78% of UAE Workers Are Open to a New Job in 2027, According to a New Salary Guide

The recruitment firm Michael Page found in its newly launched UAE Salary Guide 2027 that around 78% of UAE professionals are open to changing roles in 2027. The same research found that 51% would be more likely to consider leaving an employer if required to spend more time in the office, and that salary expectations continue to outpace many organisational salary review budgets. The guide itself covers average salaries for more than 500 roles by experience level, so it doubles as a pay benchmark for anyone weighing a move. For Metaintro readers working in the UAE or planning to, this piece sets out what the guide found, what eight roles pay each month in dirhams and US dollars, and the labour law rules on notice and gratuity that decide what a switch really costs or earns you.

What Did the Michael Page UAE Salary Guide 2027 Find?

Michael Page launched the guide with a press release published on 27 October 2026, and its research describes a workforce that is confident, mobile, and increasingly focused on long-term career value. Beyond the headline openness figure, career progression, flexibility, and learning opportunities are becoming increasingly important alongside compensation.

The guide is broad. It includes hiring and talent trends across 18 sectors, along with salary comparisons by experience level and company size. Michael Page is a global recruitment consultancy operating in 34 countries with more than 6,000 employees worldwide, and its UAE salary guide page lets anyone search pay by job title or by specialism.

The backdrop matters for job seekers. The UAE job market enters 2027 following a period of economic and geopolitical uncertainty in 2026, rising employment costs and the rapid adoption of AI across industries. Hiring volumes swung during the year too. UAE hiring rebounded to 4 per cent in the third quarter, following a 4 per cent decline in Q2, and the third-quarter hiring rebound in the UAE breaks that swing down by sector.

The retention message is aimed squarely at employers. The research found that organisations are increasingly finding that replacing talent costs significantly more than retaining it.

How Was the Salary Data Collected, and What Does It Include?

The guide draws on four inputs. They are assignments completed for clients between 1 January and 30 September 2026, conversations with candidates and employers carried out by its 80+ specialist consultants, data from its own database, and sector research, market trends and salary data for the roles most commonly recruited for.

What counts as salary is the key detail. Figures are shown in thousands of United Arab Dirhams (AED) and reflect the average monthly salary in UAE, including basic, housing, transportation and other allowances, excluding bonuses and commissions. So the numbers below are monthly totals that already include housing and transport allowances, and they leave out any bonus.

Each role page shows three points, labelled low, medium and high, for example on the data scientist page. Salaries, experience requirements and role responsibilities can vary depending on the size of an organisation, the sector, the region and wider economic conditions. The role pages, such as the data scientist band, label each band as a yearly salary, but under the guide's method note its figures reflect the average monthly salary, so this piece lists them as monthly.

What Do Tech and AI Roles Pay in the UAE?

Start with AI. An agentic AI engineer is listed at AED 40,000 to AED 70,000 (about $10,890 to $19,060) a month, with a medium point of AED 55,000 (about $14,980). A data scientist is listed at AED 25,000 to AED 50,000 (about $6,810 to $13,610) a month, with a medium point of AED 37,500 (about $10,210).

Cloud and security roles follow. A DevOps engineer is listed at AED 25,000 (about $6,810) low, AED 35,000 (about $9,530) medium and AED 45,000 (about $12,250) high a month. A SOC engineer in cybersecurity is listed at AED 8,000 to AED 15,000 (about $2,180 to $4,080) a month, with a medium point of AED 11,500 (about $3,130).

The top positions in demand in technology are DevOps Engineer, Security Engineer, Cybersecurity Manager, Platform Engineer and Infrastructure Manager, and the most wanted skills start with Cloud Strategy & Migration and Cyber Security & Risk Management.

Pay growth in tech was not dramatic, as salary growth across the technology function was moderate during 2026, with the strongest demand in cybersecurity, cloud, technology leadership, enterprise architecture and transformation programmes. Location matters too, since Abu Dhabi continues to show greater activity in senior technology leadership hiring.

What Do Finance and Supply Chain Leaders Earn?

Finance leadership comes first. A CFO at a multinational is listed at AED 80,000 to AED 120,000 (about $21,780 to $32,680) a month, with a medium point of AED 100,000 (about $27,230).

Company size changes the number for the same job title, as a financial controller at a multinational is listed at AED 50,000 to AED 60,000 (about $13,610 to $16,340) a month, while a financial controller at an SME is listed at AED 35,000 to AED 45,000 (about $9,530 to $12,250) a month. If you are moving between a smaller firm and a multinational, check the matching company-size page before you name a figure.

Supply chain is the third area covered here. A supply chain manager is listed at AED 40,000 to AED 60,000 (about $10,890 to $16,340) a month, with a medium point of AED 50,000 (about $13,610).

Finance also has clear skill gaps, since shortages remain in specialist areas including taxation, financial planning and analysis, transformation, risk, governance, and finance technology, and the rollout of UAE Corporate Tax, alongside growing transfer pricing and international tax requirements has raised demand for multi-jurisdictional tax experts. Because of those gaps, many employers continue to look beyond local talent pools, offering international mobility opportunities.

We are seeing encouraging levels of hiring activity and a sustained demand for specialist skills, Jon Ede, Managing Director of Michael Page Middle East, said, according to the Michael Page release on Zawya.

Which Sectors Are Driving Hiring in the UAE?

Property and construction continues to offer exceptional opportunities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Dubai's pipeline includes the AED 18 billion Metro Blue Line (about $4.9 billion), the Al Maktoum International Airport expansion and continued waterfront development. Abu Dhabi has projects such as the AED 100 billion Marsa Al Saadiyat waterfront masterplan (about $27.2 billion).

Construction clients are also becoming increasingly selective, prioritising candidates with proven UAE/GCC experience, strong local market knowledge and demonstrable delivery of comparable projects.

The AI and data picture is different. In 2026 the question moved from whether organisations adopt AI to how they build around it, and the guide expects some of the strongest demand in 2027 to emerge in the spaces between software, data, models, infrastructure and the business. The top positions in demand in this field start with Agentic AI Engineer, Applied AI Engineer and Data Scientist / Applied Data Scientist.

Why Would Half of UAE Workers Consider Leaving Over Office Time?

Flexibility weighs heavily, as more than half of UAE employees would weigh up their options if office attendance increased, a finding that underlines how important flexibility has become in one of the world's most competitive employment markets, in the view of the Khaleej Times story on the guide.

UAE law already allows several ways of working, as the Labour Law admits full time, part time, temporary work, flexible working, where working hours or days may change depending on the business needs of the employer, and remote work, where all or part of the work is performed outside the workplace, along with job sharing. If flexibility matters to you, check which model of work is written into your contract.

Normal hours are capped as well, since the maximum normal working hours are eight hours per day or forty-eight hours per week, and overtime is paid at the basic wage plus an extra of at least 25 percent.

Do UAE Workers See AI as a Threat to Their Jobs?

Most do not, as just 23% of professionals view Generative AI as a threat to their long-term job security, which the guide reads as a shift from fear of disruption to a focus on productivity, innovation and career growth.

The sector pages describe how AI is reshaping roles. AI-assisted development is changing software engineering itself, and while technical depth still matters, increasingly so does versatility, meaning people who understand how software, data, models, infrastructure and the business connect. In finance, demand remains strong for professionals who combine traditional technical expertise with capabilities in AI, data analytics, automation, and digital transformation.

Agentic AI pay ranks high in this sample, since of the eight roles in this piece, only the multinational CFO has a higher top figure than the agentic AI engineer.

How Does This Year's Guide Compare With Last Year's?

Openness to moving was already high a year ago, when Michael Page's 2026 edition found that almost two-thirds are open to changing jobs in 2026, while 52 per cent are satisfied with their current pay.

Negotiation had become harder in that edition, as in 2025 49 per cent of employees in the UAE tried to negotiate their pay and 15 per cent were successful, down from 2024, when 64 per cent engaged in salary negotiations and 24 per cent were successful. The drop came amid an increasing influx of international jobseekers moving to the UAE.

What Should You Know About UAE Labour Law Before You Switch Jobs?

Notice comes first. Either party may end a contract for any legitimate reason with written notice, and the notice period must not be less than 30 days and not exceed 90 days. The worker is entitled to his full wage for the notice period based on their most recent salary, and the side that skips notice must pay the other a notice period allowance, even if no harm was caused.

Probation has its own rule. An employee who wants to join another UAE employer while on probation has to give the employer a written notice of minimum one month, and the new employer then has to compensate the current employer for recruitment cost unless agreed otherwise. Probation itself must not exceed six months.

Gratuity is where package and basic pay split. A foreign worker who has served more than one year but less than five gets 21 days' salary for each year of work, and after five years the rate is 30 days' salary for each year of work following the first 5 years. The total shall not exceed the wage of 2 years, and a foreign worker who leaves with less than 1 year of service is not entitled to any gratuity pay.

Payment has a deadline, as employers must pay outstanding wages, entitlements and gratuity within 14 days of the termination of the contract. Some employers use the voluntary Savings Scheme instead, paying 5.83 per cent of their employees' monthly basic salary for full-time staff with under five years of service into an approved fund.

Non-compete clauses can follow you, as the Labour Law lets employers add them if they are limited to the extent necessary to protect the business’s legitimate interests and defined in respect of time, place and the nature of work, and the maximum restrictive period is for two years from the date of the expiry of the employment contract.

The end of service gratuity is calculated on basis of last wage which the worker was entitled to, namely the basic salary, according to the UAE Government Portal page on end-of-service benefits.

What This Means for UAE Job Seekers, and What Should You Do Next?

The headline number tells you competition for your attention is real. When most professionals are open to a move and employers are finding that replacing talent costs more than keeping it, the person with a credible outside offer has leverage. That is a reason to know your number before anyone asks.

The guide's own definition is the trap to avoid. Michael Page's monthly figures include housing, transport and other allowances, but UAE gratuity is built on the basic wage alone. Two offers with the same total package can leave you with very different gratuity if one puts more of the pay into allowances. So when you compare an offer with the guide, ask for the split between basic pay and allowances in writing and compare both lines, not just the total. That written split is also what you work from when you negotiate a job offer after you have it in writing.

Timing is the next lever. The notice period means your start date and final pay depend on when you resign, and the one-year gratuity threshold above makes the date you leave matter too. If flexibility is your reason to leave, get the work model written into the new contract, because the law recognises remote and flexible work arrangements. If you are early in your career or between roles, the guide's role pages are a quick way to test whether an offer is low, medium or high before you negotiate.

Lacey Kaelani, Metaintro's CEO, puts it this way: A bigger package is only a raise if your basic salary moves too, so read the split before you sign.

Related Articles

• How to Negotiate Salary in an Interview
• How to Quit Your Job Professionally and Keep Your Career on Track
• How to Negotiate a Raise After a Title Change Without a Pay Increase
• How to Address Pay Inequity When a Coworker Earns More Than You
• Office Mandates Are Quietly Costing Companies Female Applicants
• Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Blink on Their Office Mandate for the World Cup
• Abu Dhabi's AiNative Programme Teaches Government Workers AI Tools and What Data to Keep Out
• Emirates NBD Moves to Buy HSBC Turkey Unit Leaving Workers in Limbo

People Also Asked

Q: What share of UAE workers are open to changing jobs?

A: Michael Page's UAE Salary Guide 2027 found that 78% of professionals are open to changing roles, and 51% would be more likely to consider leaving an employer if required to spend more time in the office.

Q: Do Michael Page UAE salary figures include housing allowance?

A: Yes. The figures reflect the average monthly salary in UAE, including basic, housing, transportation and other allowances, excluding bonuses and commissions.

Q: How is end-of-service gratuity calculated in the UAE private sector?

A: For full-time foreign workers with a year or more of continuous service, it is based on basic salary, at a wage of twenty one days for each year of the first five years of service and thirty days for each year after that, and the total must not exceed two years' wage.

Wondering what you should earn? Metaintro brings together 50M jobs in one place. Create a free profile and start your search today.