People Operations Business Partner

Role Overview

We are building a high-performing technology-driven organization at pace. People are our most critical lever and this role exists to ensure our people systems culture and leadership capability scale with our ambition.

We are looking for an experienced People Operations Business Partner who has operated inside fast-growing scale-ups and understands what it means to be both a trusted advisor and a hands-on builder. You will work closely with business leaders across functions translating people strategy into operational reality.

This is not a support role. This is a strategic relationship-driven people role for someone who can partner at the leadership level while simultaneously building the systems and processes that make a scaling organization run.

What Youll Own

• Act as a trusted people partner to business leaders across functions advising on organizational design workforce planning and team effectiveness.

• Design and operationalize performance management frameworks review cycles and calibration processes that hold up at scale.

• Build and maintain competency frameworks and leveling guides that define what good looks like at every stage of the career ladder.

• Coach managers on expectation-setting feedback delivery and performance management developing their capability rather than solving problems for them.

• Own employee relations matters with discretion and consistency applying working knowledge of UAE Labour Law and relevant regional regulations.

• Ensure HR policies are current accessible and applied consistently across all entities and employment types including contractors.

• Maintain the integrity of people data and HR systems building dashboards and reporting on headcount attrition performance and engagement.

• Drive structured onboarding experiences that accelerate time-to-productivity and own the offboarding process with equal rigor.

• Partner closely with the Talent Acquisition function on role scoping leveling and intake to ensure consistency between internal grading and external hiring.

• Run engagement initiatives and pulse surveys synthesizing results into clear recommendations for leadership.

What Were Looking For

• 4-7 years in HR Business Partnering or People Operations within high-growth startups or scale-ups.

• Demonstrated track record of partnering with senior leaders across multiple functions and seniority levels.

• Hands-on experience building performance management systems and competency or leveling frameworks.

• Working knowledge of UAE & KSA Labor Laws.

• Experience managing across distributed teams and mixed employment types (employees and contractors).

• Strong proficiency with HRIS platforms performance management platforms and workflow tools; comfortable building process from scratch.

• Fluency in English; Arabic is a strong advantage.

Capabilities

• Business Acumen

Understands how the business makes money and where people risk intersects with commercial performance. Speaks the language of the leaders they support.

• Trusted Advisor

Builds credibility through consistency discretion and honest counsel. Leaders seek them out not because they have to but because the advice is good.

• Systems Builder

Does not accept ambiguity as a permanent state. Looks for repeatable scalable solutions rather than one-off fixes. Comfortable building from scratch.

• Emotional Intelligence

Reads the room well. Navigates conflict difficult conversations and competing stakeholder needs with maturity and empathy without losing clarity.

• Operational Discipline

Meticulous with data integrity documentation and follow-through. People systems only work when the fundamentals are done right.

• Coaching Orientation

Develops managers and leaders rather than solving problems for them. Understands that the real leverage in a People role is building capability in others.

• Navigates Complexity

Comfortable operating across legal entities contractor relationships cultural contexts and distributed teams without losing their footing.