Sep 2023 – Feb 2024 · 5 mos · Riyadh, Saudi Arabia · Remote

• Safqah - is an early-stage real estate Fintech startup that helps real estate developers in KSA finance their projects through issuing consumer bonds (Sukuk).
• Helped Safqah hire across Software Engineering, Product, Sales, Credit Risk, Marketing and Ops

Mar 2023 – Dec 2023 · 9 mos · Riyadh, Saudi Arabia · Remote

• Scaling tech, product and engineering teams for AlRaedah Finance - the largest PoS lending business for SMEs in KSA.

Jan 2023 – Jan 2025 · 2 yrs · Riyadh, Saudi Arabia · Remote

• Helping Merak - a technology investment fund in Riyadh recruit for investment and non-investment roles across multiple asset classes: VC, Private Credit, Real Estate and Private Equity.

Jan 2023 – May 2023 · 4 mos · Dubai, Riyadh

• External consultancy project, where I helped recruit for Product roles for Almosafer - leading OTA in the Middle East, part of Seera Group and recently backed by PIF (KSA Public Investment Fund).

Oct 2022 – Aug 2024 · 1 yr 10 mos · Riyadh, Saudi Arabia · Remote

• Handling select leadership-level roles for PIF backed projects in KSA across Product, Technology and Data, and Marketing.

Mar 2022 – Oct 2022 · 7 mos · Riyadh, Dubai, Remote

• Fixed term assignment to help Soum - the fastest growing C2C marketplace to scale their product, engineering, business and data teams.
• Other projects included: ATS implementation, training inhouse TA

Jan 2022 – Present · 4 yrs 2 mos · Worldwide

• Advisory role in my portfolio company
• Shootday is your global partner for event photography and video production. Trusted by 1,000+ companies across every major business hub.
• 5,000+ shoots completed for brands like Amazon, Meta, Google, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, HP, Allianz, Formula 1, Porsche, Nestlé, TEDx, Bosch, and more.
• Why work with us?
• We help businesses and enterprise teams get high-quality event coverage and video production, delivered fast, anywhere in the world.
• What makes Shootday different:
• 🌍 150+ business hubs worldwide
• Consistent quality in 150+ cities. Perfect for teams running multi-city events or campaigns.
• 🏆 Premium support
• A dedicated account manager handles everything from briefing to delivery. No chasing or back-and-forth.
• ⚡ Fast turnaround
• Book within 24 hours. Get edited deliverables starting 24 hours after the shoot.
• ⭐ Trusted by 1,000+ brands
• Fortune 100 companies and fast-growing startups rely on Shootday for seamless event coverage and video production.
• 🤝 Transparent pricing
• We offer clear pricing and long-term partnerships. We match quotes when needed.
• 🎯 Flawless execution
• Every shoot is designed around your brief, on-brand, and delivered to the highest standard.
• How it works:
• 1. Brief → 2. Book → 3. Shoot → 4. Delivery
• No hassle, just a workflow that works.
• Specialties:
• 🎤 Event Photography & Videography · 🎬 Video Production · 🏢 Corporate Content · 📱 Social Media · 🛍️ Product & Explainers · 🎞️ Short Films
• Planning your next shoot?
• ✉️ hello@shootday.co
• 🔗 https://shootday.com

Jan 2022 – May 2022 · 4 mos · Dubai, United Arab Emirates

• Fixed-term assignment to help Baraka scale growth, product, engineering, HR, and marketing teams.

May 2021 – Sep 2021 · 4 mos · Dubai, Malta, Africa

• Fixed term assignment at Kingmakers - one of the fastest growing gaming & betting companies in Africa.
• Helped scale Data, Growth, Marketing & CRM and TA teams in Dubai. Left the project when we hired a strong in-house recruiting team.
• Handled 20+ open roles, learned a new exciting industry (sports betting, casino & gaming) and learned a lot about Africa.

Apr 2020 – Present · 5 yrs 11 mos · UAE & KSA

• Hiring leadership roles for startups, tech companies and Technology investment funds.

Mar 2020 – Jan 2023 · 2 yrs 10 mos

• Helped scale early stage team
• Hired & trained in-house recruiter
• Implemented ATS

Jan 2020 – Present · 6 yrs 2 mos · Dubai, United Arab Emirates · Remote

• As a Career Coach and Talent Advisor, I help professionals get approached by recruiters, and help tech companies build world-class teams.
• Through Grow With Daria, I’ve coached over 700 professionals (mostly mid-to-senior level) on how to optimize their LinkedIn, CV, and job search strategy to get approached and land offers in top tech companies in the region.
• I also created a job search course: Stand Out, Get Approached, and Get Hired, based on everything I’ve learned interviewing, poaching, and coaching thousands of professionals. Check it out at: https://growwithdaria.com/
• On the hiring side, I work closely with founders and VCs as a Talent Advisor, supporting over 80 MENA companies on how to build hiring systems, hire key roles, and scale.

Jan 2020 – Nov 2025 · 5 yrs 10 mos · Dubai

• Portfolio companies:
• Huspy.com (backed by Sequoia) is a proptech that simplifies consumer mortgages by removing the hassle of dealing with traditional banks.
• Calo - healthy meal plans for busy people
• Cercli - B2B SaaS that takes the hassle out of HR & Payroll in MENA
• Shootday.com - Global Photography & Videography for companies & individuals
• Scalers - integrated Saudi recruitment platform that enables companies to find Saudi talent faster
• Bagonista.co - Rent or buy designer bags at a fraction of their price
• Homegrown: VC specialized in CPG / FMCG startups
• Food Label Maker - B2B SaaS Easily create compliant labels
• + a few other startups that didn't make it.

May 2019 – Apr 2020 · 11 mos · Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah, Palma

• Seera is the largest travel company in MENA (3K+ employees), that owns and operates leading OTAs, car-rental, hotels, DMC, and TMC brands - Tajawal, Almosafer, Lumi, Mawasim, Discover Saudi, Elaa and others
• In this role, I’ve built and led the talent acquisition function for all brands across UAE, KSA, and Spain, covering tech and non-tech hires across all brands & all locations.
• Main Achievements:
• Built a centralized in-house Talent Acquisition function from scratch (which was previously outsourced), saving Seera AED 1 million in agency costs.
• Hired, trained and managed a high-performing team of 6 recruiters (in UAE & KSA); together we've hired 500+ people in less than 12 months.
• Handled key tech & digital roles across Product, Software Engineering, Performance Marketing, Analytics (Sr Manager to a VP level).
• Picked, customized and implemented Applicant Tracking System (ATS) - Greenhouse, and trained the team, hiring managers and Interviewers on how to use it.
• Owned and implemented TA & Mobility policy across 3 countries (UAE & KSA & Egypt)
• Identified, tracked, and improved on TA KPIs (time to hire, time to fill, candidate experience, etc)
• Owned talent mapping and salary benchmarking exercises for Seera'a expansion plans in Europe, which resulted in Tajawal & Almosafer setting up off-shore tech teams in Poland & Ukraine.
• Left to start my own recruitment business - Growth Levers

Jun 2017 – Aug 2018 · 1 yr 2 mos · Dubai, Cairo, Riyadh, Berlin

• Recruiting for the Middle East's largest travel group (Seera) and its online B2C travel brands like tajawal.com, Almosafer.com.
• I handled the recruitment process from end to end, built teams from the ground up, and provided Seera with the best talent within the industry, across all business verticals from entry to senior leadership level:
• Strategy
• Engineering (Frontend, Backend, Mobile, DevOps, QA)
• Marketing (SEO, SEM, Performance marketing, Content, CRM)
• Product (Commercial / Tech)
• Data (Analysts & engineers)
• Design (UI/UX designers and researchers)
• Achievements:
• Hired 100+ people in the team of 2 recruiters in 15 months
• Got awarded for the highest number of placements made (March 2018)

Aug 2018 – May 2019 · 9 mos · Dubai, Berlin, Cairo, Karachi

• Careem (Acquired by Uber in March 2019 for $3.4B) is the MENA region's leading ride-hailing service and newest Tech Unicorn moving into Payments, Food, Mass transportation, and Deliveries. Careem operates in 100+ cities across 16+ countries and hosts over 30 million+ users.
• I loved my time at Careem, where I was responsible for hiring all things data (data engineers, data scientists, data analysts) + Growth in Dubai and Berlin. Left shortly after the acquisition.
• I also led several Employer Branding initiatives such as curating the Life @ Careem employee interview series and attending tech conferences and events.

Jun 2017 – Aug 2018 · 1 yr 2 mos · Dubai, United Arab Emirates

• Parisima Talent is a leading RPO (Recruitment process outsourcing) company in the UAE. During my time @ Parisima, I was working on Al Tayyar Group (now Seera) account and its brands - Tajawal and Almosafer.

Jul 2016 – Jun 2017 · 11 mos · Dubai, United Arab Emirates

• This role allowed me to get exposed to all aspects of the recruitment process during a time of a large organizational expansion (Expo2020 team grew from 150 to 300+ people in just 12 months).
• Key activities: Graduate Recruitment, Emiratisation, Recruitment Analytics, External Engagement, and Employer branding Events.