Head of Human Resources

Head of Human Resources

Location: Dubai, UAE
Reporting to: CEO
Work Arrangement: Dubai-based; remote collaboration may be possible during the initial stage, with future office arrangements to be discussed.

About Us

We are a gaming and social platform focused on international markets. We are currently at the product validation and 0-to-1 team-building stage.

At this stage, we are intentionally building a lean organization and prioritizing experienced leaders and key contributors who can take ownership, operate independently, and deliver meaningful results.

We are looking for a Head of Human Resources who is highly hands-on, has a strong track record in recruiting senior leaders and critical talent, and is comfortable working closely with the CEO in an entrepreneurial and fast-moving environment.

The Role

Reporting directly to the CEO, the Head of Human Resources will play a key role in building our core leadership team and organization.

The immediate and most important priority of this role is recruitment.

You will personally identify, source, attract, assess, and close senior leaders and key hires while also establishing an effective recruitment approach for other active positions across the company.

Beyond recruitment, you will work closely with the CEO and business leaders on organizational design, role definition, hiring priorities, talent assessment, and people-related decisions as the company develops.

This is not a traditional HR role focused primarily on policies, processes, or building a large HR department. We are looking for someone who is comfortable being hands-on and directly accountable for hiring outcomes.

The successful candidate should be able to move between strategic discussions with the CEO and hands-on execution—whether that means identifying a senior candidate, conducting an interview, negotiating an offer, reviewing the recruitment pipeline, or helping determine which roles the company should prioritize.

Key Responsibilities1. Senior Leadership & Critical Talent Recruitment

• Take direct ownership of recruiting senior leaders and critical hires across the organization.
• Personally handle candidate sourcing, outreach, engagement, assessment, interview coordination, offer discussions, negotiations, and onboarding progress.
• Proactively identify and approach high-quality candidates rather than relying solely on inbound applications, recruitment agencies, or company brand recognition.
• Recruit across key functions such as Product, Technology, Marketing, Operations, Finance, and Risk.
• Build strong relationships with senior candidates and effectively communicate the opportunity, particularly in an early-stage company environment.
• Manage complex candidate concerns and offer negotiations to achieve successful hiring outcomes.

2. Company-Wide Recruitment

• Own recruitment delivery across all active positions.
• Develop different recruitment strategies for senior leadership, key individual contributors, and execution-level positions.
• Coordinate internal recruiters, external search firms, local recruitment channels, and business leaders to ensure hiring targets are delivered effectively.
• Establish appropriate candidate pipelines and sourcing channels for different functions and seniority levels.
• Ensure recruitment quality is not sacrificed for hiring volume or speed.

3. Recruitment Data & Performance Management

• Establish practical recruitment tracking and reporting mechanisms.
• Monitor talent sources, candidate pipelines, interview conversion, offer acceptance, time-to-hire, and early-stage employee performance.
• Identify recruitment bottlenecks and determine whether issues relate to sourcing channels, compensation, job definition, candidate quality, or internal decision-making.
• Continuously improve recruitment effectiveness based on data and actual hiring outcomes.

4. Organizational Design & Hiring Priorities

• Work directly with the CEO and business leaders to define organizational priorities and determine which roles should be hired first.
• Help clarify responsibilities, reporting relationships, candidate profiles, and role boundaries.
• Contribute to building a lean and effective organizational structure appropriate for the company's current stage.
• Challenge unnecessary or premature hiring where appropriate.
• Identify overlapping responsibilities, unclear ownership, talent mismatches, or ineffective leadership arrangements and recommend practical adjustments.

5. Talent Assessment & Post-Hire Validation

• Evaluate candidates beyond academic background, previous employers, titles, and interview presentation.
• Assess actual capability, motivation, judgment, risk factors, and team fit.
• Follow up on the onboarding and early performance of key hires.
• Evaluate whether newly hired leaders and key employees are successfully taking ownership of their responsibilities.
• Identify potential role or talent mismatches early and recommend corrective actions when necessary.
• Use post-hire performance to continuously improve future hiring decisions.

6. CEO & Business Partnership

• Work closely with the CEO on critical talent and organizational decisions.
• Provide independent professional judgment rather than simply executing hiring requests.
• Be comfortable challenging assumptions and presenting alternative recommendations when necessary.
• Once a decision is made, take ownership of execution and drive the agreed approach forward.
• Balance HR judgment with practical business needs and the realities of an early-stage company.

7. HR & Administrative Coordination

• Oversee lean HR and administrative support appropriate for the company's current stage.
• Ensure essential HR administration, employment documentation, visa/licensing-related processes, and external professional services are properly coordinated.
• Establish practical HR processes where necessary without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.
• Maintain high standards of confidentiality, candidate privacy, and professional conduct.

RequirementsProfessional Experience

• Bachelor's degree or above.
• 8+ years of relevant Human Resources experience.
• 3+ years of experience in a senior HR leadership, HRBP leadership, Organizational Development leadership, or strategic talent leadership role.
• Proven experience working in both:
• a mature gaming company, gaming operations platform, or strong social/community platform; and
• a startup, new business unit, early-stage company, or 0-to-1 team-building environment.
• Experience working directly with founders, CEOs, or senior business leaders on organizational and critical talent decisions.

Hands-On Recruitment Track Record

Candidates must have a demonstrated track record of personally recruiting and successfully closing senior leaders and key talent.

We are particularly interested in candidates who have personally recruited across multiple functions, including:

• Product
• Technology / Engineering
• Marketing
• Operations
• Finance
• Risk / Compliance
• Other critical business functions

Candidates should be able to clearly explain:

• Which senior or critical hires they personally recruited.
• How they identified and approached those candidates.
• How they attracted candidates to the opportunity.
• Their personal role throughout the interview and assessment process.
• How they managed compensation discussions and offer negotiations.
• Why the candidates ultimately accepted.
• How those hires performed after joining.

Experience managing a recruitment team alone is not sufficient. This role requires someone who can personally source, assess, engage, and close critical talent.

Recruitment Leadership

• Ability to manage recruitment across leadership, key individual contributor, and execution-level positions.
• Strong understanding of direct sourcing and proactive talent mapping.
• Ability to coordinate internal recruiters, external search firms, local channels, and hiring managers.
• Experience using recruitment data and pipeline metrics to improve hiring quality and efficiency.
• Ability to operate effectively without depending entirely on established employer branding or large recruitment teams.

Organizational Capability

• Experience contributing to lean organizational design or new-team formation.
• Ability to assess which positions are genuinely necessary at different stages of company development.
• Strong judgment regarding responsibilities, reporting structures, hiring priorities, and candidate fit.
• Experience identifying and correcting role mismatches, talent mismatches, or ineffective organizational arrangements.
• Ability to connect recruitment decisions with actual business requirements rather than treating recruitment as an isolated HR function.

Language Requirements

Professional working proficiency in both English and Mandarin Chinese is required.

Candidates must be comfortable using English as an independent working language, including:

• International candidate sourcing and outreach
• Candidate interviews
• Business meetings
• Written communication
• Cross-regional collaboration
• Compensation discussions and offer negotiations

Candidates must also have sufficient Mandarin Chinese proficiency to communicate effectively and professionally with Mandarin-speaking candidates, colleagues, business leaders, and other relevant stakeholders.

The role requires practical working capability in both languages rather than language certificates alone.

Personal Attributes

We are looking for someone who:

• Is highly hands-on and willing to personally execute.
• Has strong judgment regarding people and organizational decisions.
• Can operate effectively with limited structure and resources.
• Is comfortable working in a fast-moving and evolving environment.
• Can communicate directly and constructively with senior leadership.
• Is willing to challenge decisions professionally when necessary.
• Takes ownership once decisions have been made.
• Values talent quality over recruitment volume.
• Maintains strict confidentiality and respects candidate privacy.
• Does not rely on exaggerated promises to attract or close candidates.
• Is comfortable working across countries, cultures, and time zones.

Preferred Qualifications

The following experience would be an advantage:

• Experience supporting international businesses.
• Recruitment experience across Southeast Asian markets.
• Experience building or recruiting cross-regional teams.
• Previous entrepreneurial experience or experience as a core member of a founding team.
• Experience recruiting Product, Technology, Marketing, or other key functions across multiple countries or regions.

Why Join Us?Build the Core Team

You will work directly with the CEO to help build the company's core leadership team and first group of critical talent.

Meaningful Ownership

This role has direct influence over important recruitment and organizational decisions rather than simply executing established HR processes.

Results Over Bureaucracy

We prioritize the quality of talent and actual hiring outcomes rather than measuring HR success by the number of policies created, processes implemented, or size of the HR team.

Build From 0 to 1

You will have the opportunity to contribute during an important early stage of the company, helping determine how the organization and leadership team should develop.

Long-Term Growth

As the company develops, there is an opportunity for this position to grow from a hands-on HR and talent leadership role into a broader long-term organizational and talent partnership role based on actual contribution, trust, and business needs.

Working Relationship

Reports to: CEO
Location: Dubai, UAE
Collaboration: CEO, business leaders, recruitment channels, and external professional service providers
Work Arrangement: Dubai-based; remote collaboration may be possible during the initial stage, with future office arrangements to be discussed.

Who Should Apply?

This opportunity may be a strong fit if you have:

• Successfully built teams from the ground up.
• Personally recruited and closed senior-level talent.
• Experience in both mature organizations and 0-to-1 environments.
• Strong exposure to gaming, gaming platforms, or social/community businesses.
• Worked directly with founders or CEOs.
• The ability to operate professionally in both English and Mandarin Chinese.
• A hands-on mindset and genuine interest in building an organization during its early stages.

If you enjoy identifying exceptional people, building teams from the ground up, and working closely with senior leadership to turn business needs into the right organizational and talent decisions, we would be interested in hearing from you.

Pay: AED8,000.00 - AED12,000.00 per month

Work Location: In person