Waleed Albaddad

ABOUT

I'm Waleed
Albaddad.

For more than twenty years, I've worked across design, digital products, learning, and institutional change.

Today, I lead Smart Learning and E-Content Development at Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University in Dubai.

My work has taken me from helping people use creative tools to building products and shaping the conditions that allow new approaches to take hold.

Portrait of Waleed Albaddad

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

The roles behind the work.

DOWNLOAD CV

From regional creative technology to digital learning products and university transformation.

2021 to present

Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University

Director of Smart Learning and E-Content Development

Lead university-wide work connecting learning design, digital content, faculty capability, learning resources, and educational technology.

  • Agentic content production, adaptive learning, and assessment that makes learner reasoning visible.
  • Stackable learning pathways connecting badges, certificates, and microcredentials.

Additional roles: Acting Director, Lifelong Learning Centre (2023 to 2024); Product Owner, LXP / EdTech.

2019 to 2021

Alef Education

Head of Teacher Training / Digital Learning Strategy

Led educator development and digital learning strategy around the practical use of technology in teaching.

  • Educator development programs reaching more than 20,000 educators across multiple markets.
  • Learning design and implementation support connecting platform capability with classroom practice.

2014 to 2019

Edraak

Senior Online Course Manager / Higher Education Partnerships

Managed online learning and higher education partnerships for an Arabic learning platform whose courses reached more than eight million learners.

  • Partnerships with 32 universities worldwide at a platform whose courses reached more than eight million learners.
  • University adoption and contribution to national e-learning policy.

2011 to 2014

Darebni TV

Co-founder / Product Manager

Co-built a paid Arabic platform for practical and vocational skills, connecting product direction, course development, trainer operations, and learner experience.

  • A catalog of more than 200 courses and reach of more than 100,000 learners.
  • A public-access route through Knowledge Stations in underserved communities.

2005 to 2014

Grapheast

Training, Product, and Business Development

Worked across creative technology, professional training, product enablement, and regional business development.

  • Regional capability developed through a network of more than ten certified trainers.
  • Training, consulting, and implementation support across creative technology.

WHAT EXPERIENCE CHANGED

The problem kept
changing shape.

Close to the person.

My early work was close to the person using the tool. I could see where an explanation failed, where confidence broke down, and when something became possible.

Building trainer capability raised the next question: could that expertise travel without depending on the same person being in the room?

Beyond the product.

Digital products offered a way to reach people across places and schedules. But the vocational learning venture exposed conditions the product could not solve on its own: payment, connectivity, and market readiness.

A useful product still needed a practical route to the people it was meant to serve.

Around the institution.

University partnerships and policy work widened the problem again. Delivery depended on recognition, ownership, capability, and the rules around a new approach.

I still care about the quality of what is built. I also ask who will carry it, what it depends on, and whether it can continue when its creators are no longer close at hand.

EXPLORE THE WORK

EDUCATION & FELLOWSHIP

A foundation in design.
A continuing focus on learning.

Harvard Graduate School of EducationMiddle East Professional Learning Initiative Fellowship · 2019

Applied Science University, JordanBachelor of Fine Arts, Graphic Design · 2005

WRITING & CONVERSATION

Some questions travel beyond the work.

Athar

My Arabic podcast explores experience, judgment, and the ideas that shape how we understand everyday life.

EXPLORE ATHAR

Afterhold / الارتداد

My exploration of what remains after an experience ends, and how that residue shapes judgment and action.

EXPLORE AFTERHOLD

If the work connects with a question you're exploring, I'd be glad to hear from you.

WRITE TO ME