Head of Talent Acquisition (Emiratisation) – UAE National (Banking)

A leading bank in Dubai is hiring a Head of Talent Acquisition (Emiratisation) to lead and scale UAE National hiring across the organisation.

This is a senior leadership mandate for a proven Emiratisation specialist who can deliver outcomes at pace, build strong stakeholder partnerships, and create a best-in-class national talent attraction and hiring engine.

You will own the Emiratisation TA strategy end-to-end, translating business workforce plans into measurable hiring delivery across head office and frontline functions.

You’ll lead the UAE National recruitment team and vendor ecosystem, set the operating cadence, and build a data-led approach to pipeline health, conversion, time-to-hire, and quality of hire.

You’ll partner closely with senior leadership, HRBPs, and business heads to define role priorities, calibrate selection standards, and ensure an excellent candidate experience.

You’ll also represent the bank externally across key national talent channels, building sustainable pipelines through universities, early careers programmes, career fairs, and strategic partnerships, while ensuring alignment with UAE regulatory requirements and Emiratisation targets.

We’re looking for a UAE National with significant leadership experience in talent acquisition within banking or a large, complex organisation in the UAE, and a clear track record delivering Emiratisation hiring at scale.

You should be commercially minded, highly credible with senior stakeholders, and confident building TA frameworks, governance, and reporting.

Strong knowledge of UAE labour market dynamics for national talent, sourcing channels, assessment approaches, and stakeholder management is essential.

You’ll bring a modern TA mindset, using structured selection, market insight, and analytics to improve outcomes, while building and coaching high-performing teams.

Desired: experience leading Emiratisation hiring across multiple business lines, exposure to early careers and graduate pipeline programmes, strong external network across UAE national talent channels, and the ability to influence at executive level.

Arabic fluency is preferred.

UAE National with proven leadership experience delivering Emiratisation hiring at scale, ideally within banking or a large, complex UAE organisation.

Strong credibility with senior stakeholders is essential, alongside deep knowledge of the UAE national talent market, sourcing channels, assessment methods, and compliance requirements.

We’re looking for someone who is data-led and commercially minded, able to build TA governance, reporting, and operating cadence, while coaching and developing high-performing teams.

building sustainable pipelines through universities, early careers programmes, career fairs, and strategic partnerships is highly valued, as is an established external network across UAE national talent channels.