People Experience Business Partner - Design, Development & Commercial

Arada; Dubai; On-site; AED 300,000 - 420,000; Full time

Job summary

Arada is seeking a People Experience Business Partner to drive people strategy across Design, Development, and Commercial functions in the Middle East, embedding a high-performance, values-led culture during rapid expansion. The role partners with executive leaders to align goals and deliver talent initiatives that balance brand, quality, cost, and timelines.

The position requires an Arabic speaker with proven ability to operate across markets such as the UAE, KSA and Syria, and to manage

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related field.
• HR Certification (e.g., CIPD) is a plus.
• Arabic speaker with UAE/KSA/Syria market experience is preferred.
• Experience turning business strategy into people outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Partner with leadership on people strategy, workforce planning, org design, and change management.
• Align PX strategies with growth plans and customer experience objectives.
• Act as escalation point for complex employee relations issues.
• Translate commercial priorities into pragmatic people solutions.
• Lead performance management, coaching, and succession planning.
• Drive OD initiatives and lead workforce planning and transformation.
• Provide workforce analytics and insights to inform decisions.

Skills

Strategic & Commercial Acumen

Executive Stakeholder Influence

Performance & Talent Excellence

Change & Growth Leadership

Data, Systems & Insight

Emotional Intelligence

Education

Bachelor’s degree in HR/Business

HR Certification (e.g., CIPD)

Tools

HRIS

M365

Job description

The People Experience Business Partner (PXBP) is accountable for PX business partnering across Arada’s Design, Development, and Commercial functions in our Middle East markets. They are a strategic, hands-on, people expert responsible for embedding a high-performance, values-led culture across these functions. This role partners closely with executive and operational leaders to set and execute the People Strategy for these functions, with key focus on our rapid expansion into new Middle East markets.

The ideal candidate will be an Arabic speaker, with a solid understanding of the development cycle from a design and development perspective in a luxury real estate developer, which means aligning creative vision with technical and commercial reality from concept to handover. Design must translate brand positioning into distinctive architecture, interiors, and amenities, while Development ensures feasibility, approvals, budgets, and delivery discipline. Close integration between Design and Development teams is essential to balance aesthetics, functionality, cost, and constructability, while safeguarding quality and timelines. The Commercial team works closely with these teams at every stage of a project.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Strategic Business Partnering

• Act as a trusted advisor to the function’s leadership on people strategy, workforce planning, organization design, and change management.
• Align PX strategies with business growth plans, operational targets, and customer experience objectives. with a key lens on our roll out to new markets.
• Act as the escalation point for complex employee relations matters and senior stakeholder issues.
• Translate commercial priorities into pragmatic people solutions.

Performance Management & Culture

• Implement group performance management frameworks aligned to the functions KPIs.
• Coach leaders on goal setting, reviews, and underperformance management.
• Work with the functions to set clear objectives, performance standards, and development plans.
• Embed a consistent, high-performance culture.
• Analyze performance data and recommend interventions.
• Lead talent identification and succession planning.
• Support the functions to develop high-potential talent.
• Strengthen leadership capability across all businesses.

Organizational Development & Change

• Drive OD initiatives and support transformation and growth.
• Partner with leadership teams and act as a people advisor on any BU initiatives.
• Lead Workforce Planning.
• Facilitate leadership and team effectiveness.

Employee Engagement & Experience

• Facilitate engagement strategies and pulse surveys.
• Partner with leaders on action plans.
• Ensure a consistent employee lifecycle experience.

PX Operations & Governance

• Partner with PX COEs.
• Ensure effective implementation of PX policies and use of PX technology.
• Work with PX Growth & Integrations Team on strategic initiatives.
• Drive and implement process automation to enhance efficiency and employee experience.
• Ensure legal and policy compliance.

Data & Insights

• Provide workforce analytics and insights to the business.
• Use data to inform strategic decisions.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related field.
• HR Certification (e.g., CIPD) is a plus.

EXPERIENCE:

• Experienced HRBP, Arabic speaker, ideally with proven experience operating in markets such as the UAE, KSA and Syria.
• Proven process improvement, automation, and stakeholder management experience.
• Experience in relevant industries and functions is an advantage.

SKILLS & COMPETENCIES:

Strategic and Commercial Acumen

• Demonstrated ability to translate business strategy into measurable people outcomes in service-led, margin-sensitive environments.
• Strong understanding of workforce economics, productivity metrics, cost optimization, and revenue per employee.
• Ability to challenge and influence senior leaders with data-driven insights and commercial logic.

Executive Stakeholder Influence

• Proven capability to operate as a trusted advisor to executives and senior operational leaders.
• Confident in navigating complex stakeholder environments.
• Ability to hold leaders accountable for people outcomes, including performance, engagement, and capability.
• Comfortable managing ambiguity, complexity, and competing priorities at scale.

Performance and Talent Excellence

• Deep expertise in performance management, including underperformance, and succession planning.
• Ability to design and embed performance frameworks aligned to the functions KPIs and growth objectives.
• Strong judgment in talent decisions, including appointments, exits, and succession risk.

Change, Transformation, and Growth

• Proven experience leading people aspects of organizational change, rapid growth, restructures, and integrations.
• Ability to operate effectively in fast-paced, evolving environments with incomplete information.
• Pragmatic approach to change management, balancing pace, risk, and employee experience.

Regulated and Professional Workforce Maturity

• Demonstrated capability to support professional, regulated, or credentialed workforces, with high standards of governance and compliance.
• Sound judgment in employee relations, risk management, and complex case handling.

Data, Systems, and Insight

• Strong analytical capability with the ability to interpret workforce data and translate insights into action.
• Confident user of HRIS, M365, and digital tools to support decision making, automation, and scalable people processes.
• Comfortable presenting people data and insights to senior leadership.

Emotional Intelligence and Personal Credibility

• High emotional intelligence with strong self-awareness, resilience, and professional judgment.
• Credible, calm, and authoritative presence in high-stakes or sensitive situations.
• Values-led leadership style aligned to a high-performance, customer-centric culture.

We welcome applications from worldwide. Fluency in Arabic is essential, along with proven experience managing Design, Development, and Commercial functions across the Middle East.