Head of HR Operations – Automotive

Restore Talent; Dubai; On-site; AED 600,000 - 1,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Restore Talent is representing a leading UAE automotive organisation seeking a Head of HR Operations – Automotive to lead the people agenda across a large, operationally complex business.

The role sits close to commercial priorities, partnering with the Automotive CEO and senior leadership to deliver HR business partnering, employee relations, talent acquisition, HR operations, workforce planning and organisation change, translating commercial priorities into practical workforce actions.

Qualifications

• Significant senior HR leadership experience within the automotive industry.
• Experience partnering directly with CEOs, General Managers and senior operational leaders.
• Hands-on experience managing complex employee relations matters.
• Experience leading HR business partnering and HR operations across a sizeable, multi-site workforce.
• Strong UAE/GCC experience and knowledge of local labour regulations.

Responsibilities

• Act as senior day-to-day HR partner to the Automotive CEO and leadership team.
• Lead HR business partnering, employee relations, TA, HR operations, workforce planning and organisation change.
• Manage complex disciplinary, grievance, performance, investigations, redundancy and termination matters.
• Drive restructuring and organisation change with a commercial focus and governance.
• Ensure HR policies are applied consistently and align with operational requirements.

Skills

Senior HR leadership

Executive stakeholder management

HR transformation

Employee relations

Talent acquisition

Job description

Our client, a leading and well-established organisation in the UAE automotive sector, is seeking an accomplished Head of HR Operations – Automotive to lead the people agenda across a large and operationally complex automotive business.

This is a senior, highly visible HR leadership position requiring an individual who combines strong commercial judgement with hands‑on HR leadership.

Working closely with the Automotive CEO and senior leadership team, the successful candidate will lead the delivery of HR business partnering, employee relations, talent acquisition, HR operations, workforce planning and organisation change across the automotive business.

This is not a purely strategic or corporate HR position. The successful candidate must be comfortable operating close to the business, managing complex and sensitive people matters, challenging senior stakeholders constructively and translating commercial priorities into practical workforce actions.

Automotive HR Leadership

• Act as the senior day-to-day HR partner to the Automotive CEO and leadership team.
• Develop a strong understanding of commercial, retail, aftersales and operational priorities across the automotive business.
• Translate business priorities into practical workforce, organisation and people initiatives.
• Identify emerging organisational and people risks and address them proactively.
• Provide commercially credible advice and constructive challenge to senior leaders.
• Build strong relationships across operational and corporate leadership teams.

HR Business Partnering

• Lead the HR business partnering model across the automotive organisation.
• Establish clear standards for commercially focused and responsive HR support.
• Drive leadership ownership of organisation structure, headcount, performance and people decisions.
• Ensure Group HR policies and standards are applied consistently while remaining relevant to operational requirements.
• Connect business leaders with specialist HR expertise where required.

Employee Relations

• Lead the delivery of employee relations across the automotive business.
• Manage complex disciplinary, grievance, performance, investigation, redundancy and termination matters.
• Ensure employee relations decisions are commercially pragmatic, fair, consistent, appropriately documented and legally compliant.
• Provide guidance on sensitive or high‑risk employee matters.
• Strengthen ER capability within the HR team to enable effective resolution at the appropriate level.

Talent Acquisition

• Lead talent acquisition delivery across the automotive business within approved workforce plans.
• Strengthen sourcing capability for critical automotive, retail, technical and leadership positions.
• Improve recruitment quality, speed, candidate experience and commercial effectiveness.
• Maintain clear visibility of recruitment pipelines, vacancy ageing, hiring activity and associated costs.
• Support succession planning and build‑versus‑buy talent decisions for critical positions.

HR Operations

• Lead effective employee lifecycle delivery, including onboarding, employment documentation, employee changes, transfers and offboarding.
• Establish clear HR service standards and escalation routes.
• Improve HR data quality, reporting, systems utilisation and employee/manager self‑service.
• Ensure HR operational processes support the pace of the business without compromising governance or control.

Organisation Change & Workforce Planning

• Partner with senior leadership on organisation reviews, workforce planning and right‑sizing initiatives.
• Translate approved organisation decisions into disciplined implementation plans.
• Lead restructuring and redundancy programmes professionally and consistently.
• Identify organisational duplication, inefficient structures and opportunities for simplification.
• Balance commercial requirements with employee fairness, legal compliance and reputational considerations.

Performance, Succession & Capability

• Ensure performance management frameworks are effectively embedded within the automotive business.
• Drive appropriate management action where performance issues are identified.
• Provide business insight to ensure talent and capability initiatives reflect operational requirements.
• Support succession planning and critical‑role reviews with senior leadership.
• Strengthen capability and accountability within the automotive-facing HR team.

Payroll, Government Relations & Operational Coordination

• Ensure accurate and timely HR inputs into payroll and support the resolution of payroll exceptions.
• Work closely with relevant Government Relations and PRO teams on visa, labour and immigration requirements.
• Coordinate urgent HR operational priorities where required.
• Ensure critical HR, employee relations, recruitment and operational matters have clear ownership and progress.

Requirements

• Significant senior HR leadership experience within the automotive industry.
• Experience gained within an automotive dealership, distributor, importer, retail automotive or closely comparable environment.
• Strong UAE and/or GCC experience.
• Proven credibility partnering directly with CEOs, General Managers and senior operational leaders.
• Significant hands‑on experience managing complex employee relations matters.
• Strong experience of restructuring, organisation change and workforce transformation.
• Experience leading HR Business Partnering and HR Operations across a sizeable, multi‑site workforce.
• Strong understanding of talent acquisition within operational and specialist automotive environments.
• Demonstrated ability to operate effectively in a changing or developing HR environment.
• Multi‑brand automotive experience.
• Experience within a family‑owned or diversified business group.
• Exposure to large retail, aftersales, technical and operational employee populations.
• Experience strengthening or transforming HR capability rather than simply operating within an already mature HR infrastructure.