The Talent Acquisition Manager is responsible for designing and executing a forward-looking, digitally and AI enabled talent acquisition strategy that ensures the organization attracts world-class investment and corporate talent. The role leads end-to-end hiring across the organisation. This includes driving a strong Emiratization agenda and ensuring alignment with the organization's long-term workforce strategy.
This position plays a critical role in transforming the recruitment function through AI-driven sourcing tools, automation, workforce analytics, and HR chatbots, ensuring an optimized, data-rich, and candidate-centric recruitment experience suitable for a sovereign wealth fund operating in global financial markets.
Strategic Responsibilities
Develop and execute an enterprise-wide Talent Acquisition Strategy that supports long-term capability needs with a clear strategy on sourcing qualified talent from the industry
Lead the digital transformation of recruitment, integrating AI-enabled screening, predictive analytics, automated workflows, and talent intelligence to enhance quality of hire and reduce cycle times
Drive a proactive Emiratization hiring strategy, providing opportunities for UAE National talent
Partner with senior leadership, business heads, and the HR team to forecast workforce needs and translate them into structured hiring plans
Drive the Employer Branding Strategy, positioning EIA as an employer of choice locally and globally by leveraging institutional brand equity, digital content, talent communities, and industry partnerships
Establish governance for all talent acquisition processes, ensuring alignment with internal policies, Board governance, and regulatory requirements
(In conjunction with relevant corporate functions) define and maintain a governance framework for AI in Talent Acquisition, covering data usage, vendor selection, performance monitoring, and improving / phasing-out tools that no longer meet quality or risk standards
Ensure hiring complies with data privacy regulations, and EIA policies, including transparency, fairness, non-discrimination, and candidate due-process standards
Build Human In the Loop processes to ensure recruitment related roles remain augmented (not displaced) by AI augmented as well ongoing human skill development in talent acquisition
Lead manpower planning and workforce demand forecasting in collaboration with business leaders and Finance, ensuring alignment with investment strategy and approved headcount plans
Support organization design and role structuring, including job design, span of control, and headcount optimization
Manage and monitor the Talent Acquisition budget, ensuring cost-effective hiring, vendor spend discipline, and alignment with approved workforce plans
Core Responsibilities
1. End-to-End Recruitment Management
Oversee the full recruitment lifecycle: job design, sourcing, assessments, interview management, offers, onboarding, and post-hire integration
Ensure AI-augmented candidate screening and shortlisting using ATS algorithms, skill-based matching, and chatbot-enabled candidate engagement
Maintain strong hiring processes for senior, specialist, and investment roles including due diligence, reference checks, and assessment centre management
Embed competency-based and behaviour-based selection methodologies aligned with organizational values and investment-industry expectations
Talent Intelligence, Analytics & Reporting
Build and maintain advanced Talent Acquisition dashboards covering hiring trends, pipeline analytics, time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, source effectiveness, and workforce forecasting
Apply predictive analytics to analyse attrition risks, talent gaps, and long-term hiring needs
Provide market insights on compensation, investment sector mobility, and talent availability
Emiratization & National Talent Development
Lead targeted strategies to identify, attract, assess, and onboard UAE Nationals across all business units
Establish partnerships with universities, scholarship programs, and government entities to build strong national pipelines
Align hiring practices with Emiratization KPIs, national reporting requirements, and relevant governance structures
Employer Branding & Talent Pipelines
Build global and local talent communities for ongoing talent needs such as UAE National investment professionals
Promote internships, analyst programs, early careers initiatives, and UAE National rotational programs
Vendor & Technology Management
Oversee partnerships with recruitment agencies, executive search firms, assessment vendors, and technology providers
Evaluate and implement AI, automation, and recruitment-tech platforms (ATS, CRM, assessment tools) to enhance efficiency and decision quality
Ensure vendor performance meets agreed-upon SLAs and governance requirements
Execute annual and multi-year manpower planning cycles and translate approved plans into hiring roadmaps
Partner with Finance to manage recruitment-related budgets, track spend, and optimize cost efficiency
Support organizational structure changes, role creation, and headcount approvals in line with governance requirements
Provide data-driven insights on workforce capacity, hiring prioritization, and organizational effectiveness
Governance, Compliance & Quality Assurance
Work with relevant internal functions such as Risk Management, Legal, IT and HR Enablement to ensure all recruitment practices comply with Emiratization requirements, audit guidelines, and internal HR policies
Maintain detailed documentation for audits, risk reviews, and process transparency
Reduce hiring-related risks through strong controls, structured assessments, and data accuracy
Ensure best practice management of AI tools including transparency, bias management, and accountability
Monitor and validate AI and algorithmic models used in Talent Acquisition, including performance, accuracy, and fairness metrics; manage recalibration, retraining, or retirement where needed
Maintain documentation of AI models and tools used in recruitment, including purpose, data sources, key assumptions, known limitations, and controls
Undertake regular audits or AI-enabled processes to monitor for bias, accuracy, privacy and acceptable use
People & Leadership Responsibilities
Lead, mentor, and develop the Talent Acquisition team to ensure capability growth, AI literacy, and operational excellence
Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, service excellence, and accountability
Serve as a trusted advisor to senior management and business leaders on workforce planning, hiring decisions, and market insights
Build strong cross-functional relationships with HR, Legal, Finance, Risk, Audit, and Investment teams
Requirements
Education & Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related field
Master's degree or professional certifications (CIPD, SHRM, ATD) preferred
Experience Requirements
8-12 years of progressive experience in Talent Acquisition, with at least 3 years in a managerial role
Solid experience of recruitment for indirect and direct investment professionals in a regulated environment as well as corporate functions for financial services organisations
Experience predominantly gained in-house ideally in a Sovereign Wealth Fund, investment / asset management company, investment bank
UAE inhouse experience
Experience using AI, automation, and data analytics in recruitment
Strong track record managing Emiratization programs
