Saudi Arabia
16 years ago, I stepped into HR within Saudi Arabia's industrial heartland, supporting one of the Kingdom's largest refining and petrochemicals ventures. From that foundation, I have built a career heading people functions across petrochemicals, energy services, steel manufacturing, and operations and maintenance. Along the way, I have recruited around 1,500 professionals across five continents and partnered with plant GMs, Group HR Directors, and board members to translate corporate objectives into SMART HR KPIs and dashboards. My focus has always been on turning HR into a measurable contributor to the business. I am known for restructuring HR functions to deliver real savings, lifting employee engagement, raising IKTVA performance, and embedding Saudization frameworks aligned with Nitaqat. I have also implemented enterprise HRIS platforms such as SAP and SuccessFactors, replacing manual processes with stronger data controls. ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐ก๐ข๐๐ฏ๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ โ๏ธ Saved SAR 1M annually in HR costs by restructuring a workforce contract, securing ~80 company-sponsored visas, and converting 70 contractors to direct hires. โ๏ธ Lifted Employee Engagement Survey results from lowest ranked to No. 1 of seven ENGIE Middle East sister companies through an open-door policy and two-way communication. โ๏ธ Reduced headcount from 75 to 15 and delivered SAR 2M in annualised savings by re-engineering the department, controlling rentals and overtime and right-sizing workforce. โ๏ธ Raised IKTVA score by 11 points by managing certification with Saudi Aramco's IKTVA Certification Unit, Supply Chain, RDD, Unconventional Resources and Drilling Workover. โ๏ธ Hired ~1,500 employees over three years at NESR across Asia, Africa, North America, South America and Europe, and built a 200+ employee department from scratch. โ๏ธ Eliminated turnover of critical-role expatriate Refinery Panel Operators by diagnosing family-status limitations as the root cause and securing HR Committee approval. ๐๐ซ๐๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ โ๏ธ Master of Business Administration (MBA), SBS Swiss Business School (Expected Jan 2026) โ๏ธ Bachelor of Human Resources Management, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah | GPA 4.7/5.0 โ๏ธ Chartered Member CIPD (MCIPD), CIPD, London, UK โ๏ธ Certified Professional Human Resources (CPHR), AHRI, Melbourne, Australia โ๏ธ CIPD Level 3 in HR Practice, CIPD, London, UK I'm open to new professional collaborations; feel free to InMail me.
My role centred on leading employee relations, recruitment, contractual workforce management, payroll and training and development functions. I reported into the Managing Director with five direct reports, shaping HR delivery for the steel manufacturing operation. Key Achievements โ๏ธ Translated corporate objectives into department-level and individual-level goals and initiated SMART HR KPIs reflected on a department dashboard, enabling leadership to make informed HR decisions. โ๏ธ Reviewed HRIS modules during UAT, challenged gaps between HR requirements and IT delivery, and revised process maps and payroll equations to improve system readiness before final implementation. โ๏ธ Re-engineered payroll delivery to align with the direct-hire conversion programme, resulting in ensuring on-time pay runs for newly transferred employees and avoiding disruption.
Here, I delivered the full HR model across recruitment, training and development, performance management, HRIS, KPI reporting, compensation and benefits, and employee relations. Alongside the HR remit, I held the Ethics & Compliance Officer accountability for the plant. Key Achievements โ๏ธ Refreshed the local compensation and benefits package and updated local HR policies and procedures to close documentation gaps and standardise day-to-day HR decisions. โ๏ธ Increased female representation by 15% across technical departments, including Operations, Engineering and Chemistry Laboratory, strengthening diversity outcomes within a traditionally male dominated operational environment. โ๏ธ Built internal communication framework to cascade business information and build a cohesive workforce. โ๏ธ Owned administrative communications with Saudi authorities, the owner company JWAP and government labour departments, resulting in protecting the plant's regulatory standing. โ๏ธ Executed Ethics & Compliance programme, including risk management, ethical incident handling and periodic management reporting, while embedding One ENGIE Safety Culture and One ENGIE Policy initiatives.
In this role, I led HR Operations, Payroll and Government Relations, restructuring the organisation and shared services footprint to minimise cost and tighten process control across HR, logistics and procurement. Key Achievements โ๏ธ Restructured the organisation and cascaded business objectives to every employee and built a productivity-based Performance Management System to align individual output with business deliverables. โ๏ธ Identified a serious travel management control breach during procurement spend review, uncovering SAR 3M in unsupported payments made without formal requests, approvals or valid documentation. โ๏ธ Partnered with IT to automate HR, petty cash, transportation, logistics, workforce planning and purchasing, removing manual effort and strengthening controls across shared services.
I took ownership of HR and Shared Services at Hadiyah, with a focus on procurement governance and knowledge management initiatives that supported donor confidence and institutional continuity. Key Achievements โ๏ธ Improved donor satisfaction by 30% by strengthening procurement governance through a dedicated vendor selection committee, clear vendor evaluation criteria and more reliable project delivery, with outcomes communicated across key donor engagement forums, including Hajj Expo. โ๏ธ Initiated a Knowledge Management project through an external consultant, from scope of work definition through consultant selection, to capture institutional knowledge that would otherwise be lost at employee exit.