Senior Specialist Manpower Planning

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Abu Dhabi Airports is seeking a Senior Specialist, Manpower Planning to govern outsourced workforce, ensuring requests are justified, aligned with operating plans and budgets, and rate cards applied consistently. The role manages demand review, due diligence, pay equity, and cost control, serving as intake point and partnering with business units, Procurement and Finance to forecast and reconcile spend against the OpEx budget. Candidates should have six years in manpower planning or outsourced workforce management, strong analytics and vendor management skills, GCC labour market knowledge, and aviation or large-operational experience. To apply, quantify impact with savings or efficiency gains, tailor your resume to governance and rate card management, and highlight collaboration and fairness.

The Senior Specialist, Manpower Planning is responsible for managing the day-to-day planning and governance of Abu Dhabi Airports’ outsourced workforce. The role ensures all outsourced manpower requests are thoroughly reviewed, justified, and aligned with business objectives, budgets, and operating plans. The position provides oversight of outsourced workforce demand, applies governance frameworks and rate cards consistently, safeguards pay equity, and monitors contingent workforce costs against the approved OpEx budget. The role acts as the central control point for outsourced workforce requests while partnering with business units, Procurement, and Finance to ensure effective workforce planning, cost control, and compliance.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Demand Review & Challenge

• Review and challenge all requests for outsourced manpower, assessing genuine business need and differentiating between essential and non-essential requirements.
• Validate business cases to ensure requests are justified, aligned with operating plans, and within approved budgets.

Due Diligence & Governance

• Conduct due diligence on all outsourced manpower requests, confirming role justification, scope, duration, and sourcing approach.
• Apply outsourcing policies and governance frameworks consistently while maintaining a complete audit trail.
• Serve as the single controlled intake point for outsourced manpower requests, preventing duplicate or off-channel engagements.

Pay Equity & Rate Card Management

• Apply rate cards consistently to ensure fair, equitable, and defensible pay practices across comparable outsourced roles.
• Maintain, benchmark, and monitor rate cards, identifying anomalies and ensuring alignment with market standards and internal pay structures.

Cost Control & Reporting

• Reconcile contingent workforce spend against the approved OpEx budget to ensure cost-effective workforce management.
• Maintain accurate workforce data and prepare regular reports on demand, headcount, utilization, and costs for management review.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, consolidate workforce demand, and reduce duplication across outsourced manpower.

Stakeholder Management

• Partner with business units to forecast, validate, and plan outsourced manpower requirements.
• Coordinate with Procurement on vendor and contract-related matters.
• Work closely with Finance on budgeting, forecasting, and spend reconciliation activities.

Health, Safety & Environment (HSE)

• Support risk assessment reviews in collaboration with the HSE team.
• Promote safe working practices and encourage reporting of incidents, near misses, and environmental concerns.
• Reinforce compliance with organizational health, safety, and environmental standards.

Other Duties

• Perform additional duties and responsibilities as assigned by management to support departmental and organizational objectives.

REQUIREMENTS & SKILLS

Education & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Finance, or a related discipline.

Experience

• Minimum 6 years of relevant professional experience.
• Proven experience in manpower planning, workforce resourcing, contingent workforce management, outsourced workforce management, or a related HR/commercial function.
• Strong analytical, financial, and cost-management capabilities with excellent attention to detail.
• Knowledge of GCC labor market practices and outsourced workforce management models.
• Experience with vendor management and rate-card structures is advantageous.
• Experience within aviation, airports, or a similar large-scale operational environment is preferred.

Core Competencies & Skills

• Analytical Rigour: Ability to evaluate workforce demand and cost data to make sound, evidence-based decisions.
• Governance & Control: Strong understanding of policies, controls, compliance requirements, and audit processes.
• Commercial Acumen: Knowledge of cost drivers, budgeting, rate structures, and operational expenditure management.
• Fairness & Integrity: Commitment to pay equity, transparency, and ethical decision-making.
• Communication: Ability to communicate complex data and recommendations clearly to diverse stakeholders.
• Stakeholder Management: Strong relationship-building, influencing, and collaboration skills across business units, Procurement, Finance, and leadership teams.
• Collaboration: Ability to work cross-functionally and drive alignment to achieve organizational objectives.