Rafay Qureshi
Marketing & Growth Leader | Ex-IHG, THOE, Damac, Rain, Seera & Alibaba Group | Driving Digital Transformation Across Fintech, Real Estate, Hospitality Travel-tech & E-Commerce
- Role
- Director Marketing & Growth at baraka (YC S21)
About Rafay Qureshi
Growth and marketing leader with 14+ years of experience scaling digital ecosystems across FinTech, real estate, travel-tech, hospitality, and e-commerce across the GCC, South Asia, and beyond.Currently Director of Marketing & Growth at baraka (YC S21), where I lead the full user journey from acquisition through lifecycle, working at the intersection of marketing, product, data, and compliance to build a trusted investing platform for the GCC.Previously held senior growth and marketing leadership roles at IHG, DAMAC Properties, Heart of Europe, Rain (MENA's leading crypto exchange), Almosafer/Seera Group, and Alibaba Group, driving digital strategy, performance marketing, SEO, CRM, and brand at scale.My work spans building growth systems, not just campaigns from martech infrastructure and funnel architecture to content, partnerships, and product-led growth. I'm passionate about using data, AI, and creative strategy to drive compounding, sustainable growth.Open to connecting with fellow growth leaders, founders, and teams building ambitious things in FinTech, PropTech, and beyond.
Experience
Director Marketing & Growth
baraka (YC S21)
Mar 2025 — Present · Dubai, United Arab Emirates
At baraka, I lead growth across the full user journey, sitting at the intersection of marketing, product, data, and compliance to scale a trusted investing platform in the GCC. My work covers acquisition, lifecycle marketing, content and SEO, partnerships, and product-led growth. The focus is always on building sustainable, compliant growth systems rather than one-off campaigns. I work closely with cross-functional teams to make sure strategy connects to execution and that growth efforts translate into genuine long-term user value.
Digital Marketing Director
voco Dubai Monaco - The Heart of Europe
Apr 2024 — Feb 2025 · The World Islands, Dubai
Led the digital marketing and growth strategy for voco Monaco Dubai, a luxury lifestyle and entertainment-led hotel positioned as a 24/7 party destination on Dubai’s World Islands. Managed performance marketing, SEO, social media, CRM, website optimization, content strategy, influencer campaigns, and digital analytics to drive brand awareness, direct bookings, event leads, F&B demand, and staycation revenue. Worked closely with revenue, sales, events, F&B, creative, and hotel leadership teams to build high-impact campaigns across rooms, beach club experiences, nightlife, private events, and seasonal packages, while optimizing acquisition cost, conversion rates, and digital ROI.
Destination Marketing Director
The Heart of Europe
Apr 2024 — Feb 2025 · Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Led destination marketing for The Heart of Europe (THOE), a large-scale luxury real estate and hospitality development on The World Islands, Dubai, serving as Marketing Director across both the real estate and hospitality verticals. Owned the full marketing function, covering brand strategy, digital acquisition, performance marketing, CRM, content, and multi-market campaigns targeting investors and high-net-worth travellers globally. Worked directly with executive leadership to align marketing strategy with sales and development priorities across residential, hotel, and lifestyle offerings. Responsible for positioning THOE as a premier luxury destination through integrated, multi-channel campaigns spanning Europe, the GCC, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
Director Digital Growth
DAMAC Properties
Oct 2022 — Mar 2024 · Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Led digital marketing and growth strategy across DAMAC Group's flagship real estate portfolio, managing a multi-disciplinary team covering performance marketing, SEO, CRM, and martech. Also overseeing digital strategy for associated group brands including luxury, lifestyle, and DAMAC's technology and data infrastructure arm (formerly Edgnex / DAMAC Digital). Owned end-to-end digital ecosystem performance, from acquisition and funnel architecture to martech stack management, analytics, and conversion optimization, aligning digital investments directly with sales velocity and inventory priorities across residential, luxury, and mixed-use developments. Drove qualified demand and brand-scale visibility across international markets, managing campaigns at scale while building the internal infrastructure needed to support DAMAC's continued global growth.
Global Head of Growth
Rain
Sep 2021 — Oct 2022 · Dubai, United Arab Emirates
As Global Head of Growth at Rain, MENA's leading regulated crypto exchange, I led growth strategy across paid and organic channels, launching the platform into multiple new markets while driving significant improvements in acquisition efficiency. Built and scaled blended growth operations spanning performance marketing, SEO, content, and community, reducing blended customer acquisition cost (CAC) by 35% through a combination of channel mix optimization, creative testing, and lifecycle improvements. Owned full-funnel growth from awareness through conversion, working cross-functionally with product, compliance, and brand teams to launch in new geographies and build scalable, compliant growth systems across the GCC and beyond.
Head of Growth
Almosafer Company
Jun 2017 — Sep 2021 · United Arab Emirates
As Head of Growth at Almosafer (part of Seera Group, formerly Al Tayyar), I led digital growth across both the flights and hotels verticals for one of the GCC's leading travel platforms. Built and scaled a programmatic SEO platform from the ground up, growing the site's indexed content from 10 pages to over 2 million, dramatically expanding organic visibility across destination, route, and property-level search queries across the region. Owned the end-to-end booking funnel for both flight and hotel products, driving a 24% overall improvement in conversion rates through continuous funnel analysis, UX collaboration, A/B testing, and lifecycle optimization. Worked cross-functionally with product, engineering, and commercial teams to align growth initiatives with inventory strategy and revenue goals across the GCC and international travel markets.
Head of Growth
Seera Group
Jun 2017 — Sep 2021 · United Arab Emirates
Mentor
The Nest I/O
Jul 2016 — Sep 2021
Head of Search & User Experience - Daraz
Alibaba Group
May 2016 — May 2017 · Pakistan
Director Search Marketing & Analytics
The Brand Crew
Aug 2015 — May 2016 · Karachi, Pakistan
Search Marketing Consultant
TELEVISION MEDIA NETWORK
Jun 2015 — Aug 2016 · Karachi, Pakistan
Search Marketing Consultant
The Express Tribune
Jun 2015 — Aug 2016 · Karachi, Pakistan
Associate Manager - Digital Marketing
TradeKey
Mar 2015 — Aug 2015 · Karachi, Pakistan | Riyadh, Saudia Arabia
Founder
Dastkari.Pk
Jul 2014 — Dec 2016 · Karachi, Pakistan
Assistant Manager - Digital Marketing
TradeKey
Jan 2014 — Mar 2015 · Karachi, Pakistan | Riyadh, Saudia Arabia
Working as Assistant Manager Digital Marketing at Tradekey.com World's 2nd Largest Business 2 Business Marketplace for Buyers and Suppliers Worldwide.
Senior Executive Digital Marketing
TradeKey
Dec 2012 — Dec 2013 · Karachi, Pakistan & Riyadh, Saudia Arabia
Working at Tradekey as Senior Executive For Digital Marketing Department.
Senior Search Marketing Executive & Team Lead
Salsoft
Jan 2012 — Dec 2012 · Karachi, Pakistan
Worked as Sr Search Marketing Executive at Salsoft Technologies Where I was Leading SEO Team is a part of my Job beside that creating and implementing SEO Strategies with latest White Hat SEO Practices to keep the websites on the top of Search Engine Result Page!
Digital Marketing Executive
Kalsoft
Jul 2011 — Dec 2011
Education
Gulistan-e-Johar Government Degree College
I.Commerce · Commerce
2007 — 2009
Brookwood High School
Karachi University
Bachelor of Business Administration - BBA · Commerce
2010 — 2014
Skills
- Project Management
- CTR
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
- Collaborative Leadership
- SEM
- Traffic Generation
- E-Commerce
- Ahrefs
- Marketing Campaign Design
- Online Reputation Management
- Analytics
- Sales Presentations
- Retention Strategies
- Advertising Campaigns
- Management
- Analytical Skills
- Financial Planning
- Lead Generation
- Resource Allocation
- SMO
- CRM Software
- Digital Marketing
- Online Advertising
- Social Media Marketing
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Digital Project Management
- Keyword Analysis
- Trend Analysis
- Data Analytics
- Contextual Advertising
- Online Marketing
- Below the Line Advertising
- B2B Marketing
- Team Management
- Marketing Budget Management
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Web Marketing Strategy
- Link Building
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