Careers

Role Purpose:

The Talent Acquisition Manager is responsible for developing and executing the organisation’s talent acquisition strategy to ensure the timely availability of qualified talent across operational, technical, engineering, specialist, and leadership positions. The role leads workforce acquisition, recruitment governance, talent pipeline development, employer branding, workforce planning, and mobilisation readiness to support business growth, operational continuity, and contractual commitments.

As a strategic business partner to Operations and Functional Leaders, the Talent Acquisition Manager ensures recruitment activities are aligned with workforce demands, organisational capability requirements, approved manpower plans, and long-term business objectives while driving efficiency, compliance, candidate experience, and continuous improvement across the recruitment lifecycle.

Key Task and Responsibilities:

• Talent Acquisition Strategy and Workforce Planning
• Recruitment Strategy and Delivery
• Develop and implement talent acquisition strategies aligned with business objectives, contract mobilisation plans, and workforce growth requirements.
• Partner with business leaders to forecast workforce requirements and translate approved manpower plans into proactive recruitment actions.
• Analyse manpower demand, attrition trends, mobilisation schedules, talent availability, salary benchmarks, and future capability needs.
• Lead end-to-end recruitment across blue-collar, technical, and engineering roles
• Manage high-volume hiring requirements across multiple projects and business units
• Develop and execute workforce hiring plans aligned with operational priorities and mobilisation timelines
• Ensure recruitment delivery meets agreed service levels and manpower requirements

• Direct Sourcing and Talent Pipeline Development
• Develop and strengthen direct sourcing channels locally and internationally
• Build partnerships with technical institutes, trade schools, referral networks, and sourcing platforms
• Reduce dependency on external recruitment agencies
• Establish and maintain talent pipelines for critical and recurring roles
• Implement employee referral programmes, talent communities, and alternative sourcing initiatives to improve attraction and reduce recruitment cost.

• Stakeholder Management
• Partner with Operations, Project Managers, and HR leadership to align on workforce needs
• Translate workforce plans into actionable hiring strategies
• Provide guidance and challenge unclear or non-prioritised hiring requests where necessary
• Ensure alignment between recruitment activity and project mobilisation requirements
• Act as a trusted advisor to hiring managers on recruitment strategy, talent market conditions, organisational structure, and hiring decisions.
• Drive accountability amongst hiring managers by clarifying priorities, approval status, selection expectations, and recruitment timelines.

• Recruitment Operations and Governance
• Standardise recruitment processes, approvals, and tracking mechanisms
• Ensure robust candidate screening, documentation, and mobilisation readiness
• Coordinate with PRO and HR Operations on visa processing and onboarding timelines
• Ensure compliance with UAE labour laws and internal policies
• Promote ethical recruitment practices and prevent non-compliant activities (e.g., unauthorised fees, referral abuse)
• Lead the implementation, optimisation, and adoption of Applicant Tracking Systems and recruitment technologies.
• Recruitment Technology and Process Improvement

• Reporting and Analytics
• Standardise recruitment reporting, dashboards, workflow automation, and candidate tracking to improve visibility and decision-making.
• Develop and maintain recruitment dashboards and workforce tracking tools
• Monitor and report on key recruitment metrics, including: Time to fill, Offer acceptance rate, Source effectiveness, Cost per hire, Joining ratio, No-show rate,Post-joining retention
• Use data insights to identify process gaps and improvement opportunities

• Employer Branding and Candidate Experience
• Support the development of employer branding initiatives targeting blue-collar and technical talent
• Improve candidate communication and hiring experience
• Strengthen the organisation’s reputation as an employer of choice within target labour markets
• Leverage social media, digital recruitment platforms, and targeted campaigns to improve talent attraction and employer visibility.

• Leadership and Capability Development
• Establish recruitment service standards, performance expectations, and accountability across the recruitment function.
• Coach and develop recruitment team members, where applicable, and support hiring managers through effective interview, assessment, and selection practices.

Experience, Knowledge and Skills:

Experience: 

• Proven experience in recruitment within construction, engineering, facilities management, industrial services, or similar sectors
• Strong experience recruiting blue-collar and technical/engineering roles
• Demonstrated experience managing high-volume recruitment in operational environments
• Strong understanding of workforce mobilisation and recruitment practices in the UAE
• Experience in international sourcing and cross-border recruitment
• Experience implementing or managing ATS platforms, recruitment technologies, dashboards, and recruitment reporting tools
• Familiarity with workforce planning and mobilisation forecasting
• Experience in reducing agency dependency through direct sourcing models

Skills

• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills
• Operational and execution-focused mindset
• Ability to work under pressure in fast-paced environments
• Strong organisational and planning skills
• Data-driven with experience in recruitment reporting and analytics
• Knowledge of recruitment systems and ATS platforms
• Workforce planning, talent market intelligence, change management, project management, commercial awareness, influencing and negotiation skills