About the Role
A diversified and growing business group in Qatar is looking to appoint a senior Group HR leader to oversee and strengthen its people, HR governance, employee services, compensation and benefits, and government-related HR operations across multiple business units.
This is a strategic leadership position suited to an HR professional who has operated in a multi-business or multi-entity environment and can combine strong strategic thinking with hands on understanding of HR operations, local regulatory requirements, and government processes.
The successful candidate will work closely with the Group CEO and senior business leadership to build a more integrated and professional HR platform, support organizational growth, strengthen talent and leadership capabilities, and ensure robust HR governance across the organization.
Experience within FMCG/consumer-facing businesses is strongly preferred, while exposure to sectors such as hospitality, retail, property, or other diversified businesses would be an advantage.
Key Areas of Responsibility
- Develop and execute a Group-level people strategy aligned with business priorities and future growth plans.
- Establish consistent HR frameworks, policies and processes across different businesses while allowing for operational differences between entities.
- Serve as a trusted HR advisor to the Group CEO and senior business leadership.
- Support organizational design, manpower planning, succession planning and leadership development.
- Introduce appropriate HR metrics, dashboards and management reporting.
- Drive greater consistency, professionalism and accountability across the Group's HR practices.
- Ensure HR initiatives contribute directly to business performance and organizational effectiveness.
2. Talent & Organizational Development
- Develop workforce planning and talent strategies across the Group.
- Oversee hiring strategies for senior, specialist and business-critical positions.
- Strengthen succession planning and internal talent development.
- Build sustainable talent pipelines through local and international recruitment.
- Support leadership development and management capability-building initiatives.
- Advise senior management on organizational structures, key appointments and workforce requirements.
- Develop initiatives to improve employee engagement, retention and career progression.
3. Compensation, Benefits & Rewards
- Lead the development and ongoing review of Group-wide compensation structures.
- Establish appropriate salary bands, grades and reward frameworks.
- Conduct market benchmarking across Qatar and relevant GCC markets.
- Develop annual salary review and incentive processes.
- Review senior management and executive compensation in partnership with leadership.
- Ensure remuneration practices maintain appropriate levels of market competitiveness and internal equity.
- Oversee policies relating to allowances, benefits, insurance, end-of-service provisions and other employee benefits.
4. Performance & Employee Development
- Introduce or enhance a structured performance management framework.
- Establish measurable objectives and KPIs across functions and business units.
- Support leadership and management development programmes.
- Identify high-potential employees and develop appropriate career pathways.
- Promote a culture focused on accountability, performance and continuous improvement.
- Ensure learning and development initiatives are aligned with actual business requirements.
5. Qatar HR & Regulatory Compliance
- Provide leadership and oversight of employment-related regulatory compliance across the Group.
- Ensure appropriate compliance with applicable labour, immigration and residency requirements.
- Oversee work permits, visas, employee documentation and related government approvals.
- Monitor relevant regulatory developments and advise leadership on their potential impact.
- Ensure timely renewal of licences, registrations, permits and other applicable documentation.
- Establish appropriate compliance monitoring, reporting and escalation mechanisms.
- Maintain accurate records and documentation to support internal and external audits.
6. Government Relations & PRO
- Oversee the Group's PRO and government relations activities.
- Build an efficient and structured government services function supporting multiple business entities.
- Ensure smooth processing of visas, work permits, residency documentation and other government requirements.
- Maintain effective working relationships with relevant government authorities.
- Ensure business units receive timely and consistent government-related support.
- Establish systems for tracking renewals, documentation and regulatory deadlines.
- Manage external PRO/service providers where applicable and monitor service quality.
- Identify opportunities to simplify, centralize and digitize government related processes.
- Establish and maintain a comprehensive HR policy and governance framework.
- Review existing HR processes and identify opportunities for improvement.
- Lead the effective use and enhancement of HR technology and HRIS platforms.
- Develop meaningful HR analytics and management reporting.
- Provide regular reporting on workforce size, recruitment, turnover, compensation, absenteeism, performance and other relevant metrics.
- Strengthen HR controls, documentation and process governance.
- Support wider technology, ERP and business transformation initiatives where HR is involved.
8. Employee Relations
- Provide senior-level guidance on complex employee relations matters.
- Ensure disciplinary and grievance processes are handled fairly, consistently and in accordance with applicable regulations.
- Advise senior management on sensitive people related issues.
- Proactively manage employment related risks.
- Promote a professional, respectful and performance-oriented workplace culture.
- Lead and develop the Group HR team and associated employee services functions.
- Establish clear objectives, KPIs and service standards.
- Determine which HR activities should be centralized at Group level and which should remain within individual businesses.
- Build a responsive, commercially focused and service oriented HR function.
- Develop the capability of the HR team and strengthen succession within the function.
Candidate Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Management or a related discipline.
- 10-15+ years of progressive HR experience, including substantial exposure to senior HR leadership.
- Strong experience within FMCG, consumer goods, retail or a similarly operationally intensive industry.
- GCC/Middle East experience is essential, with Qatar experience highly desirable.
- Strong understanding of GCC employment, immigration and government-related HR requirements.
- Demonstrated experience managing compensation and benefits across a sizeable or multi-entity organization.
- Experience overseeing PRO, government relations and employee documentation functions.
- Proven track record of establishing or improving HR policies, processes, systems and governance.
- Strong exposure to organizational development, workforce planning and talent management.
- Experience working directly with CEOs, business owners, senior executives and government stakeholders.
- Strong commercial orientation with the ability to connect HR initiatives to business objectives.
- Fluency in both Arabic and English is essential.
Candidates with some of the following exposure will be particularly well suited:
- Hospitality, hotels or leisure businesses.
- Real estate or property businesses.
- Diversified or multi-business groups.
- Family-owned organizations.
- Organizations operating across multiple legal entities.
- HRIS/ERP implementation or transformation projects.
- Organizational restructuring, business transformation or rapid-growth environments.
Key Attributes
The ideal candidate will be:
- A strategic yet hands-on HR leader.
- Commercially minded and business-oriented.
- Comfortable operating with owners, CEOs and senior management.
- Strong in stakeholder management and influencing.
- Knowledgeable about GCC employment and government processes.
- Capable of bringing structure and consistency to a growing organization.
- Comfortable managing both strategic HR initiatives and operational matters.
- A strong people leader with high levels of integrity, discretion and professionalism.
This is a senior leadership opportunity for an HR professional looking to take ownership of the people agenda across a diversified organization in Qatar.