About the Role
We are looking for an experienced and commercially minded People & Culture Manager to lead the people function within a growing professional services business.
This is a broad HR role, combining day-to-day people management with longer-term people strategy. You will work closely with senior leadership and managers across the business to build a high-performing, engaged and positive workplace culture, while ensuring robust HR processes and practices are in place.
The successful candidate will be comfortable operating in a fast-paced, professional environment and will have the ability to balance employee experience with the commercial needs of the business.
Key Responsibilities
People Strategy & Culture
- Develop and implement the people strategy in alignment with the company's overall business objectives.
- Partner with senior leadership to identify and address key people priorities.
- Drive initiatives that strengthen employee engagement, retention and company culture.
- Support the development of a high-performance and collaborative working environment.
- Act as a trusted advisor to managers and employees on people-related matters.
Talent & Recruitment
- Partner with hiring managers on recruitment and workforce planning requirements.
- Oversee the full employee lifecycle, from attraction and onboarding through to development and exit.
- Develop effective onboarding processes to ensure new employees integrate successfully.
- Support succession planning and the identification of high-potential talent.
- Work with leadership to identify future skills and workforce requirements.
Performance & Development
- Own and continuously improve the company's performance management process.
- Support managers with goal setting, performance reviews and addressing performance issues.
- Identify learning and development requirements across the organisation.
- Develop and implement appropriate training and development initiatives.
- Support career development and internal progression.
Employee Relations
- Provide guidance to managers and employees on HR policies, employee relations and workplace matters.
- Manage employee relations issues fairly, consistently and in line with UAE employment legislation.
- Support disciplinary, grievance and performance processes where required.
- Promote a positive, inclusive and respectful workplace environment.
HR Operations & Compliance
- Ensure HR policies, procedures and processes are effective, consistent and compliant with UAE labour regulations.
- Maintain accurate employee records and HR documentation.
- Oversee HR administration, including contracts, onboarding, probation, leave, benefits and offboarding.
- Work closely with payroll and finance to ensure accurate and timely employee payments and benefits.
- Monitor HR metrics and provide regular reporting and insights to senior leadership.
Employee Engagement & Wellbeing
- Develop initiatives to improve employee engagement, wellbeing and retention.
- Gather employee feedback and translate insights into practical initiatives.
- Organise employee engagement activities and internal communications.
- Help foster a culture where employees feel valued, supported and motivated.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, Psychology or a related discipline.
- Progressive HR experience, ideally within professional services, consulting, financial services, legal, accounting or another corporate environment.
- Previous experience in a standalone or broad HR/People & Culture role.
- Strong knowledge of UAE employment legislation and HR best practices.
- Experience partnering with senior stakeholders and advising managers on people matters.
- Strong employee relations and performance management experience.
- Experience developing and implementing HR policies, processes and people initiatives.
- Strong communication, interpersonal and stakeholder management skills.
- Commercially minded with the ability to understand and support business objectives.
- Highly organised, proactive and comfortable managing multiple priorities.
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to use HR data to identify trends and inform decisions.
