Head of HR Strategy & Planning

ADIB - Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 900,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

ADIB - Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank in Abu Dhabi is seeking a Head of HR Strategy & Planning to shape and execute the enterprise people strategy, aligning with business priorities and growth ambitions. You will advise the GCHRO on workforce planning, talent, organizational capability, and performance priorities, leading HR governance and transformation initiatives.

You will drive leadership development, succession readiness, and high-performance culture, overseeing enterprise learning, performance

Qualifications

• Experience in enterprise HR strategy and workforce planning.
• Knowledge of UAE labor law and Emiratization context.
• Proven senior stakeholder leadership and change programs.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for enterprise talent acquisition and onboarding aligned with business priorities.
• Oversee end-to-end recruitment governance, ensuring compliance and service excellence.
• Strengthen employer brand and sourcing strategies to attract high-caliber talent.
• Lead HR analytics and market insights to improve hiring quality and efficiency.
• Promote fair, merit-based hiring while advancing Emiratization objectives.
• Define and lead the learning strategy to develop critical capabilities and leadership.

Skills

HR strategy

Workforce planning

HR analytics

Executive dashboards

Stakeholder management

Emiratization knowledge

Job description

Role : Head of HR Strategy & Planning

Location : Abu Dhabi

Role Purpose:

Provide executive leadership in shaping and executing ADIB’s enterprise people strategy, ensuring alignment with business priorities, growth ambitions, and future workforce requirements. Serve as a strategic adviser to the GCHRO on workforce planning, talent, organizational capability, and performance priorities, while leading the integration of Talent Acquisition, Workforce Planning & HR Governance, Learning, and Talent Development & Performance Management.

Drive workforce and talent initiatives that strengthen leadership pipelines, succession readiness, critical capabilities, and a high-performance culture. Lead strategic workforce planning, people analytics, Emiratization, and HR transformation initiatives while ensuring strong governance, regulatory compliance, and measurable business outcomes that support ADIB’s long‑term growth and organizational success.

Key Accountabilities of the role

• Provide strategic leadership for talent acquisition and onboarding, ensuring ADIB attracts, selects, and integrates high‑caliber talent aligned with current and future workforce requirements.
• Oversee the end‑to‑end recruitment lifecycle, ensuring robust governance, compliance, service excellence, and alignment with workforce plans, succession needs, and business priorities.
• Strengthen ADIB’s employer brand and optimize talent sourcing strategies, recruitment partnerships, and vendor performance to enhance the attraction and acquisition of high‑caliber talent.
• Leverage recruitment analytics and market intelligence to improve hiring quality, operational efficiency, candidate experience, and overall recruitment effectiveness.
• Promote fair, inclusive, and merit‑based hiring practices while advancing Emiratization objectives and ensuring compliance with regulatory and organizational requirements.
• Define and lead ADIB’s enterprise learning strategy to develop critical capabilities, support future workforce requirements, and enhance organizational performance.
• Oversee learning needs analysis, learning plans, academies, digital learning, leadership development programs, and targeted upskilling initiatives to drive continuous capability enhancement.
• Ensure effective governance of learning operations, including the Learning Management System, training administration, compliance training, and service delivery standards.
• Manage learning budgets, vendor relationships, and program effectiveness, ensuring optimal return on investment and alignment with business priorities.
• Foster a culture of continuous learning and professional development while supporting Emiratization and leadership capability‑building initiatives.
• Lead the talent development and performance management agenda to strengthen succession readiness, leadership capability, critical talent pipelines, and organizational effectiveness.
• Oversee talent reviews, succession planning, high‑potential development, leadership assessments, coaching, mentoring, and competency management frameworks.
• Direct the enterprise performance management cycle, including goal setting, mid‑year reviews, year‑end reviews, calibration, performance improvement, governance, and reporting.
• Ensure alignment between business objectives and performance outcomes through consistent, fair, and effective performance management practices across the organization.
• Utilize talent and performance insights to identify capability gaps, succession risks, leadership priorities, and targeted development interventions that support long‑term business success.
• Establish governance frameworks, strategic scorecards, KPIs, budgets, and operating mechanisms to monitor performance, manage risks, and drive accountability across all functions within scope.
• Ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, internal policies, audit requirements, and risk management standards while maintaining effective governance and control environments.
• Build and maintain strong partnerships with senior leadership, business stakeholders, regulators, and external partners to support strategic workforce and talent decisions.
• Lead, coach, and hold accountable the functional heads, fostering collaboration, strategic alignment, operational excellence, and a culture of high performance and ownership.
• Drive enterprise‑wide people transformation and strategic workforce initiatives that enhance organizational effectiveness, strengthen leadership capability, and deliver sustainable business value.

Specialist Skills / Technical Knowledge Required for this role

• Enterprise HR strategy development and strategic workforce planning.
• Broad expertise across talent acquisition and onboarding; workforce and headcount planning; HR data management and governance; learning; talent and succession development; leadership development; and enterprise performance management.
• Workforce costing, manpower budgeting, headcount governance, scenario planning, and business case development.
• HR analytics, data interpretation, executive dashboards, KPI design, and evidence‑based decision‑making.
• Knowledge of HR technology, Human Resources Management Systems, Learning Management Systems, data models, and digital HR solutions.
• Knowledge of UAE employment and Emiratization context, banking‑sector regulatory expectations, and HR governance requirements.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen with the ability to connect people decisions to business outcomes.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, executive presentation, influencing, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills. Proven ability to lead large, multidisciplinary teams and complex enterprise‑wide transformation or changeprograms.