If you are an expat looking for that highly paid tax free job in the United Arab Emirates, here’s the low-down on the top 10 careers in most demand from employers.
A salary guide for expats from leading Middle East recruitment consultancy Robert Half has compiled the list from companies looking to fill posts in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
The firm’s UAE associate director Gareth El Mettouri explains that chief executives in the Middle East are positive about growing their businesses, with 42% confident about the next 12 months and 40% looking forward to three years of growth.
“If we look further into the way businesses are growing, digitisation, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) continue to transform the world of work and are quickly becoming necessary in meeting the needs of a rapidly evolving market,” he said.
Top 10 roles for expats
“For hiring managers this means incorporating these processes into their business, however, there is growing concern over hiring the necessary talent that is needed to match the demands of the current professional world.
“This has led employers to focus on improving retention, offering more initiatives such as renumeration packages and flexible working and not overlooking the importance of soft skills as integral to a candidate’s profile.”
Here’s a list of those top 10 roles for expats and the salary that goes with them:
- Financial planning analysts ($82,200 – $123,500)
- Web developers ($52,300 – $125,100)
- Finance managers ($103,000 – $165,000)
- Management accountants ($63,500 – $117,800)
- Network engineers ($62,200 – $104,600)
- Paralegals ($64,000 – $91,500)
- Compliance officers – offshore and onshore ($58,900 – $127,500)
- IT project managers ($71,900 – $163,500)
- Executive assistants and personal assistants ($49,000 – $98,000)
- Senior counsel ($89,000 – $220,500)
Skills gap
“With the rise of AI and automation playing a major role in evolving the workplace, we are seeing a widened skills gap impacting the growing war for talent,” said the Robert Half 2019 Salary Guide for the UAE.
“Businesses need to adapt in order to successfully attract and retain top performers in this market. Subsequently, the focus shift to soft skills when making new hires is helping to complement the automation of processes.”
