Group Head of People
Group Head of People (HR Strategy/ Talent Acquisition/ Organisational Development) – Dubai, UAE Nature & Scope: This opportunity sits within a leading global provider of trade-technology solutions that supports governments in modernising and digitising their trade, Customs, and logistics ecosystems. The organisation delivers large-scale digital transformation programmes across Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, helping public-sector institutions enhance efficiency, transparency, and revenue collection. The Corporate Head of People leads the global People & Culture function of our client, ensuring the alignment of human capital strategies with the Group’s vision, values, and business objectives. This role oversees the HR structures and processes of the entities worldwide, guaranteeing consistency, compliance, workforce excellence, leadership development, and a unified organizational culture across the Group. Responsibilities: Global HR Leadership & Strategy - Develop and implement a global People strategy aligned with our client’s long-term business goals. - Ensure harmonized HR policies and procedures across different entities, while adapting to local labour laws and cultural contexts. - Lead organizational design initiatives to support growth, project delivery, and future capabilities. - Advise the CEO and Group Executives on strategic HR matters. Talent Acquisition & Workforce Planning - Design and implement structured, repeatable recruitment processes suited to a maturing organization. - Professionalize and standardize hiring practices, including interview frameworks, candidate assessment criteria, and onboarding procedures. - Oversee global recruitment strategies and ensure high-quality hiring processes for technical, managerial, and executive roles. - Identify inefficiencies in current hiring workflows and implement improvements to reduce time-to-hire while maintaining quality. - Define a recruitment strategy to attract and secure top talent from competitors and market leaders. - Promote global mobility programs to leverage internal talent. Performance Management & Organizational Development - Implement a consistent, transparent, and merit-based performance management framework across all entities. - Introduce programs for leadership development, skills upgrading, and continuous learning. - Drive initiatives aimed at employee engagement, employer branding, and retention of high performers. Compensation, Benefits & Compliance - Oversee the design and governance of global compensation frameworks to ensure competitiveness and fairness. - Model total employment costs (salary, taxes, social contributions, mandatory benefits) across different jurisdictions. - Conduct compensation benchmarking against competitors and industry standards in existing and prospective markets. - Develop cost-to-company analyses for new market expansion, including local labour laws, employer obligations, and statutory costs. - Guarantee compliance with labour regulations in each jurisdiction, in collaboration with local HR leads. - Establish mechanisms for monitoring payroll, benefits, and employee records across the Group. - Define Compensation & Benefits for new countries. - Partner with Finance on headcount cost forecasting for business planning. Culture, Values & Change Management - Promote the business’s values and culture consistently across all global teams. - Foster an inclusive, collaborative, and respectful workplace environment. HR Operations & Governance - Oversee HR systems, data analytics, reporting, and technology used across the Group. - Build KPIs and dashboards for Group Executives reporting. - Strengthen HR governance, ensuring consistent HR service delivery worldwide. Team Leadership - Lead and coordinate the global network of HR Managers and People Partners across the different entities. - Build a strong global HR community through ca