People Partner

About the role

Lean is building its People Partnering function for the first time, and this role is where it starts. As our first People Partner, you will be the strategic bridge between the business and our People team, embedded across departments, trusted by leaders, and accountable for turning people challenges into scalable solutions. You will own our performance management cycle, build our manager enablement programme from the ground up, and serve as the go-to advisor for high-trust people matters. This is a high-impact, high-visibility role at a company that is scaling fast and needs its people infrastructure to keep up. About Lean Lean is the leading financial infrastructure provider in the Middle East. We power some of the region's largest companies with APIs that enable payments, account verification, financial data access, and other critical financial infrastructure. What started as the region's pioneering Open Banking platform and quickly became the de facto leader in account aggregation and payment initiation in the region is now becoming something bigger: a multi-product infrastructure company powering payments, data, and lending across MENA. We've processed billions of dollars in transactions. We're trusted by 350+ clients, from Binance and Careem to Etisalat, and backed by General Catalyst, Sequoia, and Shorooq. Our $67.5M Series B was just the beginning. We're expanding into new markets, opening offices, acquiring businesses, and building capabilities that didn't exist here before.

Responsibilities

• Act as a trusted People advisor to department heads across all functions, from engineering to finance to commercial
• Own performance review cycles end-to-end: timeline, calibration, and execution across a ~170-person organisation
• Design and deliver Lean's manager enablement programme, including toolkits, training, and ongoing coaching
• Advise on high-trust people matters including ER cases, terminations, and policy interpretation
• Drive promotion processes, growth planning, and succession strategies
• Design org structures, team models, and job architecture to support Lean's continued growth
• Own engagement survey execution and follow-up, ensuring action at the manager level
• Identify people-related risks across the organisation and propose clear, data-informed solutions
• Collaborate cross-functionally to build scalable, repeatable People frameworks

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience as a People Partner or HR Business Partner in a fast-paced, high-growth environment
• Proven track record in performance management, end-to-end review cycle ownership, and manager enablement
• Ability to coach and influence senior managers with confidence and credibility
• Strong judgment in handling sensitive and complex people matters (ER, terminations, policy)
• Data-informed decision making: you use data to diagnose problems and shape People strategy
• Excellent communication: clear, structured, and tactful
• Regional knowledge of UAE and/or KSA labour law and employment practices
• Experience building People frameworks or programmes from scratch
• Background in a tech company or high-growth startup
• Experience with L&D, engagement surveys, succession planning, or growth mapping
• HRIS tool proficiency
• Comfortable navigating hybrid and distributed teams across multiple markets
• NB. While we think the above experience could be important, we're keen to hear from people that believe they have valuable experience to bring to the role. If you identify with the team and mission, but not all of our requirements, then please still apply!!
• Why Join us?
• We're building the financial infrastructure for MENA. Not as a slogan, as a fact.
• Our recent $67.5M Series B from General Catalyst and Sequoia isn't just validation: it's fuel. We're expanding into new markets, launching new products, and setting the pace for what financial innovation looks like in MENA.
• We solve hard problems. We move fast. We hold ourselves to a high standard. And we're looking for people who've done this before to help us do it right.
• If you're motivated by building something that lasts, not just something that scales, Lean is where you need to be.
• Not only do we offer competitive salaries, private healthcare, and flexible office hours, but we also insist that every member of the team hold a meaningful equity stake in the business to ensure long-term alignment. We'd love you to join us for this journey!
• Lean is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age,

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