Kearney, Staffing Director - FTC role

Kearney Italia, Inc.; Dubai; On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in consulting seeks a Staffing Director for their Dubai office on an 8-month fixed term contract. The role is key to managing staffing cycles for over 700 consultants and involves responsibilities such as resource allocation, team leadership, and driving staffing initiatives to align with business needs. This position requires a strong background in consulting and significant experience in management and analytics.

Benefits

Comprehensive medical insurance for employees and their families

Structured learning and development opportunities

Personalized career journey opportunities

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in consulting, staffing, or talent development.
• Proven leadership skills with team management experience.
• Strong conflict resolution and resource management capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead the consulting staffing cycle for the Dubai office.
• Ensure optimal deployment of resources and operational efficiency.
• Support the full consultant development lifecycle from onboarding to retention.

Skills

Leadership

Team Management

Stakeholder Management

Conflict Resolution

Analytical Mindset

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business, HR, Finance

Advanced qualifications

Tools

Excel

Power BI

Job description

Kearney, Staffing Director, (8 months FTC)

About the job

As the Staffing Director for our Dubai office, you will lead the full consulting staffing cycle for the Kearney MEA region, encompassing 700+ billable consultants across 7 offices. This role is critical to balancing client needs, consultant development, and business priorities by ensuring optimal deployment of resources, operational efficiency, and talent sustainability .

Reporting directly to the MEA Regional Leader and Global Staffing & Operations Director. This role will also have key interfaces with :

Practice leaders, Partners and Principals

HR, People Experience and Talent Development Teams

Finance function

This role is an 8-month fixed term contract to provide maternity cover.

Key responsibilities

Overall Function Leadership

• Act as the primary point of contact for the MEA regional leadership, Partners and Principals, and key business partners as well as other global stakeholders in all matters Staffing & Operations
• Lead, coach and support developing a team of currently 8 Staffing team members across different levels of seniority and shared People Experience team of 3
• Support the regional and unit leadership, the ME staffing sponsor and the global staffing director in the ongoing Staffing Initiatives within the Kearney ME unit
• Organize and lead regular communication across all Staffing topics and stakeholders

Resource Allocation

• Lead effective staffing of all billable resources (incl. of management consultants, several specialist groups and associated consultants) to billable and non-billable activities to optimally balance client requirements, consultant staffing preferences and firm economics
• Resolve complex staffing conflicts and act as the key escalation point
• Implement and ensure compliance with staffing policies, processes, and tools
• Lead the adoption and effective use of digital tools (SAP, Power BI, CV / Expert trackers)
• Lead Imports + program in Middle East

Business planning & Capacity Management

• Partner with Finance to maintain an accurate and up-to-date project pipeline and revenue forecast
• Collaborate with HR to design and implement capacity management tools that align workforce planning with business demand.

Utilization and Realization Management

• Develop and implement appropriate transparency, analytics and reporting tools to measure regional utilization, realization and profitability levels across billable resources and practices
• Create mechanisms to improve realization and reduce revenue leakage
• Ensure timesheet compliance with all billable staff

Management of unbillable resources

• Implement tracking and analytics to evaluate the ROI of non-billable consultant activities (e.g., business development, internal projects, capability building)

People Experience, Talent Development and Retention

• Co-lead the development of our People Experience streams and vision in collaboration with our Region Talent Director
• Support the full consultant development lifecycle, from onboarding and rotations to retention and satisfaction
• Execute measures to improve consultant well-being and implement feedback loops via surveys and other tools

Staffing Initiatives : Drive key initiatives that include :

• ME Staffing transparency tool development
• Staffing process optimization
• Discount and timesheet compliance frameworks
• KPIs implementation and monitoring

Who you are

After nearly 100 years, we know this business is fundamentally about making connections—between facts, figures, insights, strategies, tools, technologies and above all, people. That’s why, we look for proactive, positive, and flexible individuals who are always unapologetically their unique selves.

We want to hear from you if you :

• Hold a Bachelor’s degree in Business, HR, Finance or other relevant field, Advanced qualifications would be a plus.
• Have extensive experience in consulting, staffing, talent development, or career management within a professional services environment
• Have proven leadership skills with a strong track record in team management and cross-functional collaboration
• Are diplomatic and tactful with the ability to navigate complex stakeholder landscapes, including senior leadership, strong impact and influence skills
• Have deep understanding of staffing dynamics, resource allocation, and operational processes
• Have strong conflict resolution and resource management capabilities
• Possess an analytical mindset with the ability to interpret financial concepts and interlink them with staffing decisions (e.g., project budgets, realization, profitability)
• Have excellent interpersonal and executive-level communication skills
• Have a high level of discretion and sound judgment when dealing with confidential information
• Have an international outlook and experience in change management or transformation projects
• Are Proficient in Excel and business intelligence tools such as Power BI; comfortable working with large data sets and reporting dashboards

What we can offer you

Every day, our people work to be the difference for our clients, our communities, and our colleagues. Helping them to make an impact, they are sustained by a competitive remuneration package plus comprehensive benefits and perks, including but not limited to :

• Comprehensive medical insurance for employees and their families
• Structured and on-the-job learning and development opportunities
• Personalized opportunities to help you chart a unique career journey to pursue your own personal and professional goals

Apply now. Submit your cover letter, CV (.doc or .pdf format only) via our website.

Equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination

Kearney prides itself on providing a culture where our employees belong and thrive equally, which means our people feel comfort, confidence, and joy as they do great things for our firm, our colleagues, and our clients. That’s why Kearney is committed to building a diverse workforce and inclusive environment. Kearney is an equal opportunity employer; we recruit, hire, train, promote, develop, and provide other conditions of employment without regard to a person’s gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, race or ethnicity, religion, age, national origin, disability, marital status, pregnancy status, veteran status, genetic information, or any other differences consistent with applicable laws. This includes providing reasonable accommodation for disabilities or religious beliefs and practices. We encourage everyone to apply, including those who may not feel historically represented in consulting.

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