Abu Dhabi job market

How many jobs are open in Abu Dhabi, how many are new, which fields and employers are hiring and which skills they want. Counted daily from employer career pages and job boards.

Browse jobs in Abu Dhabi

Jobs open now

3,349

New jobs, last 30 days

3,053

Hiring trend vs the previous 30 days: +8%

Jobs closed, last 30 days

3,009

Filled, expired or taken down by the employer

Typical time a job stays open

25 days

Median, from posting to closing, 955 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

100

+13 points on four weeks before

100
3 Aug10 Aug17 Aug24 Aug31 Aug7 Sept14 Sept21 Sept28 Sept
FieldIndexOn four weeks before
Hospitality & Tourism92+25
Engineering & Technology85-10

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.

27 Jul
3 Aug
10 Aug
17 Aug
24 Aug
31 Aug
7 Sept
14 Sept
21 Sept
28 Sept
New jobs Closed jobs

Which fields are hiring

New jobs in the last 30 days, and the like-for-like change against the 30 days before.

FieldNew jobsChange
Engineering & Technology376+3%
Construction & Engineering192+92%
Hospitality & Tourism174+1%
Operations & Logistics132+42%
Education & Training130+76%
Sales & Business Development117-12%
Finance & Accounting114+6%
Healthcare & Medical77+22%
Executive & Management68+48%
Administrative55+25%
Legal & Compliance50too early to tell
Human Resources47too early to tell
Customer Support25too early to tell
Marketing & Communications24too early to tell
Product Management23too early to tell
Design & Creative21too early to tell
Real Estate & Property17too early to tell
Data & Analytics16too early to tell
AI & Machine Learning9too early to tell

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

  • GEMS Education17 41
  • ADIB25 45
  • Aldar Education28 45
  • NMC Healthcare45 62
  • Rotana Hotels81 96

Posting less

  • ADNOC174 102
  • IHG Hotels & Resorts26 7
  • Metropolitan Capital Real Estate19 0
  • LanceSoft Middle East18 0
  • TALENTMATE16 0

Skills employers ask for

The skills named most often in new adverts over the last 30 days. General soft skills are left out.

  1. 1Project management155
  2. 2Risk management137
  3. 3Excel134
  4. 4Regulatory compliance122
  5. 5AutoCAD101
  6. 6Inventory management90
  7. 7Cost control86
  8. 8Budgeting84
  9. 9HSE compliance84
  10. 10Quality assurance84
  11. 11Contract management83
  12. 12Contract administration81
  13. 13Change management80
  14. 14Data analysis76
  15. 15Civil Engineering68

Rising fastest

Like-for-like change vs the previous 30 days, on at least 30 adverts.

  • Regulatory compliance+45%
  • Classroom management+39%
  • Data analysis+33%
  • Change management+28%
  • AutoCAD+26%
  • Contract management+21%
  • HSE compliance+20%
  • Excel+15%
  • Contract administration+10%
  • Project management+9%

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 (3,186 anonymous CVs). A CV mentions far more skills than an advert lists, so compare down each column, not across.

Engineering & Technology

SkillIn advertsIn CVs
Project management8%16%
AutoCAD7%6%
HSE compliance6%1%
Risk management5%12%
Quality assurance4%9%
Change management4%11%

646 adverts, 971 CVs

Sales & Business Development

SkillIn advertsIn CVs
Lead generation19%23%
Business development18%54%
Client relationship management15%13%
Customer relationship management12%14%
Presentation12%18%
Relationship management12%39%

190 adverts, 377 CVs

Finance & Accounting

SkillIn advertsIn CVs
Financial reporting26%62%
Excel24%76%
Accounts receivable21%27%
Accounts payable15%39%
Budgeting15%39%
General ledger15%27%

144 adverts, 293 CVs

Marketing & Communications

SkillIn advertsIn CVs
Digital marketing45%69%
Campaign management26%19%
Budget management24%13%
Social media management24%12%
Brand management21%13%
Content strategy21%30%

38 adverts, 172 CVs

Hospitality & Tourism

SkillIn advertsIn CVs
Guest service14%24%
Food preparation11%12%
Food safety11%33%
Inventory management8%14%
Food and beverage service7%10%
Guest services6%6%

479 adverts, 156 CVs

Construction & Engineering

SkillIn advertsIn CVs
Civil Engineering9%42%
Contract administration9%12%
Risk management9%17%
AutoCAD9%69%
Project management9%38%
Cost control8%24%

525 adverts, 146 CVs

Human Resources

SkillIn advertsIn CVs
Employee relations39%58%
Performance management29%42%
Onboarding26%84%
Workforce planning22%45%
Recruitment17%84%
Employee engagement16%43%

69 adverts, 112 CVs

Operations & Logistics

SkillIn advertsIn CVs
Inventory management13%36%
Contract management10%10%
Vendor management10%23%
Excel9%69%
HSE compliance8%5%
Data analysis8%13%

202 adverts, 87 CVs

Healthcare & Medical

SkillIn advertsIn CVs
Infection control17%38%
Medication administration17%22%
Patient education14%23%
Vital signs monitoring11%12%
Clinical documentation10%30%
Nursing9%50%

144 adverts, 60 CVs

What employers require

From the requirements in 3,349 open adverts. The typical ask is the median.

45%

ask for a degree

5

years of experience, typical ask

1%

ask for a driving licence

1%

require Arabic

FieldYears askedDegreeCredentials asked for most
Construction & Engineering969%NEBOSH IGC, MRICS
Engineering & Technology650%
Hospitality & Tourism220%HACCP, current student
Healthcare & Medical334%BLS, DOH licence, MBBS or equivalent
Sales & Business Development429%
Operations & Logistics544%
Education & Training238%PGCE
Finance & Accounting448%
Legal & Compliance742%
Executive & Management831%
Administrative333%
Human Resources526%

Advertised pay, as employers state it

Only adverts where the employer published a salary (244 open jobs). Typical (median) monthly range, in AED, for fields with at least 30 such adverts.

FieldTypical advertised rangeAdverts
Construction & EngineeringAED 27.5k to 41k a month80
Engineering & TechnologyAED 22k to 35k a month37

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 5k8%
  • AED 5k to 10k14%
  • AED 10k to 20k38%
  • AED 20k to 35k16%
  • AED 35k and above25%

Estimate. 3,333 of 3,349 open jobs have a pay figure.

Adverts that state the pay

7%

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

17%

Last 30 days. The 30 days before: 16% (up 1 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.

  • Administrative18%
  • Customer Support18%
  • Legal & Compliance12%
  • Finance & Accounting7%
  • Human Resources7%

How long jobs stay open, by field

Median days from posting to closing, for jobs closed in the last 90 days.

  • Operations & Logistics15 days
  • Engineering & Technology20 days
  • Hospitality & Tourism23 days
  • Construction & Engineering35 days
  • Healthcare & Medical46 days

Most active employers

By new jobs posted in the last 30 days.

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.

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JobXDubai, "Abu Dhabi job market pulse", data as of 8 October 2026. https://jobxdubai.com/job-market/abu-dhabi
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Source: <a href="https://jobxdubai.com/job-market/abu-dhabi">JobXDubai Abu Dhabi job market pulse</a> (data as of 8 October 2026)

Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Credit "JobXDubai" with a link to jobxdubai.com/job-market/abu-dhabi.

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 8 October 2026.

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.