Human Resources Director

Zad; Kuwait City; On-site; KWD 37,000 - 56,000; Full time

Job summary

ZAD is seeking a Human Resources Director to lead the HR function across Kuwait, Turkey and the UAE. You will shape people strategy, own payroll and reward, and manage executive and regulated hiring while building scalable HR processes.

This build-and-lead role requires cross-border experience, strong regulatory know-how, and a hands-on leadership style to establish the framework as ZAD expands beyond Kuwait and embeds in new markets.

Qualifications

• Bachelor degree in HR, business administration, law or related field; postgraduate preferred.
• Professional HR certification such as CIPD, SHRM SCP or SPHR preferred.
• Twelve or more years of HR experience, including at least five leading an HR function.
• Proven experience managing HR across more than one country, ideally GCC.
• Knowledge of Kuwait Labor Law; exposure to UAE/ADGM and Turkish labor law is a strong advantage.
• Background in financial services, fintech, banking or a regulated environment.
• Demonstrated ownership of compensation structures, payroll governance and organizational design.
• Experience setting up or scaling the HR function of a new entity or branch.
• Fluent in English; Arabic an advantage.
• Comfortable operating strategically and hands on in the same week.

Responsibilities

• Own the company's people strategy across Kuwait, Turkey and the UAE, and translate it into an annual HR plan with clear priorities, owners and deadlines.
• Ensure employment practice in each location complies with Kuwait Labor Law, ADGM Employment Regulations and Turkish Labor Law.
• Lead workforce planning and organizational design, maintain the structure, grading and leveling framework, and advise Executives on organization needs.
• Own recruitment across all locations, including executive, regulated, and hard-to-fill hiring.
• Own compensation and benefits, including salary structures, benchmarking across three markets, annual review cycle and insurance arrangements.
• Oversee payroll and end of service across all entities, ensuring accuracy and timeliness.
• Own the performance management cycle, link to reward and development, and build succession and career frameworks.
• Set HR policy for the group and adapt for local law changes.
• Build and lead the HR team across locations and set work standards.
• Act as senior HR partner to Executives and department heads on structure, talent, conduct and employee matters.
• Own employee relations at escalated level, including grievances and investigations, ensuring lawful handling.
• Own HR systems and data, drive automation and reporting to Executives and Board.
• Own the HR budget and manage people costs.
• Lead employee engagement, culture and internal communication across locations.

Skills

Cross-border HR leadership

Regulatory awareness

Compensation and benefits design

Business partnering with executives

Employee relations judgment

Data literacy and HR analytics

Discretion and integrity

Change management

People strategy development

Education

Bachelor degree in HR, Business Admin, or Law

HR certification (CIPD/SHRM/SPHR)

Job description

The Human Resources Director leads the HR function for ZAD across all three of its locations: the head office in Kuwait, the product organization in Turkey, and the branch in Abu Dhabi Global Market. The role is accountable to the Chief Executive Officer for the company's people strategy and for its execution, and carries direct ownership of the areas where the company is most exposed: multi jurisdiction employment compliance, payroll and reward, executive and regulated hiring, and organizational structure.

This is a build role as much as a leadership one. ZAD is establishing its UAE presence and growing its teams outside Kuwait, and the Director is expected to set the standard, put the framework in place, and remain close enough to the work to deliver it personally where the company has no depth yet.

Responsibilities

• Own the company's people strategy across Kuwait, Turkey and the UAE, and translate it into an annual HR plan with clear priorities, owners and deadlines.
• Ensure employment practice in each location complies with the law that governs it, covering Kuwait Labor Law and the requirements of the Capital Markets Authority, the ADGM Employment Regulations and the FSRA requirements applying to controlled and approved roles, and Turkish Labor Law and social security obligations.
• Lead workforce planning and organizational design, maintain the structure, grading and leveling framework, and advise the Executives on how the company should be organized as it grows.
• Own recruitment across all locations, and personally lead executive, regulated and hard to fill hiring.
• Own compensation and benefits, including salary structures, benchmarking across three markets, the annual review cycle, incentive design and insurance arrangements.
• Oversee payroll and end of service across all entities, and hold accountability for its accuracy, timeliness and compliance.
• Own the performance management cycle, link it to reward and development, and build the succession and career frameworks that support retention.
• Set HR policy for the group, adapt it where local law requires, and keep the policy set current as regulation changes.
• Build and lead the HR team, set standards for its work, and develop the capability the function needs in each location.
• Act as the senior HR partner to the Executives and department heads, and advise them on structure, talent, conduct and employee matters.
• Own employee relations at the escalated level, including grievances, disciplinary cases, investigations and terminations, and ensure each is handled lawfully and consistently.
• Own the HR systems and data, drive automation of manual processes, and ensure reporting to the Executives and the Board is accurate and on time.
• Own the HR budget, and manage the company's people cost against it.
• Lead employee engagement, culture and internal communication across locations, and act on what the measures show.

Competencies

• Multi jurisdiction employment expertise
• Strategic workforce planning
• Compensation and benefits design
• Business partnering and executive influence
• Employee relations judgment
• Regulatory awareness in financial services
• Data literacy and HR analytics
• Cross cultural leadership
• Discretion and integrity

Hiring Criteria

• Bachelor degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Law or a related field. Postgraduate qualification preferred.
• Professional HR certification such as CIPD, SHRM SCP or SPHR preferred.
• Twelve or more years of HR experience, including at least five leading an HR function.
• Proven experience managing HR across more than one country, ideally including the GCC.
• Working knowledge of Kuwait Labor Law. Practical exposure to UAE or ADGM employment law and to Turkish labor law is a strong advantage.
• Background in financial services, fintech, banking or a regulated environment.
• Demonstrated ownership of compensation structures, payroll governance and organizational design.
• Experience setting up or scaling the HR function of a new entity or branch.
• Fluent in English. Arabic is an advantage.
• Comfortable operating strategically and hands on in the same week.