AVP - People Operations

We’re hiring: AVP – People Operations

Emirates Flight Catering is looking for an accomplished HR leader to join us as AVP – People Operations, based in Dubai.

Reporting to the SVP – Human Resources, this is a senior leadership role with enterprise-wide responsibility for workforce planning, talent acquisition, mobilization and contingent workforce management across a large, complex organization of more than 10,000 employees.

The role will be instrumental in ensuring we have the right workforce, with the right capabilities, in the right place and at the right time to support our operational requirements and future growth.

The Opportunity

As AVP – People Operations, you will lead and integrate the organization’s workforce planning and resourcing agenda, translating business requirements into effective people and talent strategies while ensuring strong operational delivery.

You will provide strategic and operational leadership across:

• Enterprise-wide workforce and manpower planning

• Talent acquisition and recruitment delivery

• High-volume and multi-category hiring

• Onboarding and mobilization

• Contingent workforce strategy and management

• Workforce analytics, forecasting and reporting

• People technology and process optimization

• Recruitment governance, compliance and risk

• Vendor and outsourced recruitment partnerships

• Budget and cost optimization

• Leadership and development of high-performing teams

You will work closely with HR Business Partners, Finance and senior business leaders to forecast workforce requirements, identify capability and resource gaps, and ensure approved manpower plans are translated into timely, high-quality and cost-effective recruitment and mobilization solutions.

What We’re Looking For

We are seeking a senior HR leader who combines strategic workforce thinking with strong operational execution and has successfully operated at scale within the UAE.

You will bring:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration or a related discipline

• A minimum of 10 years’ HR experience, including significant experience across Workforce Planning and Talent Acquisition

• At least 6 years’ experience in a senior leadership or strategic management role

• Proven UAE experience is essential

• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise-wide workforce/manpower planning cycles

• Significant experience leading large-scale and high-volume talent acquisition across multiple employee categories

• Experience translating workforce forecasts into practical recruitment and mobilization strategies

• Strong understanding of contingent workforce models, vendor management and outsourced recruitment solutions

• Experience leading onboarding and mobilization within complex, high-volume environments

• Strong workforce analytics and data-driven decision-making capability

• Experience with HR/TA technologies, digital recruitment and onboarding solutions

• Strong commercial awareness, including budget and cost management

• Excellent senior stakeholder management and influencing capability

• A proven track record of building and developing high-performing teams

Experience within aviation, hospitality, logistics, manufacturing, large-scale services or another operationally complex environment would be highly advantageous.

This is an opportunity for a forward-thinking People leader who understands how workforce strategy, talent acquisition and operational execution come together to enable business performance.

If you have successfully led complex People Operations at scale within the UAE and are ready for your next leadership challenge, we would be pleased to hear from you.