Strategic HR Leader, Organisational Architect, High-Performance Culture Curator
I operate at the intersection of people, technology and growth — building high-performance People functions that scale businesses, embed AI fluency, and deliver measurable value in complex, regulated markets.
Over the past 17+ years, I have led the scaling of high-growth businesses across Dubai, London and New York. As a five-time zero-to-scale operator, I have built and led People functions from fewer than 10 employees to 500+ across fintech, embedded finance, AI, technology and e-commerce. My work spans the full breadth of the People agenda: organisation design and workforce planning, executive search, AI-era performance management, reward and compensation architecture, multi-jurisdictional employment law, HR transformation, and culture and engagement. As an executive committee member and strategic advisor to founders, CEOs and boards, I have supported more than $150M of capital raised from Seed through Series C, led an AI-driven workforce restructuring across the UAE, KSA and Egypt — delivering $10M+ in annualised payroll savings — and architected one of the region's first AI-native performance frameworks.
My background is, in fact, engineering. After graduating with a Masters in Power Systems Engineering from UCL, I began my career in New York on the eve of the 2008 financial crash — building hiring engines for some of the most demanding talent markets in the world: Facebook, Goldman Sachs and Tower Research Capital. That engineering foundation continues to shape how I lead today: analytical rigour, fluency with data and modelling at scale, and a discipline for translating complex organisational challenges into commercially grounded strategy.
At NymCard, I replaced conventional OKRs with AI Initiatives as the delivery axis — and built the AF1–AF5 AI Fluency Ladder, now embedded across hiring, performance and L&D.
I build People functions from fewer than 10 to 500+ across multiple jurisdictions — designing reporting structures, spans of control and scaling models tied to revenue, burn and runway.
I've personally led searches for CTO, COO, CCRO, CFO, CMO and Head of Data & AI. As a five-time zero-to-scale operator, I've saved $1M+ in agency fees through internal sourcing.
I design salary bands, model total-comp offers, run biannual review cycles and manage post-restructure cost bases. I also own the investor and board-level reward narrative.
My expertise spans Europe (UK, Germany, EU directives), the Middle East (UAE mainland, ADGM Employment Regulations, KSA Labour Law) and Africa (Egyptian Labour Law 12/2003 & 14/2025), with additional coverage across India, Pakistan and Lebanon.
I architected and built NymCard's in-house, AI-native HR stack — proprietary ATS, HRIS, engagement platform and a unified People Hub — replacing off-the-shelf tooling. Earlier in my career, I selected and implemented BambooHR and pulse platforms across 5,000+ employee bases.
I designed and activated NymCard's BOLD values — Build Trust, Own It, Lead with Speed, Deliver Excellence — and embedded them into hiring, performance and L&D.
I'm a key SLT/EXCO member reporting to the CEO. I produce board-level decks on TPV, restructuring outcomes, engagement and CBUAE regulatory compliance for external auditors.
My engineering background sits at the heart of how I lead people. I hold a Masters in Power Systems Engineering from UCL, where I graduated with Distinction, and a Diploma in Organisational Analysis from Stanford University — the combination I use to engineer businesses from the ground up, or structure them to optimise output and trajectory. I started my career hiring engineers at Facebook, Goldman Sachs and Tower Research Capital.
I've carried that perspective into every senior People role since — combining data, technology and commercial strategy to drive performance. In practice, that's meant architecting one of the region's first AI-native performance frameworks, deploying AI-driven pulse engagement at NymCard, and building the quantitative restructuring models that have driven CEO and board decisions across multi-jurisdictional rounds.
I'm comfortable in the weeds of AI and HR data, and equally comfortable translating that into measurable people outcomes and scalable operating models for the executive team.
Built for the AI-native workplace. From scaling engineering hiring at Facebook pre-2010 to architecting NymCard's AI Fluency Ladder, building AI and technical capabilities has been a consistent thread through my career. At NymCard, I replaced OKRs with AI Initiatives as the delivery axis — codifying expected AI capability at every level of the organisation, ready for what's next.
At NymCard, I replaced OKRs with AI Initiatives. AF1–AF5 fluency expectations are now embedded into hiring, performance, calibration and L&D across IC and Manager career ladders.
I deployed AI-powered pulse feedback at NymCard, contributing to a 42% engagement uplift — translating sentiment signal into manager action and retention strategy.
MSc Power Systems Engineering (Distinction), UCL. I bring analytical rigour and quantitative modelling to people decisions — restructuring scenarios, workforce plans, compensation engines.
I sit on the SLT and report directly to the CEO, owning the full People function — strategy, organisation design, performance, reward and operations — across 500+ employees in eight countries. Since joining, I've grown headcount from 180 to over 500, designed and rolled out NymCard's AI-era performance framework (replacing conventional OKRs with AI Initiatives and an AF1–AF5 AI Fluency Ladder), and led an AI-driven company-wide restructuring across UAE/ADGM, KSA and Egypt that delivered $10M+ in annualised payroll savings. I was a key player in our $33M Series B in March 2025, and have delivered a 42% engagement uplift while building out NymCard's in-house AI-native HR stack — ATS, HRIS, engagement platform and People Hub — to replace off-the-shelf tooling.
Reporting to the CEO, I owned HR strategy, executive talent, organisation design and culture across multiple jurisdictions. In 18 months, I grew the team from 5 to 130+ globally — saving over $500K in agency fees along the way — and hired the CTO, CMO, Strategy Director and Finance Director myself. I supported the $14M Series A and a further $55M SELA & PIF investment round, and improved cross-functional efficiency by 30%+ by redesigning our reporting lines from the ground up.
I reported to the CEO and built the People function from scratch — running it across three funding rounds: Seed (£1.8M) → Series A (£11M) → Series B (£46M). The team I built took the company from £0 to £15M+ ARR. Over five years, I scaled headcount from 7 to 350+, personally hired the CFO, COO, CCO and CMO, and brought in every one of the next 280+ hires internally — saving over £450K in agency fees. Hometree was consistently featured in startups.co.uk's Top 100, and we were voted #15 in 2019.
I led a team of 11 Talent Acquisition Specialists and 9 HR Business Partners at the Technology Hub. I rolled out new HR software across London, Bologna, Milan and New York for 5,000+ employees, and delivered 300+ hires in 12 months across software development, retail, customer service, operations and product.
I cut my teeth in technical recruitment across some of the most demanding hiring environments in the world. At Facebook, I scaled the New York office for Software Engineering, SRE and Cybersecurity — joining what was then the ex-Wall team back when Facebook was still finding its feet. At Goldman Sachs, I hired Software Engineering graduates into the front-office Equity and FX electronic trading teams. At Tower Research, I hired software engineers and quantitative analysts for high-frequency trading infrastructure. And at Quantcast, I led post-merger global recruitment across London and Singapore.
I partner with founders, CEOs and boards on the people side of high-growth, regulated businesses — across fintech, embedded finance, AI and technology, with deep operating roots in CEMEA. Always glad to swap notes with leaders tackling similar challenges.
Email me →