Oracle
Maryam Ali
Senior Human Resources Leader With 20+ Years Experience
Dubai
Summary
Strategic HR and People & Culture Executive with 20+ years of international experience architecting enterprise-wide people strategies and leading organisational transformation across Education, FMCG, Retail, and global entities including the United Nations. Proven success in partnering with C-Suite and Boards to design and implement multi-year workforce strategies that drive business growth, organisational agility, and culture change at scale. Expertise spans talent architecture, leadership pipeline acceleration, total rewards optimisation, predictive workforce analytics, and diversity & inclusion strategies — delivering measurable impact on engagement, retention, and organisational performance. Renowned for leading digital HR transformation, embedding EVP-driven employee experience strategies, and building future-ready workforces through data-driven decision-making and evidence-based HR innovation across multi-country, complex environments.
Overview
23
23
years of professional experience
Work History
Group Head of HR
Taaleem- Education
08.2022 - Current
- Scaled HR for growth: Built a group-wide HR operating model enabling rapid expansion. Successfully integrated multiple acquisitions (incl. Kids First Nursery Group) and prepared new premium school openings, harmonising HR systems, staffing, onboarding, and culture to deliver operational readiness from day one.
- EVP & talent brand architect: Designed and delivered Taaleem’s Employer Value Proposition, embedding it into recruitment campaigns, branded onboarding materials, and employee experience programmes. Boosted offer acceptance rates, improved early retention, and established Taaleem as a top-tier education employer in the UAE.
- Internship & early careers programme: Founded Taaleem’s internship programme in partnership with leading UAE universities. Delivered a 80% conversion rate of interns into permanent roles, reduced external recruitment spend, supported Emiratisation targets, and built a sustainable early careers pipeline.
- High-volume workforce strategy: Accountable for ~800 new hires annually across academic, operational, and support functions. Introduced advanced workforce planning and talent forecasting tools to ensure timely, cost-effective staffing aligned with growth targets.
- Leadership development & succession: Built internal mobility and retention frameworks, embedding succession planning and career pathways for future Principals, Heads of Department, and central office leaders. Designed leadership development pathways to grow senior capability internally.
- Digital HR transformation: Spearheaded group-wide Oracle HR integration, automating workflows, centralising data, and delivering real-time analytics for predictive workforce planning, retention modelling, and executive decision-making.
- Culture & engagement leadership: Transformed employee experience by embedding insights from the YourVoice survey into group-wide culture and wellbeing strategies. Introduced diversity and inclusion initiatives, wellbeing programmes, and enhanced HR advisory support across all schools.
- Nationalization leadership: Achieved 100% Emiratisation compliance in Abu Dhabi, secured Executive Board approval for Dubai’s group-wide strategy, and built sustainable pipelines for UAE Nationals into leadership and teaching roles.
- Onboarding excellence: Architected Taaleem’s onboarding strategy, introducing branded welcome packs, orientation frameworks, and manager toolkits that reduced early attrition and accelerated new hire productivity.
- M&A and change leadership: Led HR due diligence and risk management for mergers, acquisitions, and sensitive organizational transitions. Mitigated compliance, cultural, and operational risks while ensuring continuity of service.
- Executive & Board advisor: Trusted advisor to C-Suite, Executive Team, Board, and School Principals on organizational design, workforce structures, and long-term talent strategy.
- Governance & compliance: Modernized HR policy frameworks, ensuring compliance with UAE labour law and alignment with Taaleem’s future-focused strategic goals.
- Data-driven HR: Embedded KPI dashboards, SLA governance, hiring manager satisfaction metrics, and workforce analytics into HR operations, ensuring accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement.
- External stakeholder engagement: Built cross-functional relationships with government authorities, regulators, and education partners to align Taaleem’s workforce strategies with national priorities and enhance its positioning as an employer of choice.
HR Consultant
UAE Pavillion- EXPO 2020
08.2021 - 01.2022
- Strategic HR leadership: Led Pavilion HR strategy—performance management, rewards, employee relations and engagement—delivering a 20% uplift in employee satisfaction and a 15% reduction in turnover during peak operations.
- Talent & workforce readiness: Designed and executed targeted talent programmes to meet Expo staffing needs, improving retention and operational readiness while ensuring consistent, high-quality guest experiences.
- Diversity & EVP: Strengthened the Pavilion’s employer brand and EVP for a global audience, driving a 40% increase in diversity hiring and a 30% uplift in engagement across a multicultural workforce.
- Training & capability building: Architected a comprehensive training curriculum (induction, customer experience, safety, cultural briefings, crisis response, and leadership clinics) and a train-the-trainer model to scale capability quickly. Outcomes included a 30% rise in training satisfaction, a 15% improvement in team performance, faster time-to-competence, and demonstrable gains in frontline service quality.
- Wellbeing & resilience: Designed and deployed a Pavilion Wellbeing Programme (on-site wellbeing hubs, confidential counselling, fatigue management, resilience workshops and structured debriefs). This programme directly supported the Pavilion’s engagement gains and contributed to reduced short-term absence and improved staff resilience and performance under sustained operational pressure.
- Technology & onboarding efficiency: Optimised recruitment and onboarding workflows using HR systems and analytics—cutting time-to-hire by 25% and onboarding time by 20%, ensuring staff were Expo-ready from day one.
- Change leadership & rapid scale: Delivered high-impact HR projects under compressed timelines, enabling seamless scaling up and down of temporary staffing without service disruption.
- Governance & compliance: Maintained 100% compliance with UAE labour and Expo operational requirements while accelerating HR service delivery by 25%.
- Measurement & Executive reporting: Introduced pulse surveys and KPI dashboards to measure wellbeing, training effectiveness and operational readiness — enabling real-time, evidence-led decisions for Pavilion leadership.
HR Lead
CTG- The United Nations
05.2017 - 05.2020
- Strategic HR leadership: Acted as the trusted advisor to global business heads, leading on performance management, rewards, engagement, and ER policy. Increased employee satisfaction by 20% and reduced turnover during periods of organizational change by 15%, directly improving operational stability.
- Talent strategy & retention: Designed and implemented global talent management programmes, achieving a 25% improvement in retention and building alignment between talent pipelines and CTG’s business growth strategy.
- Diversity & EVP leadership: Championed D&I and shaped CTG’s EVP, resulting in a 40% increase in diversity hiringand a 30% uplift in engagement, positioning CTG as an inclusive, purpose-driven employer.
- Leadership & learning development: Architected and delivered leadership development and learning programmes, driving a 30% increase in employee satisfaction, improved promotion rates, and a 20% uplift in leadership bench strength across the global workforce.
- Technology-enabled transformation: Leveraged HR technology and analytics to redesign recruitment, onboarding, and talent development processes — cutting time-to-hire by 25%, improving process efficiency by 20%, and driving 25% higher engagement with talent systems.
- Performance, pay & equity: Directed global performance management cycles, rewards, and pay equity reviews. Delivered a 15% improvement in pay equity and raised employee satisfaction with compensation by 20%, reinforcing a culture of meritocracy and fairness.
- Change leadership & workforce planning: Partnered with leaders to manage organizational change and team building, reducing voluntary turnover by 20%. Enhanced workforce productivity by 10% through strategic workforce planning and optimized talent allocation.
- Employee experience & onboarding: Redesigned onboarding strategy, boosting new hire satisfaction by 20% and reducing onboarding time by 25%. Improved employee lifecycle experience through structured offboarding insights, directly reducing attrition.
- Governance & compliance: Ensured global HR operations maintained 100% compliance with labour laws and data privacy regulations.
Head of HR & Talent Acquisition
Unilever- FMCG
02.2015 - 02.2017
Senior HRBP
Apparel Group- Retail
08.2010 - 12.2014
Talent Acquisition Manager
Arcadia Group- Retail
01.2003 - 08.2010
Education
Post Graduate Diploma - Business Management And Strategic Human Resources
Essex University
CIPD Human Resources Practice -
Oakwood College
BSc (Hons) - Psychology
Roehampton University
Skills
Strategy Development & Execution
Software
Salesforce
Taleo
Talentera
Sniperhire
Timeline
Group Head of HR
Taaleem- Education
08.2022 - Current
HR Consultant
UAE Pavillion- EXPO 2020
08.2021 - 01.2022
HR Lead
CTG- The United Nations
05.2017 - 05.2020
Head of HR & Talent Acquisition
Unilever- FMCG
02.2015 - 02.2017
Senior HRBP
Apparel Group- Retail
08.2010 - 12.2014
Talent Acquisition Manager
Arcadia Group- Retail
01.2003 - 08.2010
CIPD Human Resources Practice -
Oakwood College
BSc (Hons) - Psychology
Roehampton University
Post Graduate Diploma - Business Management And Strategic Human Resources
Essex University