Canadian University Dubai (CUD) is seeking a Performance Management Specialist to join the Human Resources Department. Reporting to the Director of HR and Administration, the role will design, implement and continuously improve the university’s faculty and staff performance management framework, ensuring fair expectations, consistent evaluation, strong manager capability, reliable data insights, and alignment with institutional strategy, culture and reward processes.

Qualifications

• Applicants must hold a Bachelor’s degree in HR, business, industrial organisational psychology, or a related field. A Master’s degree and or professional certification such as CIPD, SHRM CP, or PHR is preferred.
• Candidates should demonstrate strong written and verbal communication skills, including facilitation and stakeholder management, with high discretion and confidence handling sensitive and confidential information.

Experience Requirements

• Typically 3 to 5 years’ relevant experience in HR, performance management, organisational development, or people analytics is required. Demonstrated experience designing or improving performance management processes, forms, guidance and rubrics, with strong attention to fairness, consistency and documentation quality, is essential.
• Experience in higher education and complex, multi stakeholder environments is preferred, along with familiarity with HRIS platforms supporting performance processes, for example Workday. Change management experience delivering enterprise wide process adoption is desirable.

Functional Areas

The role will span five key focus areas in faculty and staff performance management,

• Framework and cycle ownership, including policy, guidance, rubrics, annual cycle governance, communications and quality assurance, establishing clear performance expectations aligned to organisational objectives.
• Manager enablement and employee support, including coaching and feedback guidance, manager learning resources, objective setting support, fair assessment practices, documentation standards, and capability processes, including development plans and performance improvement plans.
• Competencies, skills and calibration, including competency and skills model design and administration, and the design and support of calibration and moderation practices to improve consistency and mitigate bias.
• Data, insights and continuous improvement, including cycle outcome analysis, longitudinal trend reporting, dashboards and reporting for HR leadership, pulse checks and surveys, and translation of feedback into process improvements and enhanced user experience.
• Systems and integration, including partnership with HRIS stakeholders to configure and enhance the performance management module, forms, workflows, reporting and user guidance, and coordination with Reward and Payroll on links between performance outcomes and merit or recognition processes, where applicable.

Professional Focus

Successful candidates will apply evidence based, user centred and data informed approaches to strengthen performance management practice across the university. This includes maintaining awareness of leading practice in performance management, analytics and bias mitigation, translating insights into practical enhancements, and ensuring strong governance, risk controls and documentation standards appropriate to a higher education context.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and maintain performance management policies, guidance and rubrics that promote fairness and consistency across the university, covering faculty and staff populations.
• Own the annual performance cycle, including timeline, governance, communications and quality assurance, supporting high completion rates and timely outcomes.
• Partner with the Director of HR and Administration to advise managers on coaching, feedback, and addressing performance gaps, with appropriate escalation pathways and documentation.
• Develop manager training materials and facilitate sessions on objective setting, fair assessment, documentation quality, and confident handling of difficult conversations.
• Support the design and use of development plans, capability processes and performance improvement plans, ensuring appropriate documentation, risk controls and stakeholder alignment.
• Recommend, design and administer competency and skills models used across performance management, recruitment and development.
• Design and support calibration and moderation practices to improve consistency and mitigate bias.
• Analyse cycle outcomes and longitudinal trends, producing actionable dashboards and periodic reporting for HR leadership.
• Run pulse checks and surveys for employees and managers, translating feedback into improvements to process, communications and user experience.
• Partner with HRIS stakeholders to configure and improve performance management system forms, workflows, reporting and user guidance.
• Coordinate with Reward and Payroll on links between performance outcomes and merit or recognition processes, where applicable.
• Engage key stakeholders including HR Business Partners, Employee Relations, Reward, Learning and Development, HRIS, faculty and professional services leaders, line managers, governance committees, and internal communications and legal or compliance as needed.
• Success measures may include performance cycle completion and timeliness by unit, manager training completion and post training confidence scores, quality assurance outcomes such as rubric adherence and documentation quality, performance related grievance trends and resolution timelines, and employee experience feedback on clarity, fairness and usefulness of the process.

Why Join CUD

At Canadian University Dubai, you will join a student centred, forward looking institution that values excellence, collaboration and continuous improvement. This role offers the opportunity to shape a university wide performance culture for faculty and staff, strengthen manager capability, and introduce data informed practices that support fairness, accountability and development across the university. You will work closely with senior leaders and HR colleagues to deliver practical, high impact improvements, while contributing to an inclusive environment where people are supported to do their best work and progress their careers.

Canadian University Dubai is committed to fostering an inclusive working environment and is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to background, identity, or status protected by applicable law.

Established in 2006, CUD is one of the most promising universities in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asian region, QS Ranked in the top 2% of Universities in the World, the #1 University in Dubai, and 21st in the Arab Region according to the QS Arab Region Rankings 2025.

Our expanded City Walk campus hosts state-of-the-art amenities with a focus on entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity. Combining all the essential elements of technology, the avant-garde campus brings a new experience to students, featuring: laboratories, research facilities, media studios, high-tech classrooms, a multipurpose theatre, gymnasium, student centre, plenty of dining and entertainment options, and many more!

With the world’s fastest growing population, Dubai is home to an exciting, diverse, multi-cultural blend of young, dynamic, professionals, all drawn to the Emirate for its unrivalled lifestyle and the outstanding employment prospects.