Senior People Business Partner

What You’ll Do

The Senior People Business Partner will work closely with the Middle East leadership team to shape and deliver a commercially focused people strategy. Operating within a global matrix, the role will balance regional priorities with EMEA and global frameworks. The role requires an integrated approach across performance and talent management, career development, succession planning, leadership capability, workforce planning, engagement, reward, organisational effectiveness and diversity and inclusion.

The Senior People Business Partner role supports our Middle East region and may be based in the UAE or KSA, the role reports to the EMEA Head of People.

• Primary point of contact for client services leaders and colleagues on people, talent and organisational topics; recognised as a trusted subject matter expert by senior leadership
• Partner with the Country Leader and Partner Managing Directors (PMDs) to shape, plan and execute the people agenda in support of the local region market strategy and the firm’s overarching strategy, ensuring alignment between business priorities and people decisions
• Partner with business leadership to strengthen engagement, retention and performance by providing data-led insight, challenge and advice, and supporting the execution of targeted actions and interventions
• Lead organisational change and transformation initiatives by advising leaders on organisation design, ways of working and change management, embedding effective and scalable people practices across the region
• Enable progress against diversity and inclusion objectives by partnering with leaders to translate firm-wide D&I strategy into local action, providing expertise, governance and challenge, and contributing to EMEA and/or global D&I initiatives
• Act as a trusted advisor and coach to leaders, enhancing leadership effectiveness and providing pragmatic guidance across the full employee lifecycle
• Provide thoughtful challenge and risk-based guidance on people decisions, ensuring alignment with firm values, policies, strategy and governance requirements
• Oversee the delivery of effective performance and talent management processes, ensuring high-quality goal setting, differentiation, promotion decisions and timely interventions where required
• Advise on reward and pay decisions, ensuring they align with performance outcomes and firm principles, and working closely with global teams to apply firm-wide compensation frameworks and benchmarking insight in local contexts
• Contribute to and lead EMEA-wide PBP initiatives and projects, sharing best practice, driving consistency where appropriate and strengthening the overall PBP community.
  
  

This description is not designed to encompass a comprehensive listing of required activities, duties or responsibilities.

What You’ll Need

The successful candidate will be a commercially minded, collaborative and team-oriented People professional with strong judgement, emotional intelligence and excellent communication skills. They will bring a strong understanding of the Middle East market and a demonstrable record of operating effectively within it. The role requires someone who thrives in a fast-paced and evolving environment, can manage competing priorities, and has the credibility and gravitas to influence and engage a diverse group of senior stakeholders.

• Significant HR experience, ideally 8+ years, including substantial experience operating as a strategic People or HR Business Partner
• Recent experience working within a multinational, matrixed organisation; experience in consulting, professional services or a partnership environment is strongly preferred
• Strong working knowledge of UAE and KSA employment law and local employment practices; knowledge of DIFC employment law is advantageous
• Exceptional communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills, with the credibility to coach and constructively challenge senior leaders
• Strong track record of handling complex and sensitive employee relations matters with sound judgement, discretion and appropriate risk awareness
• Strong analytical capability, with experience using people data and insight to identify trends, shape recommendations and support decision-making
• High cultural awareness and the ability to build trusted relationships across diverse, international and cross-functional stakeholder groups
• You will hold valid residency for the UAE or KSA, or be able to obtain it. Administrative support will be provided by AlixPartners to obtain the relevant permits. You must also be able to obtain any permits required to travel and work across EMEA.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English; Arabic language capability is advantageous
• Ability to work full time in an office and remote environment
• Must become familiar with, and promote and abide by, our Core Values as defined by the AlixPartners’ Code of Conduct and foster an inclusive environment with people at all levels of an organisation
  
  

Office Location: KAFD, Riyadh

Office Location: DIFC, Dubai

KSA Working hours: 8:30am – 5:30pm, Sunday to Thursday, hybrid model

UAE Working hours: 8:30am - 5:30pm, Monday to Friday, hybrid model

The firm offers market-leading benefits that provide flexible options to support our employee’s needs, you can read more about the AlixPartners benefits here.

This advert will be removed once a suitable candidate has been identified.

AlixPartners is an equal opportunity employer.

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