Privacy Policy
1. Who we are and how to contact us
For the purposes of the PDPPL, Muallemi is the controller of the personal data described in this Policy.
- Legal entity: Muallemi
- Registered address: Qatar Science & Technology Park, Education City, Doha, State of Qatar
- Email: info@muallemi.com
- Telephone: +974 7103 4000
- Privacy contact: info@muallemi.com
2. Scope of this Policy
This Policy applies to personal data we process:
- when you browse the Site;
- when you submit an enquiry, request a meeting, or otherwise contact us through a form on the Site or by email or telephone;
- when you apply for a position with Muallemi through the Site's careers form or by any other means;
- when you interact with us on behalf of a government body, ministry, school, university, institution, partner or supplier; and
- when you subscribe to communications from us.
It does not apply to personal data processed on behalf of our institutional clients within academic systems, platforms or programmes we design, deploy or operate for them. In those engagements, the client institution is the controller and Muallemi acts as a processor under a separate written agreement, and the client's own privacy notices govern that data.
3. Personal data we collect
3.1 Data you provide directly
- Contact / enquiry forms: Name, email address, telephone number, subject, organisation or role (where provided), the content of your message, and your preferred language. (Name, email and message are required).
- Careers form: Name, email address, the role you are applying for, an optional cover note, your CV/résumé (PDF, DOC or DOCX, up to 5 MB) and any personal data contained in it, and your consent confirmation. (All except the cover note are required).
- Email, telephone and in-person contact: Your contact details, the content of the correspondence, and any information you choose to share.
- Business relationships: Business contact details, job title, employer, correspondence and contractual records relating to clients, partners and suppliers.
Please do not include special categories of personal data (for example, data revealing health, religion, ethnic origin or political opinions) in messages or CVs unless it is strictly necessary and you are content for us to process it for the purpose you provide it.
3.2 Data collected automatically
When you access the Site, our hosting infrastructure automatically records standard technical information in server logs, including: IP address; date and time of the request; pages requested and referring URL; browser type and version, operating system and device type; and HTTP status and response details. This information is used only for security, capacity planning, error diagnosis and abuse prevention. It is not combined with the data you provide in forms to identify you, except where necessary to investigate a security incident or unlawful activity.
3.3 Anti-spam measures
Our forms use a hidden field that legitimate users never see or fill in. If that field is completed, the submission is treated as automated and discarded. We do not use third-party CAPTCHA services on the Site.
4. Cookies and similar technologies
The public Site does not set advertising, analytics or tracking cookies, and does not use third-party analytics, advertising pixels or social media tracking.
The only cookie set by the Site is a strictly necessary session cookie used to authenticate authorised Muallemi staff who sign in to the content management system at /admin and to display draft content previews to them. This cookie is not set for ordinary visitors.
Should we introduce analytics or other non-essential cookies in future, we will update this Policy and, where required, request your consent before setting them.
5. Purposes and legal bases for processing
We process personal data only where we have a lawful basis to do so under the PDPPL and, where relevant, the GDPR:
- Responding to enquiries and meeting requests: Your consent (given when you submit the form); our legitimate interest in responding to people who contact us.
- Evaluating job applications and managing recruitment: Your consent (given when you submit the form); steps taken at your request prior to entering into a contract; our legitimate interest in recruiting staff.
- Establishing and performing contracts with clients, partners and suppliers: Performance of a contract; our legitimate interest in managing business relationships.
- Sending service communications: Our legitimate interest in confirming receipt; performance of the request you made.
- Sending marketing or informational communications: Your consent, which you may withdraw at any time.
- Operating, securing and improving the Site: Our legitimate interest in keeping the Site secure, available and reliable.
- Complying with legal obligations and responding to lawful requests: Compliance with a legal obligation.
- Establishing, exercising or defending legal claims: Our legitimate interest in protecting our rights.
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have assessed that those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. You may object to such processing as described in Section 10.
6. How we use your data
In addition to the purposes above, we may use your personal data to:
- verify your identity when you exercise your rights;
- maintain internal records and audit trails;
- analyse aggregate, non-identifying patterns in enquiries and recruitment to improve our services and hiring processes; and
- prevent, detect and investigate fraud, spam, abuse and security incidents.
We do not sell personal data, and we do not use personal data for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects on you.
7. How we share personal data
7.1 Service providers (processors)
We use carefully selected third parties to host the Site and process data on our behalf. They act only on our documented instructions and are bound by contractual confidentiality and data protection obligations:
- Microsoft Azure (Qatar Central): Web hosting, database storage for form submissions (Azure SQL), transactional email delivery (Azure Communication Services), identity and access management.
- Google Workspace (Global): Receipt and storage of emails sent to our staff, including form notifications and CV attachments. CVs submitted through the careers form are transmitted directly by email to our recruitment team as attachments and are not stored on the Site's web servers or database.
7.2 Within Muallemi
Personal data is accessible only to those Muallemi staff and contractors who need it to perform their duties and are bound by confidentiality obligations.
7.3 Clients and partners
Where you contact us on behalf of an institution, or where responding to your enquiry requires the involvement of a partner organisation, we may share your business contact details and the substance of your enquiry with that institution or partner.
7.4 Legal, regulatory and corporate
We may disclose personal data to comply with applicable law, regulation, court order or lawful request by a public authority (including the National Cyber Security Agency in Qatar), to enforce our Terms and Conditions, or to a successor in connection with a corporate merger or acquisition.
8. International transfers
Muallemi is based in Qatar. Some of the service providers listed above may store or process data in data centres outside Qatar, including within the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates or the United States.
Where personal data is transferred outside Qatar, we take steps to ensure it receives a level of protection that is adequate under the PDPPL, including by selecting providers that hold recognised security certifications (ISO/IEC 27001 and SOC 2), entering into data processing agreements with Standard Contractual Clauses, and obtaining your consent where required.
9. Data retention
We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, and thereafter as required by law:
- Contact and enquiry submissions: Up to 24 months from the last contact.
- Job applications (including CVs): 12 months from the date of application.
- Client, partner and supplier records: Duration of the relationship plus 10 years (Qatari commercial record-keeping requirements).
- Server and security logs: Up to 90 days.
- Marketing consents and opt-outs: For as long as you remain subscribed (opt-out records kept indefinitely).
10. Your rights
Subject to applicable law, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:
- Access – to obtain confirmation of whether we process your data and a copy of it;
- Rectification – to have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected;
- Erasure – to have your data deleted where it is no longer necessary or processing is unlawful;
- Restriction & Objection – to limit processing or object to direct marketing and legitimate interest processing;
- Portability & Consent Withdrawal – to receive your data in a structured format or withdraw consent at any time;
- Complaint – to lodge a complaint with the Compliance and Data Protection Department of the National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA) in Qatar or your local EU/UK data protection authority.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@muallemi.com. We will respond without undue delay (generally within 30 days).
11. Security, Children, Links & Contact
11. Security
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures including TLS encryption in transit, encryption at rest (Azure SQL), role-based multi-factor authentication, input sanitisation, and file upload limits.
12. Children
The Site is not intended for children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under the age of 18.
13. Third-party websites
The Site may contain links to external websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites.
14. Language
This Policy is published in English and Arabic. In the event of any inconsistency, the English version shall prevail.
15. Changes to this Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top indicates when the current version took effect.
16. Contact us
Muallemi – Privacy
Qatar Science & Technology Park, Education City
Doha, State of Qatar
Email: info@muallemi.com
Telephone: +974 7103 4000