OVI is the AI-native ATS where you chat to hire. Two AI agents — Sora for sourcing and Milo for screening — find candidates, score every CV, and run AI interviews, all controlled from a single chat.

What does "chat to hire" mean?

Chat to hire is OVI's AI-native hiring workflow: instead of clicking through a traditional ATS, you describe what you need in chat and OVI's AI agents source candidates, screen applicants, run AI interviews, and send outreach for you.

What is an AI-native ATS?

An AI-native ATS is an applicant tracking system built around AI agents rather than forms and pipelines. OVI's AI chat ATS lets recruiters source, screen, interview, and follow up through conversation — the agents do the work and surface only the candidates worth meeting.

Who are Sora and Milo?

Sora is OVI's AI sourcing agent — she scans LinkedIn, the open web, and your ATS history to find best-fit candidates and reach out in your name. Milo is OVI's AI screening agent — he scores every applicant against your rubric and surfaces a ranked shortlist.

How do OVI's AI interviews work?

OVI runs async AI interviews for every shortlisted candidate and returns scores, transcripts, and recordings — so your team only meets the people worth meeting.

Saudi Arabia's Jisr HR Platform Crosses 700,000 Users as Kingdom's Monthly Hiring Surges 51.5%

2026-06-30

Saudi Arabia's hiring engine is running at full throttle — and the homegrown HR platform keeping pace just crossed a major milestone.

Jisr, the Kingdom's first Saudi-built AI HR SaaS, now manages more than 700,000 employees across 4,700+ organizations, a landmark announced on January 18, 2026. The growth tracks directly with an extraordinary hiring surge: monthly new hires in Saudi Arabia jumped 51.5% year-over-year — from 15,942 in 2024 to 24,155 in 2025 — according to Jisr's own State of Hiring in Saudi Arabia report, which analyzed more than 360,000 hiring cases.

For HR leaders managing Gulf workforces, the numbers signal both opportunity and operational pressure — and explain why AI-powered workforce platforms are gaining traction across the region.

What Jisr Does

Founded in 2017 under the banner "Built in Saudi, made for MENA," Jisr offers an integrated HR platform covering payroll, attendance, employee self-service, performance management, and an AI-powered applicant tracking system (ATS). The company maintains 200+ support professionals across offices in Riyadh, Dammam, and Jeddah.

Notable clients include APSCO, Sixt, Bayut, Salla, Zuhair Fayez Partnership, and Theeb Rent A Car.

"HR has become mission-critical for Saudi organisations," CEO Mohammed Akkar said in the company's press release. "As hiring accelerates, businesses are depending on digital platforms to manage compliance, workforce planning, and people operations at scale."

The Saudi Hiring Surge in Numbers

The scale of Saudi Arabia's workforce expansion is striking. According to Jisr's hiring data:

124% employee base growth: Total employees across Jisr clients grew from 140,562 to 315,250 between January 2024 and July 2025.
154.5% new-hire surge: New hires between January 2024 and January 2025 surged by 154.5%.
Saudization momentum: Saudi nationals accounted for 49% of new hiring, and 51% of companies on the platform increased their reliance on national talent.
Falling unemployment: Saudi unemployment dropped to 3.4% in Q3 2025, down 0.3 percentage points year-over-year.

The top hiring sectors by volume were food & beverages (71,120 hires), retail and wholesale (41,500+), general services (37,247), construction (28,777), and healthcare (20,141).

These figures are directionally consistent with Saudi Arabia's broader Vision 2030 push, which has channeled massive public and private investment into economic diversification — and created hiring demand that manual HR processes cannot keep up with.

AI Features Driving the Platform

Jisr's ATS leans on several AI capabilities designed for the Saudi market:

Arabic NLP: Natural language processing tuned for Arabic dialects, a differentiator in a region where most global HR platforms default to English-only AI.
Intelligent candidate ranking: Automated scoring and shortlisting based on role requirements.
CV parsing and highlights: Automated extraction and flagging of key qualifications.
Predictive analytics: Forecasting tools for workforce planning and hiring pipeline management.

The company reports that these features can reduce time-to-hire by up to 60% — a self-reported metric, but directionally meaningful given the hiring volumes Saudi employers are processing.

Compliance and Certifications

For HR teams operating in the Kingdom, compliance is non-negotiable. Jisr holds ISO 27001 and SDAIA certifications and builds in localized compliance tools including a Nitaqat calculator (for tracking Saudization quotas) and a Saudi salary benchmarking guide.

The Saudi AI HR market is valued at $330 million in 2026, with over half of Saudi companies expected to adopt AI-powered HR systems. That regulatory and market context makes local compliance infrastructure a competitive advantage, not a nice-to-have.

Competitive Landscape

Jisr operates in an increasingly crowded field. Several Saudi-focused AI HR tools have emerged alongside it:

SBR — AI-driven competency evaluation
Talowiz — Claims 10x candidate reach through AI sourcing
Hurr — AI-generated job descriptions tailored to the Saudi market
Resquad AI — Promises up to 99% hiring timeline reduction

Each addresses a specific slice of the recruitment workflow. Jisr's advantage is breadth: a full-stack HR platform (payroll, compliance, ATS, self-service) rather than a point solution, with Arabic-first AI and Saudi regulatory compliance built in.

Among the AI-native ATS platforms serving the broader GCC market, OVI combines an AI sourcing agent (Sora) and an AI screening agent (Milo) built for Gulf hiring workflows, offering plans starting at $99/month.

Key Takeaway

Saudi Arabia's 51.5% monthly hiring surge is not a blip — it reflects a structural transformation driven by Vision 2030 diversification. Platforms like Jisr that combine localized AI, Arabic NLP, and built-in Saudi compliance tooling are positioned to absorb that growth. For HR leaders operating in the Kingdom or expanding into MENA, the question is no longer whether to adopt AI-powered HR infrastructure, but which platform matches their regulatory and operational requirements.

How many organizations currently use Jisr?

As of January 2026, Jisr manages HR operations for more than 4,700 organizations and over 700,000 employees across Saudi Arabia, according to the company's press release.

Does Jisr support Saudization (Nitaqat) compliance?

Yes. Jisr includes a built-in Nitaqat calculator and Saudi salary benchmarking guide to help employers meet the Kingdom's nationalization quotas and compensation requirements.

What AI capabilities does Jisr's ATS offer?

The ATS features Arabic-dialect NLP, intelligent candidate ranking, automated CV parsing with highlights, and predictive analytics for workforce planning. Jisr reports these tools can reduce time-to-hire by up to 60%.

Is Jisr available outside Saudi Arabia?

Jisr brands itself as 'Built in Saudi, made for MENA,' indicating regional ambitions. The platform currently serves Saudi-based organizations with support offices in Riyadh, Dammam, and Jeddah.

What certifications does Jisr hold for data security?

Jisr holds ISO 27001 and SDAIA certifications, providing enterprise-grade data security and regulatory compliance for Saudi employers.