motions. Help determine where partnerships can drive meaningful revenue versus where direct GTM is more effective. Localise Wati’s market approach Bring strong understanding of Middle East customer expectations, buying behaviour, language needs and local business norms. Help shape how Wati positions WhatsApp automation, AI agents, customer engagement and conversational commerce in the region. Identify where Arabic-language capability, local presence or market-specific enablement is needed. Partner with Product / PMM / CSM to improve local customer education, onboarding and adoption. Lead cross-functional execution Coordinate closely with Sales, CSM, Partnerships, SE, AM, Implementation, Product, PMM and RevOps. Ensure clear ownership across the regional pod and shared resources. Build a strong operating cadence around pipeline, customer feedback, onboarding, adoption, revenue risks and market learnings. Bring structured feedback to leadership on what is working, what is blocked and what needs to change. Core Requirements 8+ years of experience in commercial leadership, GTM, sales, partnerships, country management, regional management or business development. Strong experience in the Middle East market, ideally across UAE, KSA and broader GCC. Experience selling or scaling SaaS, MarTech, CPaaS, customer engagement, conversational commerce, AI, automation, CRM, support tech or adjacent B2B technology products. Proven ability to build revenue in a new or developing market. Strong customer-facing capability, including executive conversations, demos, negotiations and relationship building. Experience working with partners, agencies, channel ecosystems or local market networks. Strong operating discipline across pipeline, forecasting, prioritisation, follow-up and cross-functional execution. Comfortable working in a fast-moving, ambiguous environment with high ownership. Strong Plus Arabic language capability or experience managing Arabic-speaking markets. Experience with WhatsApp Business API, Meta ecosystem, messaging platforms, CPaaS, customer engagement platforms or AI agents. Experience building a market from 0 to 1 or leading early regional expansion. Experience with SMB / mid-market SaaS motions, including sales-assisted, partner-led and self-serve motions. Experience working in a lean regional pod model with shared central resources. Existing network across Middle East SaaS, agencies, digital transformation, Meta / WhatsApp ecosystem, e-commerce or customer engagement communities. What Success Looks Like In the first 3–6 months, success would look like: Clear Middle East GTM plan across priority countries, ICPs, verticals and channels. Strong pipeline generation and improved prioritisation of high-value opportunities. Local partner / ecosystem map with clear near-term opportunities. Stronger customer feedback loop into Product, PMM, CSM and RevOps. Better regional operating cadence across AE, CSM, Partner Manager and shared support resources. Clear recommendations on what Wati needs to scale in the Middle East, including local capability, Arabic support, onboarding, enablement, partnerships and product gaps. Why Join Wati? Build a Strategic Growth Market Lead Wati’s Middle East expansion at a pivotal stage as the region becomes increasingly important for WhatsApp-led customer engagement, AI automation and conversational commerce. High Ownership and Visibility Work closely with leadership and cross-functional teams to shape the regional GTM model from the ground up. AI-Native Product at Scale Help businesses adopt AI-powered customer engagement, AI agents and automation across sales, support and customer engagement workflows. Global Company, Startup Agility Operate with the speed and ownership of a startup while joining a company with global traction, strong investors and over 16,000 customers worldwide. Competitive Compensation and Equity We offer competitive compensation and meaningful equity upside. #J-18808-Ljbffr