Gulf job market pulse
How many jobs are open right now, how many new ones appeared, and which fields and employers are hiring. Counted daily from employer career pages and job boards.
Jobs open now
30,047
UAE 12,986, Saudi Arabia 12,169, Qatar 1,969
New jobs, last 30 days
35,120
Hiring trend vs the previous 30 days: +1%
Jobs closed, last 30 days
39,676
Filled, expired or taken down by the employer
Typical time a job stays open
27 days
Median, from posting to closing, 22,578 closed jobs
JobXDubai Hiring Index
New job postings each week from a fixed group of employers, against the four weeks from 3 August 2026 (= 100). The group never changes, so the index only moves when those employers hire more or less, never because we add a source.
Latest complete week
133
+15 points on four weeks before
| Field | Index | On four weeks before |
|---|---|---|
| Education & Training | 305 | +95 |
| Construction & Engineering | 300 | -7 |
| Operations & Logistics | 157 | +1 |
| Executive & Management | 146 | +18 |
| Hospitality & Tourism | 143 | +30 |
| Human Resources | 139 | -41 |
| Legal & Compliance | 132 | -71 |
| Finance & Accounting | 122 | +28 |
| Administrative | 115 | -6 |
| Sales & Business Development | 108 | +22 |
| Marketing & Communications | 104 | -2 |
| Healthcare & Medical | 94 | +14 |
| Data & Analytics | 76 | +14 |
| Engineering & Technology | 74 | +8 |
New and closed jobs, week by week
Complete weeks only, for employers we were already tracking at the start, so a new source never looks like a hiring spike.
Which fields are hiring
New jobs in the last 30 days, and the like-for-like change against the 30 days before.
| Field | Share | New jobs | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction & Engineering | 1,708 | +16% | |
| Hospitality & Tourism | 1,140 | +2% | |
| Sales & Business Development | 1,017 | -2% | |
| Engineering & Technology | 883 | -22% | |
| Operations & Logistics | 717 | -3% | |
| Finance & Accounting | 622 | +6% | |
| Education & Training | 574 | +1% | |
| Healthcare & Medical | 372 | -12% | |
| Marketing & Communications | 336 | +9% | |
| Administrative | 328 | +4% | |
| Executive & Management | 291 | -6% | |
| Real Estate & Property | 259 | +14% | |
| Human Resources | 257 | -1% | |
| Energy & Sustainability | 230 | +125% | |
| Legal & Compliance | 202 | -20% | |
| Product Management | 167 | +12% | |
| Customer Support | 146 | -2% | |
| Design & Creative | 140 | -1% | |
| Data & Analytics | 135 | +5% | |
| AI & Machine Learning | 106 | +93% |
Employers stepping up, and slowing down
New jobs in the last 30 days compared with the 30 days before, for employers we have tracked throughout. Recruitment agencies and job boards are left out.
Posting more
- DAMAC Properties16 116
- Joblet-AI1 101
- ADIB54 121
- Chalhoub Group50 98
- Parsons211 257
Posting less
- Rotana Hotels169 66
- Qiddiya | القدية208 141
- Air Arabia75 15
- Hill International52 7
- GEMS Education341 305
Skills employers ask for
The skills named most often in new adverts over the last 30 days. General soft skills are left out.
- 1Excel2,472
- 2Project management1,477
- 3Data analysis1,292
- 4Inventory management1,270
- 5Budgeting1,129
- 6Risk management1,113
- 7Regulatory compliance1,109
- 8Business development1,085
- 9Client relationship management946
- 10AutoCAD925
- 11Guest service925
- 12Vendor management868
- 13Forecasting857
- 14Financial reporting833
- 15Quality assurance831
Rising fastest
Like-for-like change vs the previous 30 days, on at least 30 adverts.
- Menu planning+92%
- Curriculum planning+89%
- Plumbing+79%
- TypeScript+75%
- Inventory control+67%
- Food presentation+67%
- Meeting coordination+62%
- Team coordination+59%
- Python+58%
- Incident management+58%
What employers ask for, and what CVs show
For each field: the skills named most in new adverts, and how often CVs uploaded to JobXDubai mention them (7,009 anonymous CVs). A CV mentions far more skills than an advert lists, so compare down each column, not across.
Engineering & Technology
| Skill | In adverts | In CVs |
|---|---|---|
| Python | 9% | 46% |
| Troubleshooting | 7% | 27% |
| Kubernetes | 6% | 12% |
| Project management | 5% | 15% |
| SQL | 5% | 46% |
| CI/CD | 5% | 25% |
3,545 adverts, 1,935 CVs
Finance & Accounting
| Skill | In adverts | In CVs |
|---|---|---|
| Financial reporting | 35% | 66% |
| Excel | 31% | 85% |
| Accounts receivable | 19% | 37% |
| Accounts payable | 18% | 48% |
| Budgeting | 18% | 36% |
| Financial analysis | 14% | 25% |
2,016 adverts, 711 CVs
Sales & Business Development
| Skill | In adverts | In CVs |
|---|---|---|
| Business development | 22% | 59% |
| Customer relationship management | 14% | 15% |
| Account management | 14% | 30% |
| Lead generation | 13% | 22% |
| Client relationship management | 12% | 15% |
| B2B sales | 10% | 12% |
4,003 adverts, 633 CVs
Construction & Engineering
| Skill | In adverts | In CVs |
|---|---|---|
| AutoCAD | 14% | 60% |
| Civil Engineering | 9% | 37% |
| Project coordination | 8% | 12% |
| Project management | 8% | 36% |
| Quality assurance | 7% | 13% |
| Risk management | 7% | 20% |
5,478 adverts, 608 CVs
Hospitality & Tourism
| Skill | In adverts | In CVs |
|---|---|---|
| Guest service | 16% | 26% |
| Food preparation | 13% | 9% |
| Inventory management | 11% | 16% |
| Food safety | 10% | 32% |
| Food and beverage service | 8% | 10% |
| Guest services | 7% | 8% |
5,776 adverts, 448 CVs
Marketing & Communications
| Skill | In adverts | In CVs |
|---|---|---|
| Digital marketing | 22% | 73% |
| Budget management | 18% | 13% |
| Social media management | 15% | 13% |
| Brand management | 15% | 12% |
| Content creation | 14% | 26% |
| Campaign management | 12% | 16% |
1,248 adverts, 263 CVs
Human Resources
| Skill | In adverts | In CVs |
|---|---|---|
| Employee relations | 30% | 64% |
| Performance management | 22% | 41% |
| Onboarding | 20% | 87% |
| Workforce planning | 14% | 39% |
| Succession planning | 12% | 17% |
| Recruitment | 11% | 89% |
898 adverts, 236 CVs
Operations & Logistics
| Skill | In adverts | In CVs |
|---|---|---|
| Excel | 15% | 65% |
| Inventory management | 13% | 35% |
| Data analysis | 10% | 10% |
| Vendor management | 9% | 24% |
| Logistics coordination | 7% | 23% |
| ERP systems | 6% | 17% |
2,478 adverts, 209 CVs
Healthcare & Medical
| Skill | In adverts | In CVs |
|---|---|---|
| Medical AI evaluation | 11% | 0% |
| Medical annotation/QA | 11% | 0% |
| Clinical reasoning | 10% | 2% |
| Exam-question review | 9% | 0% |
| Differential diagnosis | 8% | 0% |
| Patient education | 8% | 24% |
1,267 adverts, 132 CVs
Design & Creative
| Skill | In adverts | In CVs |
|---|---|---|
| Adobe Illustrator | 30% | 43% |
| Adobe Photoshop | 30% | 57% |
| Typography | 22% | 34% |
| Graphic design | 20% | 39% |
| Adobe InDesign | 20% | 19% |
| Branding | 17% | 52% |
468 adverts, 102 CVs
Education & Training
| Skill | In adverts | In CVs |
|---|---|---|
| Classroom management | 22% | 46% |
| Curriculum development | 11% | 18% |
| Lesson planning | 10% | 54% |
| Curriculum planning | 9% | 12% |
| Differentiated instruction | 7% | 50% |
| Student assessment | 5% | 18% |
1,095 adverts, 82 CVs
Where competition for jobs is highest
Each field's share of the CVs uploaded to JobXDubai against its share of new jobs. Above 1 means more job seekers than openings, relative to other fields. Our CVs are a sample, so read this as a comparison between fields, not a count of applicants.
| Field | Share of CVs | Share of new jobs | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering & Technology | 36% | 10% | 3.5x |
| Finance & Accounting | 13% | 6% | 2.3x |
| Human Resources | 4% | 3% | 1.7x |
| Design & Creative | 2% | 1% | 1.4x |
| Marketing & Communications | 5% | 4% | 1.4x |
| Sales & Business Development | 12% | 11% | 1.0x |
| Construction & Engineering | 11% | 16% | 0.7x |
| Healthcare & Medical | 2% | 4% | 0.7x |
| Operations & Logistics | 4% | 7% | 0.5x |
| Hospitality & Tourism | 8% | 17% | 0.5x |
| Education & Training | 2% | 3% | 0.5x |
Available talent in the UAE
Candidates on JobXDubai who are open to approaches from verified employers right now, counted when this page was refreshed. Groups smaller than 5 are left out, and we never show names, employers, nationality, age or gender.
Open to new roles
3,570
Visible to verified employers
Joined in the last 7 days
186
Can start within a month
225
Of 260 who gave a notice period
By field
- Engineering & Technology494
- Finance & Accounting251
- Sales & Business Development226
- Product Management201
- Data & Analytics188
- Operations & Logistics139
- Marketing & Communications103
- Construction & Engineering100
- Design & Creative85
- Administrative73
By experience
- 0 to 2 years651
- 3 to 5 years798
- 6 to 10 years912
- More than 10 years1,197
Out of 3,558
Where they are
- Dubai1,337
- Outside the UAE1,258
- Abu Dhabi228
- Sharjah110
- Ajman23
- Al Ain16
- Ras Al Khaimah10
Top skills
- Excel621
- Python555
- SQL491
- Power BI478
- Jira279
- Git251
- Docker247
- JavaScript219
- Tableau207
- AWS206
Top certifications
- PMP147
- Six Sigma125
- Scrum Master107
- Microsoft Azure103
- AWS Certified91
- ITIL67
- Google Cloud42
- DHA licence41
- BLS37
- PRINCE234
Top languages
- English2,352
- Arabic663
- French211
- Spanish134
- German87
- Russian83
- Mandarin20
CV quality
From CVs checked with our free ATS checker in the last 30 days. Anonymous totals only: we keep the score and the gaps found, never the CV.
CVs checked, last 30 days
2,160
Average ATS score
68/100
Across 2,160 scored CVs
Score distribution
- Under 501%
- 50 to 6954%
- 70 to 8445%
Most common gaps
- No certifications section57%
- No LinkedIn link45%
- No skills section30%
- No profile summary17%
- No work experience section11%
Hiring in the UAE?
Describe the role and Layla, our AI recruiter, shortlists the candidates who fit.
What employers require
From the requirements in 30,048 open adverts. The typical ask is the median.
42%
ask for a degree
5
years of experience, typical ask
1%
ask for a driving licence
2%
require Arabic
| Field | Years asked | Degree | Credentials asked for most |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction & Engineering | 8 | 63% | BE, PMP, SCE registration |
| Hospitality & Tourism | 2 | 30% | CPR certification, HACCP, First aid certificate |
| Sales & Business Development | 3 | 34% | English proficiency, SCFHS, bilingual |
| Engineering & Technology | 5 | 40% | Secret, Ph.D., PMP |
| Operations & Logistics | 4 | 40% | ATPL, mandatory |
| Energy & Sustainability | 8 | 64% | NEBOSH IGC, Chartered Engineer or Professional Engineer, BE |
| Finance & Accounting | 5 | 49% | SOCPA, CA/ACCA/CPA, CA |
| Education & Training | 3 | 30% | Ph.D., IELTS 6.0, Teaching qualification |
| Healthcare & Medical | 2 | 31% | BLS, DHA licence, DOH licence |
| Marketing & Communications | 4 | 31% | |
| Executive & Management | 8 | 37% | PMP |
| Legal & Compliance | 5 | 44% | Qualified lawyer, Bar admission, practising certificate |
| Human Resources | 4 | 43% | |
| Administrative | 3 | 40% | |
| Real Estate & Property | 3 | 29% | RERA |
| Design & Creative | 4 | 25% | |
| Data & Analytics | 5 | 44% | |
| Customer Support | 2 | 38% | |
| AI & Machine Learning | 5 | 35% | |
| Product Management | 5 | 27% |
Advertised pay, as employers state it
Only adverts where the employer published a salary (1,292 open jobs). Typical (median) monthly range, in AED, for fields with at least 30 such adverts.
| Field | Typical advertised range | Adverts |
|---|---|---|
| Executive & Management | AED 34.5k to 45k a month | 52 |
| Energy & Sustainability | AED 22k to 36.5k a month | 61 |
| Legal & Compliance | AED 22.5k to 33.5k a month | 38 |
| Engineering & Technology | AED 20k to 30k a month | 131 |
| Construction & Engineering | AED 17.5k to 29.5k a month | 181 |
| Finance & Accounting | AED 15k to 25k a month | 88 |
| Healthcare & Medical | AED 15k to 24.5k a month | 87 |
| Sales & Business Development | AED 14.5k to 20.5k a month | 111 |
| Marketing & Communications | AED 14.5k to 20k a month | 48 |
| Education & Training | AED 12k to 18k a month | 40 |
| Design & Creative | AED 10k to 16k a month | 31 |
| Operations & Logistics | AED 8k to 12k a month | 117 |
| Administrative | AED 6k to 9k a month | 32 |
| Hospitality & Tourism | AED 4k to 6k a month | 131 |
Adverts that state pay lean towards some employers and roles, so this is what advertised jobs offer, not what everyone earns.
What open jobs pay: our estimate
Most Gulf adverts don't state a salary, so these bands use our own estimate for each open job (the employer's figure when they give one). Individual estimates can be well off, so read this as the shape of the market, not a salary guide.
Open jobs by estimated monthly pay
- Under AED 5k7%
- AED 5k to 10k30%
- AED 10k to 20k43%
- AED 20k to 35k9%
- AED 35k and above10%
Estimate. 29,593 of 30,048 open jobs have a pay figure.
Adverts that state the pay
4%
Of jobs open now, the share where the employer published a salary. This one is a count, not an estimate.
Who the jobs are for
New jobs open to entry-level and junior candidates
26%
Last 30 days. The 30 days before: 22% (up 4 points).
New jobs reserved for GCC nationals
4%
Adverts that say the role is for Emirati, Saudi or other GCC nationals only. Last 30 days.
- Customer Support10%
- Administrative9%
- Finance & Accounting7%
- Human Resources7%
- Construction & Engineering4%
How long jobs stay open, by field
Median days from posting to closing, for jobs closed in the last 90 days.
- AI & Machine Learning12 days
- Real Estate & Property15 days
- Customer Support21 days
- Marketing & Communications23 days
- Human Resources23 days
- Engineering & Technology24 days
- Operations & Logistics24 days
- Data & Analytics25 days
- Administrative26 days
- Hospitality & Tourism27 days
- Finance & Accounting27 days
- Design & Creative27 days
- Executive & Management28 days
- Healthcare & Medical28 days
- Sales & Business Development28 days
- Energy & Sustainability28 days
- Product Management29 days
- Legal & Compliance30 days
- Construction & Engineering31 days
- Education & Training40 days
Most active employers
By new jobs posted in the last 30 days.
- 1Marriott International1,710
- 2Accor857
- 3Hilton814
- 4Larsen & Toubro618
- 5Parsons455
- 6AECOM365
- 7KUWAIT JOBS HERE317
- 8GEMS Education315
- 9Rotana Hotels259
- 10Mindrift240
Where the new jobs are
New jobs in the last 30 days, by city.
Use this data
Journalists, researchers and bloggers are welcome to quote, embed and chart these numbers. Please credit JobXDubai with a link to this page.
JobXDubai, "Gulf job market pulse", data as of 14 November 2026. https://jobxdubai.com/job-market
Source: <a href="https://jobxdubai.com/job-market">JobXDubai Gulf job market pulse</a> (data as of 14 November 2026)
Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Credit "JobXDubai" with a link to jobxdubai.com/job-market.
How we count
- Jobs open now are live listings on JobXDubai: collected daily from employer career pages and job boards, checked for dead links, with duplicates removed.
- A new job is a listing we first saw within 14 days of its posting date, so an employer's backlog of old adverts never counts as fresh hiring.
- Trends compare like with like: only employers we were already tracking in that country before the period began. When we add a new source, its jobs count as open jobs but not as growth.
- We only show a percentage change on a big enough base: at least 300 new jobs in the earlier period (30 for a single field or skill, 15 for an employer). Below that, small numbers swing too much to mean anything.
- Pay bands are estimates. Most adverts don't state pay, so we estimate it per job. The share of adverts stating pay is an exact count.
- The Hiring Index counts new postings each week from a fixed group of employers we already tracked before its base period, against the average of its four base weeks (= 100). A field gets its own index once it averaged at least 30 new jobs a week in the base period.
- Requirements come from the requirements written in each open advert (years, degrees, licences, credentials, languages). Spellings of the same credential are merged.
- Advertised pay uses only salaries the employer published, never our estimates, and only where at least 30 adverts in a field state one.
- CV figures come from CVs uploaded to JobXDubai, including free CV checks, stored as anonymous statistics: the skills a CV mentions and a likely field. We never keep or publish the CVs themselves.
- Time open runs from posting to closing. It leaves out jobs from feeds where we retire adverts ourselves after a fixed age, which would otherwise make every field look the same.
- Tracking began UAE: July 2026, Oman: July 2026, Saudi Arabia: July 2026. Updated 14 November 2026.
Job market by field
- AI & Machine Learning
- Engineering & Technology
- Sales & Business Development
- Marketing & Communications
- Finance & Accounting
- Human Resources
- Legal & Compliance
- Operations & Logistics
- Product Management
- Design & Creative
- Data & Analytics
- Customer Support
- Healthcare & Medical
- Education & Training
- Construction & Engineering
- Real Estate & Property
- Energy & Sustainability
- Hospitality & Tourism
- Executive & Management
- Administrative
Job market by city
Job market by role: hiring data for the 100 most common jobs, from accountants to sous chefs. Who is hiring: every employer with 10 or more open jobs.
Looking for a role? Browse jobs in Dubai and the UAE. Writing about the Gulf job market? See our press page.