Deriv's CHRO Seema Hallon Wins Women of Substance Leadership Award 2026

• Seema Hallon, Chief Human Resources Officer at Deriv, received the Women of Substance Award for Managerial Excellence at the Women of Substance Conference & Awards 2026
• The award recognises her leadership in shaping people-centric, inclusive and future-ready workplaces
• Women make up 47% of Deriv's overall workforce, and 25% of Deriv's confirmed AI engineering hires from campus partners since January 2025
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Dubai, UAE, 28 September 2026: Deriv, one of the world's largest online trading platforms, congratulates Seema Hallon, its Chief Human Resources Officer, on being awarded the Women of Substance Award for Managerial Excellence at the Women of Substance Conference & Awards 2026. The event was organised by WILL (Women Inspiring Leadership & Legacy), an initiative of the Zarks Media ecosystem, and held on 9 September 2026 at BITS Pilani Dubai Campus. This recognition reflects her contribution to the field of Human Resources and her leadership in shaping people-centric, inclusive and future-ready workplaces. Seema also delivered a talk titled “Staying Valuable in Uncertain Times” at the event, sharing her own experience of continuous learning and questioning long-held assumptions about work, confidence and leadership.
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This leadership award lands against a wider industry gap. Per the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2024, women hold 28.2% of the global STEM workforce and just 12.2% of STEM C-suite roles, even as their share of AI engineering skills has climbed to 29.4%. Across the business as a whole, women make up 47% of Deriv's workforce. Its campus intake of AI engineering hires, at 25% women since January 2025, is broadly in line with that global STEM figure, and Seema has said that it is a number the company intends to keep pushing higher.
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Seema Hallon, Chief Human Resources Officer at Deriv, receives the Women of Substance Award for Managerial Excellence at the Women of Substance Conference & Awards 2026, held at BITS Pilani Dubai Campus.

Seema leads talent strategy for over 900 Derivians across 19 locations, a role that has put her at the centre of the company's push to build AI literacy at every level, not just within engineering. Under her leadership, Deriv has hired 64 AI engineers from UAE and India campuses since January 2025, a quarter of them women, growing its AI engineering team to 152 members overall.

In her talk, Seema reframed the anxiety many feel about AI in the workplace.

“Staying valuable in uncertain times requires more than keeping up with change - it requires the willingness to keep changing ourselves, keep learning and to question long-held assumptions about work, confidence and leadership. Rather than fearing what technology may take away, I'd rather stay curious and engage with what is changing,” she said.

The talk went beyond technology to resilience, finding your centre when circumstances are uncertain, not waiting for perfect confidence before moving forward, and remembering that growth does not stop because of accumulated experience.

“At Deriv, transformation isn’t only about adopting new technology. It is also about people having the courage to rethink how they work, learn and lead. Every process we’ve rebuilt has come from trusting each other enough to change how we work together. 

This award is recognition for something bigger than one role or one company. It belongs to Deriv as an organization that nurtures the spirit of curiosity and resilience, and I'm accepting it on its behalf, with gratitude.”

— Seema Hallon, Chief Human Resources Officer, Deriv

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