Group HR Director (People & Culture)

About the role

j. awan & partners (JAP) is an international Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) consultancy headquartered in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), with offices across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Portugal, Pakistan, and South Africa. JAP serves financial institutions, governments, and professional services firms across the GCC and beyond, providing regulatory advisory, outsourced compliance and AML/KYC functions, risk management, financial reporting, and recruitment services. Our RegTech platform, azakaw, delivers KYC/KYB onboarding, AML screening, transaction monitoring, and corporate compliance solutions to regulated firms globally.

The Group HR Director (People & Culture) is accountable for ensuring JAP Group has the right people, in the right roles, performing at the right level. This is a senior leadership role, reporting directly to the CEO, that combines strategic design with direct operational execution across all JAP jurisdictions. Recruitment and retention are the primary mandate — as the business scales across multiple jurisdictions, the role-holder personally owns end-to-end hiring pipelines, employer brand, and the talent systems that make growth possible.

This is not a policy or advisory position. Candidates must demonstrate a track record of measurable hiring outcomes, performance systems that have been enforced, and cultures that can be evidenced through data. Performance is tracked quarterly in ClickUp, with variable compensation directly tied to results — green status across all areas is required for full bonus, with no discretionary adjustments.

Responsibilities

Talent Acquisition & Recruitment (Primary Mandate)

• Own all Group hiring end to end, ensuring every approved role has a live job scorecard, an active sourcing campaign, and a named hiring manager accountable for interview completion within 5 business days of a qualified submission

• Ensure a qualified candidate pipeline is in place within 14 days of headcount signoff, with time to offer of 30 days or fewer and time to productive of 60 days or fewer

• Achieve an A Player hire rate of 80%+ at 90-day assessment, offer acceptance above 85%, and a candidate experience score of 4.0/5+ at offer stage

• Ensure zero approved roles remain open beyond 60 days without a CEO-signed escalation plan

• Implement Topgrading's 12-step methodology as the firm's standard hiring process across all jurisdictions; train all hiring managers within 60 days; conduct tandem interviews for all Director-level+ roles

• Deploy and operate an ATS alongside AI-assisted sourcing and structured assessment tools

• Own and develop JAP's employer brand and EVP, building talent pipelines through universities, professional bodies, and executive search partnerships

Performance Management

• Own the quarterly KPI review cycle end to end: set the calendar, brief all line managers, quality-check every completed review, and report completion to the CEO

• Ensure every employee has a live, signed, SMART KPI scorecard before each review cycle begins, with all four quarterly cycles completed in full and on time

• Identify and escalate underperformers within 5 days of the relevant review; place them on formal PIPs within 30 days and own the process through to documented outcome within 90 days

• Train all line managers in KPI setting and performance conversation skills, running at least one calibration session per review cycle

Culture & Retention

• Define and operationalise JAP's culture in measurable terms, with named values, observable behaviours, and at least three culture KPIs tracked quarterly

• Keep voluntary attrition below 10% annually, reported quarterly by office, tenure band, and role family

• Run a biannual eNPS (or equivalent) pulse survey targeting 85+, presenting results to ExCo within 10 days and a written action plan for any sub-threshold score within 14 days

• Ensure 100% exit interview completion and submit root cause analysis of every departure to the CEO within 5 days

• Design and maintain a structured onboarding programme completed within 30 days, with 30/60/90-day manager check-ins

• Champion a one-firm culture across all offices through recognition, wellbeing, and engagement programmes

HR Operations & Technology

• Own the selection, implementation, and go-live of the Group HRIS by end of Q2 — including vendor selection, project plan, data migration, and training — with all core processes migrated and zero manual workarounds

• Automate all HR workflows via HRIS or connected firm systems, with manual processes only as documented, CEO-approved exceptions remediated within 30 days

• Enforce 100% weekly timesheet completion and coordinate with Finance on payroll accuracy of 99.5%+ and on-time processing, correcting any error within 3 business days

• Deliver a quarterly HR technology health check to ExCo, maintaining employee records at 98%+ data accuracy at each audit

People Strategy & Business Partnering

• Develop and maintain a Group-wide HR strategy aligned to business growth and multi-jurisdiction expansion

• Lead annual and rolling workforce planning across all offices, aligned to revenue targets and delivery capacity

• Partner with the CEO and ExCo on capability gaps, organisational capacity, and succession planning for Director-level+ roles

• Act as primary HR adviser to the CEO and ExCo on organisational design, change management, and leadership effectiveness

• Provide timely, legally sound guidance on complex employee relations matters across all jurisdictions

Compliance, Governance & Team Leadership

• Ensure all HR policies and employment practices comply with local labour laws across all JAP jurisdictions

• Manage employment-related regulatory filings, statutory obligations, audit response, and payroll governance in coordination with Finance

• Lead, develop, and retain the People & Culture team across all jurisdictions, building capability through coaching, cross-jurisdictional exposure, and professional development

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in HR, Business Administration, or a related field (Master's preferred)

• 8–15 years of hands-on HR leadership in professional services, consulting, or financial services

• Direct, personal ownership of end-to-end hiring pipelines, with a track record of measurable time-to-offer and quality-of-hire outcomes across a high-volume, multi-location operation

• Personal operation of a quarterly KPI review cycle across a distributed workforce, from design through execution including PIP outcomes

• HRIS implementation and operation at scale, with enforced timesheet and payroll discipline across a distributed workforce

• Demonstrated ability to define culture in operational, measurable terms — running pulse surveys, analysing exit data, and citing attrition rates by year with linked interventions

• ATS and AI-assisted sourcing experience; Topgrading training or certification strongly preferred

• The highest standards of confidentiality, integrity, and professional conduct

• Fluent English mandatory; Arabic an advantage

• CIPD Level 7, SHRM-SCP, Topgrading Certified Professional, or equivalent certification preferred