Purpose 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
 6.  Manpower Planning, Budgeting & Organization Design ·         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.
6. 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.
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.