
Robert Walters
Vice President - Talent Acquisition & Onboarding
- Permanent
- Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Experience 10 - 15 yrs
Job expiry date: 28/05/2026
Job overview
Date posted
13/04/2026
Location
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Salary
Undisclosed
Compensation
Job description
Vice President - Talent Acquisition & Onboarding (UAE National) role based in Abu Dhabi within a large, complex organisation focused on Human Resources and Talent Acquisition leadership. The role is responsible for developing and executing the organisationās end-to-end talent acquisition strategy to ensure attraction and hiring of high-quality talent across all levels, including senior leadership and executive positions. The position involves partnering with senior leaders and HR stakeholders to translate business and workforce requirements into structured recruitment plans aligned with current and future organisational needs. It oversees the full recruitment lifecycle including workforce planning, sourcing, selection, interview coordination, offer negotiation, and onboarding processes. The role is responsible for strengthening employer branding through recruitment marketing initiatives, digital platforms, and industry engagement while also building and maintaining strong talent pipelines for critical and hard-to-fill roles. It includes oversight of executive search activities and management of external search firms where required. The role ensures continuous improvement of recruitment processes, systems, and policies to enhance efficiency, consistency, and candidate experience. It also establishes and monitors talent acquisition KPIs such as time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, and candidate satisfaction, leveraging data and analytics to drive strategic workforce decisions. Additionally, the role focuses on building relationships with universities, professional associations, and industry networks to support long-term talent attraction strategies. As a leadership role, it involves managing and developing the Talent Acquisition team, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement while supporting employee development and aligning team performance with organisational objectives.
Required skills
Key responsibilities
- Develop and implement a comprehensive talent acquisition strategy aligned with organisational workforce planning needs to attract, source, and hire high-quality talent across all levels including executive leadership positions.
- Partner with senior leadership and HR stakeholders to translate business objectives into effective recruitment plans, ensuring alignment between talent needs and organisational growth strategy.
- Lead and manage the full recruitment lifecycle including workforce planning, sourcing, screening, selection, interviewing, offer negotiation, and onboarding processes across the organisation.
- Oversee executive search activities and manage relationships with external recruitment agencies and headhunting firms to support senior and niche hiring requirements.
- Drive continuous improvement of recruitment processes, systems, and policies to enhance efficiency, consistency, compliance, and overall candidate experience across all hiring activities.
- Strengthen employer branding initiatives through recruitment marketing, digital engagement, industry networking, and partnerships with universities and professional associations.
- Establish, monitor, and report on talent acquisition KPIs including time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, quality-of-hire, and candidate satisfaction to support data-driven decision-making.
- Lead and develop the Talent Acquisition team by fostering collaboration, performance excellence, innovation, and continuous professional development aligned with organisational goals.
Experience & skills
- Demonstrate 12+ years of experience in talent acquisition or recruitment leadership roles within large or complex organisations, with proven exposure to executive-level hiring.
- Apply strong expertise in developing and executing end-to-end talent acquisition strategies aligned with workforce planning and organisational growth objectives.
- Exhibit extensive experience in executive search, senior-level recruitment, and management of external recruitment agencies and headhunting firms.
- Demonstrate ability to build and maintain talent pipelines for critical, senior, and hard-to-fill roles across multiple business functions.
- Utilize recruitment analytics and HR metrics such as time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, and candidate satisfaction to drive performance improvements and strategic workforce decisions.
- Exhibit strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence and partner with senior leadership and cross-functional HR teams.
- Hold a bachelorās degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related discipline, with a masterās degree preferred for advanced HR leadership capability.
- Demonstrate strong leadership capability in managing, mentoring, and developing high-performing Talent Acquisition teams within a values-driven organisational culture.