People Partner

Job description / Role

Inspire | Exhilarate | Delight

For over seven decades, Chalhoub Group has been a partner and creator of luxury experiences in the Middle East. In its pursuit to excel as a hybrid luxury retailer, the Group has curated a portfolio of over 10 owned brands and strengthened its distribution and marketing expertise for over 400 international names across luxury fashion, beauty, jewellery, watches, eyewear, and art de vivre categories.

Every step at Chalhoub Group is taken to build a future where luxury dreams become reality - bridging cultures and crafting memorable experiences for our consumers. Be it by constantly reinventing itself, committing to innovation, or embracing new technologies, the Group is shaping the future of luxury retail. It delivers seamless omnichannel experiences across more than 950 stores, online platforms, and mobile apps. Driving this innovation journey is The Greenhouse - the Group's innovation hub, incubator, and accelerator for startups and emerging businesses, regionally and globally.

Chalhoub Group fosters a people-at-heart culture rooted in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and a workplace catalysed by forward thinking and future-proofing. Today, it brings together over 16,000 talented professionals across eight countries in the Middle East, with a presence in LATAM. Their collective efforts have earned the Group the Great Place to Work® certification in several markets.

Sustainability is at the core of the Group's strategy, guided by a clear commitment to people, partners, and the planet. Chalhoub Group is proud to be a member of the United Nations Global Compact, a signatory of the Women's Empowerment Principles, and to have pledged to reach Net Zero by 2040.

What you'll be doing

The People Partner will be demonstrating strategic HR leadership by aligning initiatives with organizational strategy and values, serving as a key partner to divisional heads and managing directors across countries, effectively managing senior stakeholder management and engagement. The People Partner acts as a strategic advisor to business leadership, aligning people initiatives with organizational strategy across multiple countries. The role drives workforce effectiveness, talent development, engagement, and organizational excellence while ensuring operational rigor, compliance, and a high-performing culture.

Strategic Partnership

• Serve as a strategic partner and key stakeholder to Divisional Heads and Managing Directors across countries, ensuring HR strategies are aligned with business objectives.
• Translate business strategy into people initiatives through workforce planning, budgeting, and organizational design.
• Lead organizational mapping and structure optimization to improve efficiency, scalability, and performance.

Workforce planning & organizational effectiveness

• Own workforce planning and budgeting processes for both Backoffice and Frontline employees across countries, optimizing resource allocation.
• Lead organizational design and effectiveness initiatives, including role clarity, spans and layers, and succession planning.
• Oversee store openings and closures, ensuring seamless people transitions and regulatory compliance.

Talent, performance & leadership development

• Manage the National Graduate Programme, identifying and developing high-potential talent for future leadership roles.
• Oversee the Performance Management Cycle, ensuring fair, objective, and consistent performance evaluations.
• Partner with Learning & Development and other HR Centers of Excellence to build organizational capabilities.
• Facilitate coaching, feedback, and leadership development interventions.
• Lead succession planning for critical roles.

Employee engagement & culture

• Lead employee engagement initiatives to foster a culture of commitment, inclusion, and high performance in collaboration with People Experience & Culture teams.
• Conduct Employee Engagement Surveys, diagnose results, and drive action plans to improve engagement and retention.
• Champion Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, promoting an inclusive culture of belonging.

Employee relations & governance

• Manage employee relations, grievances, and disciplinary matters with fairness, consistency, and confidentiality.
• Ensure compliance with local labour laws and internal policies across all countries of operation.
• Maintain a positive, respectful, and legally compliant work environment.

Rewards & retention

• Lead rewards and recognition initiatives to motivate, engage, and retain top talent.
• Ensure competitive and equitable compensation practices aligned with market and internal equity.

What we can offer you

With us, you will turn your aspirations into reality. We will help shape your journey through enriching experiences, learning and development opportunities and exposure to different assignments within your role or through internal mobility. Our Group offers diverse career paths for those who are extraordinary, every day.

We recognise the value that you bring, and we strive to provide a competitive benefits package which includes health care, child education contribution, remote and flexible working policies as well as exclusive employee discounts.

What you'll need to succeed

• Bachelor's degree in HR, Business Administration, Psychology, or related field (Master's preferred).
• 8-12+ years of progressive HR experience, with strong exposure to HR Business Partnering in a regional or multi-country role.
• Demonstrated experience in organizational design, workforce planning, talent development, and employee relations.
• Experience working in matrixed, multi-cultural environments.

We invite all applicants to apply

It takes diversity of thought, culture, background, differing abilities and perspectives to truly inspire, exhilarate and delight our customers. At Chalhoub Group, we are committed to inclusion and diversity.

We welcome all applicants to apply and be part of our exciting future. We ensure equal opportunity for all our applicants without regard to gender, age, race, religion, national origin or disability status.

About the Company

The Chalhoub Group is the leading partner for luxury across the Middle East since 1955. As an expert in retail, distribution and marketing services based in Dubai, the group has become a major player in the fashion, beauty and gift sectors regionally.

By blending its Middle East expertise and intimate knowledge of luxury, Chalhoub Group is building brands in the region, by offering service excellence to all its partners and a unique experience to its customers through its passionate teams.

With a growing workforce of more than 9,000 people, implemented in 14 countries, as well as the operating of over 470 retail outlets, the group's success is attributed to its most valued asset of highly skilled and dedicated teams. Professionalism and passion are what fuel the Chalhoub Group's competitive edge in today's market.

By being committed to implementing sustainable practices into their business, the Chalhoub Group has been awarded in 2013 the CSR Label from the Dubai Chamber of Commerce.