People Ops Lead

Disrupt; United Arab Emirates; On-site; AED 180,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Disrupt is expanding its People Operations footprint in the UAE. We seek a hands-on generalist responsible for the full UAE employee lifecycle, benefits, visa handling, and regulatory compliance. You will partner with the central team while running UAE-specific programs on the ground.

You will own onboarding, benefits, health insurance, and office operations, ensuring a smooth, compliant experience for UAE-based staff while contributing to local culture and processes.

Qualifications

• Several years in HR/People Ops or UAE office administration.
• Solid knowledge of UAE employment, labour law, visas, and health insurance.
• Hands-on onboarding, benefits, and day-to-day HR operations.
• Comfort dealing with authorities and vendors (MOHRE, DHA/DoH, GDRFA/ICP, PROs).
• Total ownership mindset; you close things out without waiting to be asked.

Responsibilities

• Own the day-to-day UAE People Operations end-to-end.
• Coordinate new hire offers, visas, onboarding processes.
• Administer the group UAE health insurance programme and benefits.
• Ensure UAE compliance with labour, immigration, and health insurance rules.
• Manage the UAE visa and Emirates ID lifecycle for employees and dependants.
• Run the UAE office operations, facilities, vendors, and contracts.
• Plan and run internal events to build culture across the UAE site.

Skills

HR generalist UAE

UAE labour law

Visa & immigration

Onboarding coordination

Benefits administration

Office operations

Job description

Our People Operations function runs centrally, with much of the team based in the Pakistan office. As the UAE footprint grows, the UAE-specific side of People Ops has become too much to run well from a distance. Employee lifecycle, benefits, onboarding new hires, government and regulatory matters, and the office itself all need someone on the ground in the UAE who owns them day to day.

This role is that person. You are a broad People Operations generalist based in the UAE who partners with the central team and takes the full UAE load off them. You are the one who handles UAE matters end to end so the wider People Ops team can rely on the UAE side being covered, rather than getting pulled into it themselves.

The mandate

You will own the day-to-day of People Operations in the UAE across the full employee experience: from coordinating a new hire's offer, visa and onboarding, to benefits and health insurance, to keeping the group compliant with UAE regulation, to running the office and its culture. You work as the UAE hands and feet of the central People Ops team, and you make the UAE side simply work.

Key responsibilities

1. People operations and the employee lifecycle (UAE)

• Own the UAE side of the employee lifecycle end to end: offers, contracts, onboarding, changes, leave, and offboarding, aligned with the central People Ops team's standards and each entity's jurisdiction.
• Be the on-the-ground People Ops point of contact for UAE-based employees, answering the day-to-day questions and resolving the day-to-day issues.
• Keep employee records accurate and audit-ready across UAE entities.
• Partner with the central People Operations team, feeding UAE specifics into group processes and executing them locally.

2. New-hire coordination and onboarding

• Coordinate directly with candidates once hired: offer paperwork, documentation, visa and Emirates ID steps, and everything needed to get them started smoothly.
• Run a clean, welcoming onboarding for every UAE joiner so their first days are organised and they have what they need.
• Work with hiring managers and the central team to move new hires from signed offer to productive first week without friction.

3. Benefits and health insurance

• Administer the group health insurance programme in the UAE: enrolments, additions and deletions, renewals, and claims escalations.
• Arrange and coordinate employee benefits, acting as the go-to for benefits questions.
• Work with insurers and brokers on cover and terms, and keep the group's mandatory health insurance obligations met with no gaps.

4. UAE compliance and government relations

• Keep the group's UAE entities compliant across labour, immigration, and health insurance requirements, and maintain a clear calendar of renewals and deadlines.
• Manage day-to-day dealings with the relevant authorities (MOHRE, DHA, DoH, GDRFA / ICP, and the freezone authorities), with support from Group Legal on complex matters.
• Keep the group inspection-ready: contracts, files, WPS, insurance, and licence conditions in order, so a labour inspection is a non-event.
• Track regulatory change that affects the UAE workforce and flag it early.

5. Visas, immigration and administration

• Manage the visa and Emirates ID lifecycle for UAE employees and dependants, working with PROs / typing centres and holding them to turnaround and cost.
• Support visa quota planning across entities so hiring is not held up by paperwork.

6. Office management and facilities

• Run the day-to-day operation of the UAE office: facilities, vendors, supplies, IT coordination, access, and the physical environment.
• Own vendor and supplier relationships and hold them to cost and service.
• Manage office-related contracts, leases, and renewals, and keep them ahead of deadline.
• Be the person who makes sure the office simply works.

7. Culture, engagement and events

• Plan and run internal events, celebrations, and team engagement across the year.
• Own the employee experience in the UAE office and help build the culture we want as we grow.
• Coordinate all-hands, offsites, and cross-office gatherings end to end.

What success looks like

In the first 90 days you have taken over the UAE People Ops workload from the central team, mapped the employee lifecycle, benefits, and compliance obligations for UAE entities, and become the reliable local point of contact.

By three months the central team no longer gets pulled into UAE matters day to day, new hires onboard smoothly, benefits and renewals run on time, and the office runs to a standard people notice.

By six months the UAE People Ops function is dependable and proactive: compliance is ahead of deadline rather than reactive, the employee experience is strong, and the group can grow its UAE headcount without the operations struggling to keep up.

Who we are looking for

Must have

• Several years in HR / People Operations or office administration for a UAE business, ideally as a generalist who has covered a broad range rather than a single specialism.
• Solid working knowledge of the UAE side of employment: labour law basics, visas and immigration, health insurance, and how the government processes work in practice.
• Hands-on experience coordinating onboarding, benefits, and day-to-day HR operations for employees.
• Comfortable dealing with authorities and vendors (MOHRE, DHA / DoH, GDRFA / ICP, PROs, insurers) and getting things done through them.
• Total ownership as a default. You do not wait to be asked, you close things out, and people can rely on you to hold the UAE side.

Strongly preferred

• Experience supporting a distributed or multi-office team, or a group with several entities.
• Comfort operating lean and AI-natively, using tools to cover a broad remit efficiently.
• Existing relationships with PROs, typing centres, brokers, and freezone contacts.

How you work

• Organised and reliable on deadlines, documentation, and follow-through.
• A strong coordinator who keeps candidates, colleagues, and vendors moving.
• Equally comfortable sorting a visa, arranging benefits, and hosting the office event.
• A partner to the central People Ops team who owns the UAE side so they do not have to.

Ready to build with us?