Independent HR advisory Dubai and international
I help founders, boards and leadership teams build commercially aligned People functions, strengthen organisational capability and deliver practical HR transformation across complex and regulated markets.
Available for selected fractional, advisory and project-based engagements.
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The business context
When People infrastructure has to catch up
Organisations can reach a point where founders and senior leaders are spending too much time resolving workforce issues, responsibilities are unclear, performance processes are inconsistent and hiring is moving faster than workforce planning.
The pressure increases when several countries or legal entities are involved, a restructuring is under way, or an HR platform has been purchased without the governance, data and change programme needed to make it work.
Sana provides senior People leadership that connects these operational challenges to business priorities, then turns the direction into practical systems, decisions and implementation.
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Advisory services
Senior support shaped around the business challenge
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For organisations that need executive-level People direction without immediately creating a permanent full-time HR Director position.
Sana can provide retained leadership across People strategy, governance, workforce planning, executive decision support and senior stakeholder matters. The role can stabilise a period of growth, transition or organisational change while building the internal capability required for the next stage.
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For businesses whose workforce has outgrown informal practices or a primarily administrative HR model.
Support can cover the People operating model, governance, policies, employee lifecycle, job architecture, grading, onboarding and service delivery. The objective is not to add bureaucracy, but to create a function that leaders and employees can rely on as the business scales.
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For leadership teams reviewing structure, accountability, cost, capability or future workforce requirements.
Sana supports organisation structure, role clarity, workforce planning, succession, job evaluation and reward frameworks. Work is designed around the operating reality of the organisation and can support restructuring, expansion or a change in commercial direction.
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For organisations that need more consistent decisions about hiring, performance, progression and leadership capability.
Engagements may include talent acquisition strategy, performance cycles, calibration, promotion frameworks, succession pipelines, graduate programmes, leadership assessment and development. The work focuses on improving management quality and decision discipline, not simply producing new forms.
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For People teams implementing HR systems or introducing AI without losing governance, confidentiality or human judgement.
Sana brings implementation experience across Rippling and Oracle HCM, alongside familiarity with BambooHR and CultureAmp. Support can include HRIS selection, process redesign, data governance, adoption, responsible AI frameworks, prompt libraries and controlled AI-assisted workflows.
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For leaders and teams who need structured space to make decisions, build capability and carry change into day-to-day management.
Support can include executive coaching, leadership development, organisation-design facilitation, performance conversations, HR transformation workshops, AI for HR sessions, stakeholder engagement and adoption planning.
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Selected impact
Sana's career combines executive advisory with the practical work of building teams, systems, governance and leadership infrastructure.
Developed core People infrastructure across multiple entities, including governance, policy foundations, job architecture, grading and onboarding. Led a multi-entity Rippling implementation and introduced responsible AI-supported HR workflows.
Built the Middle East People function, redesigned performance management and introduced structured review, calibration and promotion processes. Supported regional workforce scaling during a period of 52% revenue growth.
Led Oracle HCM implementation across talent, learning and performance, together with stakeholder engagement, training, communications and adoption. Redesigned talent, competency and succession frameworks around a wider modernisation agenda.
Led group-wide talent, learning and performance activity, created a graduate trainee programme and developed a group performance-management framework for a multinational workforce across Dubai's knowledge-economy sectors.
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Ways to engage
Flexible senior support
Ongoing senior People leadership for an agreed number of days or a defined period.
Consistent access to independent guidance for founders, boards and senior leadership teams.
Leadership of a defined organisation-design, HRIS, workforce or People-function project.
Structured one-to-one support for leaders navigating transition, growth or expanded responsibility.
Focused sessions on organisation design, performance, culture, change or responsible AI adoption.
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Career experience
Global, government-linked and high-growth organisations
Organisations shown represent career experience and do not imply endorsement or a current client relationship.
Most recent executive experience
Rain Fintech and digital assets
Led People strategy and operations across seven countries and seven legal entities, built core HR infrastructure, implemented Rippling and developed AI-supported workflows for complex multi-jurisdiction People operations.
2022-2025
Edelman Global communications
Built the regional People function, delivered more than 250 hires and redesigned performance, engagement, leadership and workforce-planning practices across the Middle East.
2020-2022
Emarat Government-owned energy
Led enterprise HR digital transformation and Oracle HCM deployment for a workforce of more than 3,500 employees.
Earlier experience
Oakleaf, Vogue Properties and TECOM Group
Advised regulated financial-services clients, built HR and operating functions in a real-estate scale-up, and led group talent, learning and performance across ten business sectors.
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About Sana
People strategy is most valuable when it improves the quality, pace and consistency of business decisions.
People strategy grounded in operational reality
Sana Saleem is an international HR leader with approximately 20 years of experience across regulated, high-growth, multinational and government-linked organisations. Her work has repeatedly involved building People functions from the ground up and moving HR from fragmented administration to a commercially aligned operating function.
She combines executive-level advice with practical implementation: organisation design, policy and governance, job architecture, workforce planning, performance, succession, leadership development, HR technology and change. Her experience spans the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United States, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.
Alongside HR transformation, Sana has developed a practical approach to responsible AI adoption within People teams. The emphasis is on controlled use, human oversight, confidentiality and better decision support rather than automation for its own sake.
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HR technology and AI
Practical systems, responsible adoption
Sana has led enterprise and multi-entity HRIS implementations, including Rippling and Oracle HCM, and works with platforms such as BambooHR and CultureAmp. Her approach begins with the operating model and the decisions the system must support, then addresses data, ownership, workflow and adoption.
AI-enabled work can include employment-practice research, policy-development support, scenario modelling, workforce-risk assessment and internal prompt frameworks. These workflows retain human review and do not replace qualified legal advice, HR judgement or executive accountability.
Define the decision and workflow before selecting or configuring technology.
Clarify ownership, access, quality and retention before increasing automation.
Use AI to support analysis and drafting, not to remove accountable judgement.
Build training, communication and behavioural change into the implementation.
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Coaching and facilitation
Coaching and workshops are designed around live leadership demands: transition, accountability, difficult conversations, performance, culture, organisation design and change. The objective is to strengthen the quality of management decisions and the ability to carry them through consistently.
Executive coach with ICF/ACTH-aligned coaching credentials.
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Professional background
CIPD Level 7, Strategic People Management - in progress
BBA, HR and Marketing - Ajman University
Certified NLP Coach - ICF/ACTH, 2013
Rippling, BambooHR, CultureAmp and Oracle HCM
Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, applied to controlled HR research, drafting, modelling and risk assessment
Fintech, financial services, communications, energy, government-linked organisations, real estate and professional services
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Frequently asked questions
A fractional HR Director provides senior People leadership on a part-time, retained or defined-term basis. The organisation gains executive-level HR direction without immediately creating a permanent full-time role.
Sana supports founders, boards, leadership teams, SMEs, scale-ups, regulated businesses and multinational organisations that are building, restructuring or modernising their People function.
Yes. Engagements can be structured around a defined outcome such as an HR operating model, organisation design, performance framework, HRIS implementation, workforce plan or responsible AI adoption programme.
Yes. Sana's experience includes People leadership and employment-practice work across the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United States, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.
Sana provides senior HR and employment-practice support informed by multi-jurisdiction experience. She does not present herself as a law firm or substitute for qualified legal counsel. Where formal legal advice is required, the organisation should work with appropriately qualified counsel.
Yes. Support may include requirements, operating-process design, implementation leadership, data governance, change and adoption, as well as controlled AI-use frameworks and HR prompt libraries.
Yes. Coaching, facilitation and workshops can be commissioned as standalone engagements or integrated into a wider transformation programme.
A focused conversation is the first step
Whether you are building a People function, entering a new market, navigating organisational change or modernising HR operations, the starting point is a clear discussion about the business challenge.
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Contact
Start a confidential conversation
Enquiries are reviewed personally. You can also write directly to hello@sanasaleem.one.