Al Rajhi Bank's AI Talent Architecture: How Saudi Arabia's Largest Bank Processed 15.7 Million Applications and Cut HiPo Turnover by 43%
By Tim Kreling, Co-Founder, OVI
Al Rajhi Bank's AI Talent Architecture: How Saudi Arabia's Largest Bank Processed 15.7 Million Applications and Cut HiPo Turnover by 43%
When 15.7 million visitors land on a single company's career portal in one year, human-only screening stops being an option. Al Rajhi Bank — Saudi Arabia's largest bank by market capitalization — didn't just absorb that volume in 2025. It turned it into a talent system that hired 9,714 people, mobilized 370 employees internally, and slashed high-potential turnover from 9.51% to 5.42% (Source 1).
For HR leaders watching Saudi Arabia's "Year of Artificial Intelligence" unfold in 2026, Al Rajhi's playbook offers the clearest private-sector proof point yet: data-driven talent architecture works at scale, and it works in banking.
The Scale Problem That Forced the Shift
Al Rajhi Bank's workforce grew 7% year-over-year to 25,083 employees in 2025, up from 23,406 the previous year (Source 1). That growth didn't happen passively. The bank's digital career portal recorded 15,698,509 visits — a volume that demands systematic, AI-enabled triage to convert interest into qualified hires (Source 1).
The conversion funnel tells the story: from nearly 15.7 million portal visits, the bank made 9,714 new hires, up from 8,871 in 2024 — a 9.5% year-over-year increase (Source 1). At that scale, the screening, shortlisting, and matching process has to be largely automated, or it breaks.
This isn't an outlier. Across the Saudi banking sector, research covering ten major banks found that digital transformation in HR — including AI-assisted screening and analytics — materially improves service quality when paired with human-AI collaboration (Source 4). Al Rajhi's results sit at the top of that curve.
Nomu: Internal Mobility as a Retention Engine
The most under-discussed element of Al Rajhi's talent architecture is Nomu, its internal mobility platform. While external hiring gets headlines, Nomu quietly drives retention by giving existing employees a structured path to new roles.
The numbers are concrete: Nomu attracted 41,345 visits from Al Rajhi employees in 2025, surfacing 525 internal opportunities. Of those, 370 employees were internally mobilized into new positions (Source 1).
Why does this matter? Because internal mobility directly attacks the most expensive talent problem in banking: losing high-potential employees. When a top performer sees a path forward inside the organization — and can act on it through a transparent, data-driven platform — the exit calculus changes.
That connection shows up in the data. Al Rajhi's high-potential (HiPo) turnover dropped from 9.51% in 2024 to 5.42% in 2025 — a 43% reduction (Source 1). While multiple factors contributed (including 650,213 training hours, an 18.5% increase year-over-year, and 100% performance review completion), the launch and scaling of Nomu as a dedicated internal marketplace was a structural change that gave retention efforts a concrete mechanism.
The bank also identified 208 successors for 77 critical leadership roles and placed 80 future leaders into development tracks (Source 1) — the kind of systematic succession planning that reduces the organizational shock of executive departures.
The Saudi Year of AI Context
Al Rajhi's moves didn't happen in isolation. The Saudi Cabinet designated 2026 as the "Year of Artificial Intelligence" in March 2026 (Source 7), accelerating an already aggressive push to embed AI across the private sector.
The numbers underscore how far Saudi Arabia has moved: only 7% of Saudi employers are not using AI in HR, and 45% expect AI to drive increased hiring volumes in 2026 (Source 2). At the same time, AI-powered screening has surfaced real risks — 57% of Saudi HR leaders reported detecting identity fraud through AI screening tools in 2025 (Source 3), showing that the technology isn't just about speed but about integrity in volume hiring.
On the government side, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) launched the National Skills Platform in 2025, an AI-powered system that delivers personalized training pathways to Saudi workers (Sources 5, 6). Combined with the new Nitaqat Mutawar phase (April 2026) targeting 340,000+ jobs for Saudization (Source 3), the ecosystem is pushing both employers and candidates toward AI-mediated talent processes.
For banks facing Saudization targets alongside rapid growth, the Al Rajhi model — high-volume digital sourcing paired with structured internal mobility — offers a template that satisfies both regulator expectations and business needs.
What HR Leaders Can Take From This
Al Rajhi's results don't require being a bank with 25,000 employees. The underlying principles transfer:
Treat internal mobility as infrastructure, not a perk. Nomu works because it's a platform with searchable opportunities and measurable throughput, not a suggestion box. Organizations building AI-enabled HR stacks should prioritize internal talent marketplaces with the same rigor they apply to external applicant tracking.
Measure what actually matters: HiPo retention. The 43% HiPo turnover reduction is a more meaningful metric than time-to-fill or cost-per-hire. It directly ties talent architecture to business continuity.
Let volume drive the automation case. At 15.7 million career portal visits, the ROI on AI-assisted screening is self-evident. But even mid-sized employers processing thousands of applications per quarter face the same fundamental constraint — there aren't enough human hours to screen fairly and thoroughly. Tools like OVI — a Saudi/GCC-native AI ATS that pairs Milo's audio-based candidate screening with Sora's systematic sourcing — are built for exactly this kind of volume-to-quality conversion, whether you're processing 15 million applications or 15,000.
FAQs
How many people did Al Rajhi Bank hire in 2025?
Al Rajhi Bank made 9,714 new hires in 2025, up from 8,871 in 2024, representing approximately 9.5% year-over-year growth (Source 1).
What is Al Rajhi Bank's Nomu platform?
Nomu is Al Rajhi Bank's internal mobility platform that enables existing employees to discover and apply for internal opportunities. In 2025, it attracted 41,345 employee visits, listed 525 internal opportunities, and mobilized 370 employees into new roles (Source 1).
How much did Al Rajhi Bank reduce high-potential turnover?
HiPo turnover dropped from 9.51% in 2024 to 5.42% in 2025 — a 43% reduction — supported by internal mobility, expanded training (650,213 hours), and systematic succession planning (Source 1).
What is Saudi Arabia's Year of AI?
The Saudi Cabinet designated 2026 as the "Year of Artificial Intelligence" in March 2026, accelerating AI adoption across the public and private sectors, including HR and recruitment (Source 7).
How many Saudi employers use AI in HR?
As of 2025–2026, only 7% of Saudi employers are not using AI in HR functions, while 45% expect AI to drive increased hiring in 2026 (Source 2).
What is the MHRSD National Skills Platform?
Launched in 2025 by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, it is an AI-powered system that provides personalized training pathways to Saudi workers, complementing private-sector talent development efforts (Sources 5, 6).
Sources
- Al Rajhi Bank 2025 Annual Report — Talent Attraction, Development and Retention: https://www.alrajhibank.com.sa/ir25/cultivating_a_future_forward_workforce/talent_attraction_development_and_retention.html
- Gulf Business — AI reshaping Saudi hiring: https://gulfbusiness.com/en/2026/artificial-intelligence/ai-is-reshaping-hiring-in-saudi-arabia-faster-than-anywhere-else/
- TryTrusted — HR AI Saudi Arabia: https://trytrusted.com/article/hr-ai-saudi-arabia-recruitment-saudization-and-workforce-ai
- Business Perspectives — Saudi 10-bank AI-HR study: https://businessperspectives.org/index.php/journals/banks-and-bank-systems/issue-503/enhancing-banks-hr-service-quality-through-digital-transformation-investigating-the-moderating-role-of-human-ai-collaboration
- Saudi Gazette — MHRSD National Skills Platform: https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/650920
- Arab News — National Skills Platform launch: https://www.arabnews.com/node/2596987/business-economy
- KaplanMENA — Saudi AI Strategy 2026: https://kaplanmena.com/how-saudi-arabias-2026-ai-strategy-is-shaping-workforce-transformation/
How many people did Al Rajhi Bank hire in 2025?
Al Rajhi Bank made 9,714 new hires in 2025, up from 8,871 in 2024, representing approximately 9.5% year-over-year growth.
What is Al Rajhi Bank's Nomu platform?
Nomu is Al Rajhi Bank's internal mobility platform that enables existing employees to discover and apply for internal opportunities. In 2025, it attracted 41,345 employee visits, listed 525 internal opportunities, and mobilized 370 employees into new roles.
How much did Al Rajhi Bank reduce high-potential turnover?
HiPo turnover dropped from 9.51% in 2024 to 5.42% in 2025 — a 43% reduction — supported by internal mobility, expanded training (650,213 hours), and systematic succession planning.
What is Saudi Arabia's Year of AI?
The Saudi Cabinet designated 2026 as the Year of Artificial Intelligence in March 2026, accelerating AI adoption across the public and private sectors, including HR and recruitment.
How many Saudi employers use AI in HR?
As of 2025–2026, only 7% of Saudi employers are not using AI in HR functions, while 45% expect AI to drive increased hiring in 2026.
What is the MHRSD National Skills Platform?
Launched in 2025 by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, it is an AI-powered system that provides personalized training pathways to Saudi workers, complementing private-sector talent development efforts.