HR Lead

Ultiwiseconsult; Dubai; On-site; AED 400,000 - 720,000; Full time

Job summary

Ultiwiseconsult is seeking a Group Human Resources Manager to lead a comprehensive HR function across the group’s diversified businesses in the GCC, UK and Europe. The role balances policy setting with hands-on site leadership in demanding environments, ensuring workforce welfare, compliance and strategic people management across multiple jurisdictions.

The successful candidate will own staffing strategy, payroll governance, and regulatory compliance, while driving a coherent people architecture

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources or related field.
• ,

Responsibilities

• Own full HR function across multiple entities and jurisdictions.
• Lead Emiratisation and MOHRE compliance efforts across GCC.
• Oversee labour accommodation and welfare standards for blue-collar workers.
• Manage HR policy development and governance for a diversified group.

Skills

HR strategy

Emiratisation

UK/EU employment law

HRIS implementation

multijurisdiction coordination

people leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR/Business Admin/Law/Psychology

Tools

HRIS systems

Payroll systems

Job description

2. ROLE PURPOSE

The Group Human Resources Manager owns and runs the human resources function for the entire Group — a diversified investment holding structure operating across real estate, construction, engineering, FMCG and consumer electronics distribution, manufacturing and retail, in the GCC, the United Kingdom and Europe.

The role exists to build one coherent people architecture across businesses that differ enormously in workforce profile: a white-collar professional cadre in real estate and engineering; a large blue-collar and site-based workforce in construction and factories; a high-turnover, commission-driven population in retail and distribution; and a regulated, works-council-facing employee base in the UK and Europe.

The holder is expected to move fluently between setting Group HR policy and standing on a site in 45-degree heat verifying that accommodation, wages and welfare are in order. This is a hands-on leadership role, not a purely strategic one.

3. SCOPE AND OPERATING CONTEXT

• Full functional ownership of HR across all operating entities, free zone and mainland licenses, joint ventures and overseas subsidiaries.
• Accountability for the Group's total headcount across executive, professional, technical, skilled trade, semi-skilled and unskilled categories.
• Custodian of the Group manpower budget, payroll cost, and all people-related statutory and contractual liabilities including end-of-service benefits and pension obligations.
• Single point of accountability to the Board for people risk — labor law breaches, nationalization quota shortfalls, wage protection failures, workforce welfare incidents and reputational exposure in the supply chain.
• Principal interface with MOHRE, GDRFA, free zone authorities, MOHRE-equivalent bodies across the GCC, and with UK and EU regulators, external counsel and works councils.

4. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

4.1 HR Strategy, Structure and Governance

• Translate the Group's business strategy and diversification plans into a multi-year people strategy covering workforce shape, capability, cost and succession.
• Design and maintain the Group organization structure — entity by entity — including grading architecture, job families, spans of control and delegation of authority for people decisions.
• Draft, obtain approval for and maintain the Group HR Policy Manual and employee handbooks, localized for each jurisdiction while preserving a common Group standard.
• Establish HR governance: a Group HR calendar, delegation matrices, approval thresholds for hiring and salary decisions, and a consistent set of controls applied equally to family, expatriate and national employees.
• Advise the Board and business unit heads on the people implications of acquisitions, disposals, new market entries, factory commissioning and store openings, including due diligence and post-merger integration of HR.
• Lead the selection, implementation and ongoing administration of a Group-wide HRIS capable of multi-country, multi-currency, multi-language operation.

4.2 Talent Acquisition and Workforce Planning

• Build a consolidated Group manpower plan reconciled to the annual budget, project pipeline, seasonal retail peaks and factory production schedules.
• Own end-to-end recruitment for senior and critical roles across all sectors and geographies; hold recruitment agencies, overseas manpower suppliers and executive search firms to Group service and ethical-recruitment standards.
• Manage large-scale blue-collar mobilization and demobilization for construction projects and factory ramp-ups — source country selection, licensed supplier vetting, contract transparency, medical screening, visa processing and arrival induction.
• Enforce a strict no-recruitment-fee policy for migrant workers and audit the supply chain for compliance, protecting the Group against forced-labor and modern-slavery exposure in its UK and European trading relationships.
• Develop employer branding and a national-talent attraction proposition capable of competing for Emirati and other GCC national candidates against government and banking employers.

4.3 GCC Nationalisation and Labour Compliance

• Own the Group's Emiratization position under the MOHRE framework: maintain the required percentage of UAE nationals in skilled roles for entities with fifty or more skilled employees, meet the separate obligation applying to smaller entities in designated sectors, and ensure every counted hire is genuinely employed, registered with the pension authority and paid through the Wages Protection System.
• Track the mid-year and year-end MOHRE compliance checkpoints and ensure the Group is never exposed to per-hire monthly contributions, work permit suspensions or establishment classification downgrades.
• Register and manage Group entities and candidates on NAFIS, and use available subsidy, training and salary-support programmes to make national hiring commercially sustainable.
• Manage equivalent nationalisation obligations in other GCC markets — Saudisation and Nitaqat banding via Qiwa and GOSI registration in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Omanisation, Qatarisation, Kuwaitisation and Bahrainisation requirements where the Group operates.
• Guarantee full compliance with UAE Federal Decree-Law on the Regulation of Labour Relations and its executive regulations, including contract types and renewals, working hours, overtime, leave entitlements, probation and notice rules, and end-of-service gratuity calculation.
• Administer the Wages Protection System across all UAE entities with zero late or short filings; maintain equivalent wage protection compliance in other GCC jurisdictions.
• Oversee the Group's transition to and ongoing administration of mandatory alternative end-of-service and savings schemes, unemployment insurance enrolment, and any successor arrangements as they are introduced.
• Manage all visa, work permit, labour card, Emirates ID, medical and immigration processes through the Group PRO function, including establishment card renewals, quota applications and free zone requirements.
• Represent the Group in labour disputes before MOHRE and the labour courts, and in equivalent forums across the GCC, working with external counsel to settle matters efficiently and without precedent-setting exposure.

4.4 United Kingdom and European Employment Compliance

• Hold Group accountability for UK employment law compliance: written statements of particulars, statutory sick and family leave, working time limits, minimum and living wage rates, redundancy consultation, and unfair and constructive dismissal risk management.
• Manage right-to-work verification and sponsor licence obligations, including record keeping, reporting duties and compliance-visit readiness where the Group holds a sponsor licence.
• Assess and manage off-payroll working and contractor status determinations, ensuring the Group's use of consultants and interim staff is correctly characterised and taxed.
• Advise on and execute TUPE processes arising from acquisitions, outsourcing, site transfers and contract changes, including measures letters, information and consultation obligations and employee representative elections.
• Manage relationships with works councils, European employee representative bodies and recognised trade unions where these exist, including collective consultation and collective bargaining.
• Ensure employee data handling across the Group meets UK GDPR and EU GDPR standards, and that transfers of personal data from the UK and EU to the Middle East are supported by a lawful transfer mechanism.
• Track and implement changes flowing from evolving UK and EU employment legislation, including pay transparency and gender pay gap reporting obligations, and corporate sustainability and supply chain due diligence requirements as they bite on the Group's European operations.

4.5 Blue-Collar Workforce, Welfare and Accommodation

• Own the welfare standard for the Group's site-based and factory workforce and hold operating companies to it without exception.
• Oversee labour accommodation across all locations — occupancy density, sanitation, kitchen and dining facilities, potable water, air conditioning, fire safety, first aid, recreation and internet access — against both statutory minimums and the Group's own higher internal standard.
• Establish a documented inspection regime for camps, messing and transport, with recorded findings, corrective action tracking and escalation to the Board where standards are not met.
• Enforce midday break rules during the summer months, heat stress prevention protocols, and safe worker transport standards including seat belts, capacity limits and driver hours.
• Guarantee that no worker's passport is retained, that wages are paid in full and on time, and that grievance channels are available to workers in their own languages with translation support and camp-based welfare officers.
• Coordinate closely with HSE leadership on incident investigation, workers' compensation, medical repatriation and next-of-kin matters, and manage these events with dignity and speed.
• Manage large-scale demobilisation at project completion — final settlements, gratuity, ticketing, visa cancellation and redeployment across the Group where possible.

4.6 Performance, Reward and Talent Development

• Design and run a Group performance management cycle with objectives cascaded from business unit plans, mid-year reviews, calibration sessions and a clear link to reward and advancement.
• Own the Group compensation and benefits framework: salary structures benchmarked by sector and market, sales incentive and commission plans for distribution and retail, project bonus schemes for construction, and long-term incentives for senior leadership.
• Conduct annual salary review and bonus processes within approved budgets, with defensible internal equity and market positioning across very different labour markets.
• Build succession plans and talent pipelines for the top two to three organisational layers in every business unit, with particular attention to reducing key-person dependency.
• Establish a Group learning agenda covering technical and trade skills, retail and sales capability, supervisory development for site foremen and store managers, leadership development, and mandatory compliance training.
• Develop national talent through structured graduate, internship and accelerated development programmes designed to make nationalisation a genuine capability investment rather than a compliance exercise.

4.7 Employee Relations, Culture and Ethics

• Act as the final internal authority on disciplinary, grievance, harassment and whistleblowing matters, ensuring investigations are prompt, impartial and properly documented.
• Foster a consistent Group culture and set of values across a workforce spanning many nationalities, languages, faiths and educational backgrounds.
• Own the Group's code of conduct, anti-bribery and conflict-of-interest declarations as they apply to employees, and run the associated training and attestation cycles.
• Manage sensitive matters involving family shareholders, senior executives and long-service employees with discretion and sound judgement.
• Design and act on employee engagement measurement, exit interview analysis and retention interventions, particularly in high-turnover retail and distribution populations.

4.8 HR Operations, Payroll and Reporting

• Ensure accurate, on-time payroll for all employees in all jurisdictions and currencies, with correct treatment of overtime, allowances, deductions, statutory contributions and tax where applicable.
• Maintain complete and audit-ready employee records, contracts, visas and licences, and ensure no employee ever works on an expired document.
• Produce a monthly Group people dashboard for the Board covering headcount, cost, attrition, nationalisation position, vacancy pipeline, welfare inspection status and open litigation.
• Control the Group HR budget, including manpower cost, recruitment spend, training investment, visa and government fees, and accommodation and transport cost per worker.
• Support internal and external audit, client and principal audits, and social compliance audits required by international FMCG and consumer electronics brand partners.

5. KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Regulatory compliance

Zero nationalization quota shortfalls, zero wage protection breaches, zero expired work permits, no material adverse labour judgments.

Workforce welfare

100% of accommodation and transport inspections completed on schedule; all findings closed within agreed timeframes; zero substantiated welfare complaints escalated externally.

Talent delivery

Time to fill and cost per hire by category; mobilisation delivered to project schedule; critical vacancies held below agreed threshold.

Retention and engagement

Voluntary attrition by business unit and grade against sector benchmark; first-year attrition; engagement survey participation and score movement.

Cost and productivity

Manpower cost as a percentage of revenue by business unit; HR operating budget variance; revenue and output per employee.

Capability building

Succession cover for critical roles; internal fill rate for senior vacancies; training hours delivered and competency uplift; national talent retained beyond twelve and twenty-four months.

Service and infrastructure

Payroll accuracy and on-time payment rate; HRIS adoption across entities; internal client satisfaction with HR service.

6. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Essential

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Law, Psychology or a related discipline.
• Twelve or more years of progressive HR experience, of which at least five have been at head of function or group manager level with genuine multi-entity accountability.
• Demonstrable experience within a diversified group, conglomerate or family holding company — not solely a single-sector environment.
• Substantial GCC experience with hands‑on ownership of Emiratisation or another nationalisation programme, MOHRE processes, the Wages Protection System, visa and immigration operations and labour dispute resolution.
• Proven experience managing a large blue‑collar workforce, including labour accommodation, mass mobilisation and worker welfare standards.
• Working command of UK employment law and at least one Continental European jurisdiction, including TUPE, consultation obligations and GDPR as it applies to employee data.
• Track record of implementing an HRIS and of building HR policy and process from a low base to an auditable standard.
• Fluent written and spoken English.

Preferred

• Master's degree in Human Resource Management or an MBA.
• Professional certification — CIPD Level 7 or Chartered Fellow, SHRM-SCP, or SPHRi.
• Arabic language capability, written and spoken.
• Exposure to construction and contracting, manufacturing, and FMCG or consumer electronics distribution and retail within the same career.
• Experience of HR due diligence and post‑acquisition integration.
• Familiarity with social compliance and ethical audit frameworks used by international brand principals.

7. COMPETENCIES

Technical

• Multi‑jurisdiction employment law and regulatory compliance.
• Organisation design, job evaluation and grading methodology.
• Compensation benchmarking, incentive design and payroll governance.
• Workforce planning, manpower budgeting and HR analytics.
• HRIS implementation and process automation.

Behavioural

• Commercial judgement — understands that HR exists to make the businesses perform, not to administer procedure.
• Credibility with a Board and with a foreman on site in equal measure.
• Integrity under pressure, including the willingness to raise uncomfortable findings about welfare, pay or conduct.
• Cultural fluency across Arab, South Asian, Filipino, African, British and European workforces.
• Resilience and personal bandwidth to run a function across multiple time zones and legal systems.
• Decisiveness with incomplete information, balanced by sound risk instinct.