Manager – Sales and Enrollment Center – GEMS Education

Behind every GEMS school’s enrolment numbers is a sales and enrolment function responsible for actually converting parent interest into enrolled students, and this Manager role leads that effort for a specific community, reporting into the SVP of Enrolments. It’s a commercially minded role sitting inside an education business.

The job centres on building and managing the enrolment pipeline: generating new business interest in the community, working closely with in-house teams and other GEMS entities to keep service standards and brand awareness high, and ultimately converting that pipeline into confirmed enrolments at a GEMS school. That requires both a sales mindset — tracking conversion, following up persistently, closing on timelines that matter to parents — and the sensitivity to handle what is, for most families, a significant and emotional decision about their child’s education.

It suits someone with a genuine sales or business development background who can also operate with the warmth and credibility a parent expects when discussing their child’s school choice. Experience in education sales, real estate, membership sales, or another consultative, relationship-driven sales environment translates well.

Based in Dubai, the role is part of GEMS Education’s wider enrolment function, giving a manager exposure to how one of the region’s largest education groups builds and protects its pipeline across multiple schools and communities.

Enrolment numbers are one of the most direct drivers of revenue for any school, and this role is where that pipeline actually gets managed and converted rather than left to chance. A manager who runs this function well doesn't just hit a target — they shape how many families choose a GEMS school over a competitor, which has a compounding effect over years given how long families typically stay enrolled once they commit. Beyond the immediate commercial impact, how this role handles each family's enquiry also shapes the community's perception of the brand; a poor enrolment experience can put off not just that family but others in their network, while a well-handled one builds exactly the kind of word-of-mouth reputation that reduces future acquisition cost. Working closely with other GEMS entities to keep service and brand standards consistent also protects the wider Group's reputation, since inconsistent experiences across communities would undercut trust in the GEMS name more broadly. This is, in effect, the commercial engine room of a school's growth.

This role offers a genuinely unusual combination for a sales career: real commercial accountability for a pipeline and conversion target, inside an industry — education — where trust, empathy, and long-term relationship-building matter as much as closing skills. Anyone who builds that balance well develops a consultative sales style that's highly valued across high-value, high-trust sales environments, from private education to premium real estate to membership-based services. Managing enrolment for a specific community also builds strong stakeholder-management experience, coordinating with in-house school teams and other GEMS entities to deliver one consistent experience, which is excellent preparation for a broader business development or marketing leadership role later on. Being part of GEMS Education's wider enrolment function also exposes a manager to how enrolment strategy works at scale across many schools, giving a view of the business that a single-site sales role elsewhere wouldn't offer. For someone aiming at a Head of Enrolment, Business Development Director, or senior sales leadership role, particularly within education or another relationship-driven sector, this role is a strong, resume-grade proof point of both sales performance and the softer skills that high-trust selling actually requires. It also builds genuine resilience, since enrolment targets don't move just because a conversation is emotionally complicated, and learning to hold both at once is a rare and valuable skill.

• Proven experience in sales, business development, or enrolment management, ideally in a consultative environment
• Strong pipeline management skills, from lead generation through to closing
• Excellent interpersonal skills, able to build trust quickly with parents making a significant decision
• Comfortable collaborating across in-house teams and other GEMS entities to maintain service standards
• Target-driven mindset balanced with genuine care for the family’s decision-making process
• Strong verbal and written communication in English; Arabic is an advantage
• Organised, CRM-literate approach to tracking enrolment pipeline activity