Senior HR Business Partner

Job description / Role

Job overview

RAK Academy is a family of highly regarded international schools that provide both British and International Baccalaureate curriculum pathways. Our vision is to develop ‘Learning Excellence with a Community Heart’. By ensuring excellent leadership at all levels throughout our schools we aim to provide our students with a world class education, which is also based on an ethos of sustainability.

The role

The Senior HR Business Partner will serve as a strategic partner to Academy leadership, providing expert HR guidance and solutions to drive organizational effectiveness. This role will focus on talent acquisition, HR data analytics, staff development, performance management, and employee engagement, ensuring alignment of HR strategies with the school’s vision and operational objectives.

Key responsibilities

Talent acquisition, workforce planning & recruitment

• Lead and oversee the full recruitment lifecycle for teaching and non-teaching staff. Develop and execute strategic recruitment plans for academic and non-academic across all departments.
• Source candidates through diverse channels including job boards, social media, recruitment fairs, and international networks.
• Ensure all recruitment practices comply with UAE Labor Law, Ministry of Education regulations, and align with UK Curriculum and IB recruitment standards and practices.
• Provide specialist advice on current and future recruitment needs including supporting the development of position descriptions, drafting of job ads and recommendations for posting. Advertising, screening, shortlisting, interview management, and candidate tracking for all new staff.
• Play a key role in the design, development, and implementation of strategic workforce plans (focusing on capacity, capability, culture and change leadership) that are aligned with business goals and outcomes.
• Build and maintain talent pipelines to ensure timely hiring of high-quality candidates.
• Design and deliver effective and contemporary induction and orientation programs.
• Collaborate and execute local and international recruitment events.

Employer branding

• Promote the school’s values and culture to attract high-quality candidates.
• Represent the school at recruitment events, conferences, and career fairs.

Onboarding & compliance

• Facilitate smooth onboarding processes for new hires, including visa processing, documentation, and orientation.
• Maintain accurate records of recruitment activities and ensure compliance with internal policies and external regulations.

HR data analytics & reporting

• Track and optimize recruitment metrics using HR analytics tools and Power BI.
• Analyse workforce trends and candidate pipelines to guide hiring strategies.
• Provide data on early performance trends to support retention and development.
• Build dashboards and visual reports to present insights to leadership.
• Use predictive analytics to forecast staffing needs and talent gaps.
• Ensure data accuracy and compliance with data protection regulations.
• Interpret complex data sets and dashboards to inform decision-making.
• Apply HR analytics techniques using both quantitative and qualitative data.
• Set up and monitor KPIs to drive recruitment and business outcomes.
• Contribute to workforce planning, succession strategies, and restructuring.
• Collaborate with Payroll, ERP, Leave Management, and Compensation & Benefits teams to deliver integrated HR solutions.

Employee relations & engagement

• Foster a positive and inclusive work environment by addressing employee concerns and grievances.
• Design and implement staff engagement initiatives, recognition programs, and development activities.
• Promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within the school community.

The candidate must have:

• Bachelor’s degree or other equivalent degree.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in a similar role at an educational institute.

The school offers:

• Lucrative remuneration package.

RAK Academy Family of Schools is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Applicants must have undergone a child protection screening to receive an offer of employment. You will be required to provide a Police Verification Check from your home country along with attestation of your qualifications and personal documents, e.g. degree, marriage certificate etc. The list of checks will be provided to candidates shortlisted for an interview.

Please note:
Incomplete applications will not be considered.
RAK Academy reserves the right to make an appointment at any stage of the recruitment process.