Head of People & Culture – UAE National

About the role

Lead the creation of a flagship People & Culture function for a high‑profile, AI‑enabled HR institution in the UAE. Shape the future workforce by designing strategy, processes and culture from the ground up.

Key responsibilities

• Design and establish the People & Culture function, including people strategy, EVP and talent framework.
• Create workforce planning, organisational design and job architecture frameworks.
• Build scalable onboarding, performance management and employee experience initiatives.
• Lead Emiratisation strategy and develop pathways for UAE National talent.
• Design reward, recognition and career development frameworks.
• Partner with senior leadership on organisational growth, transformation and culture.
• Develop policies, governance structures and employee‑relations frameworks.
• Manage external recruitment and HR service providers during the establishment phase.
• Drive adoption of automation, AI and digital solutions across people processes.

Required profile

• UAE National with strong stakeholder management and influencing capability.
• Proven HR experience across organisational development and core HR disciplines.
• Demonstrated experience building or transforming HR functions in start‑up, scale‑up or greenfield environments.
• Strong capability in organisational design, workforce planning and employee engagement.
• Commercially minded with negotiation and conflict‑resolution skills.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity and building processes from scratch.

Required skills

• Experience leveraging AI in HR.
• Experience with automation tools for people processes.
• Experience using analytics to drive HR decisions.

What we offer

• Package of up to 45,000 AED plus benefits.
• Opportunity to join at the foundation stage of a high‑visibility organisation.
• Exposure to senior leadership and a nationally significant talent development initiative.