Most UAE salaries are not moving in 2027 in Michael Page's guide. A few are moving a lot. We compared the Michael Page UAE Salary Guide 2026 with the 2027 edition, role by role, and built the UAE Salary Index from the result. This is what it shows.
Key takeaway
Of 529 roles present in both guides, 76 rise, 420 stay flat and 33 fall. The average change is +1.3% (the middle role is unchanged), so higher pay is not the default in the guide. Where roles do move, AI, healthcare and some senior roles are up, while parts of banking and data science are down. A further 26 roles are new in 2027, 2 pairs of roles were merged and 6 are no longer listed. All figures are monthly AED.
The biggest risers
Change is measured from the 2026 average to the 2027 mid-point.
- CEO (Energy): AED 90,000 to AED 150,000 a month, +66.7% (a single-role figure, not a sector trend)
- Medical Director (Healthcare): AED 60,000 to AED 80,000, +33.3%
- AI Solution Architect: AED 42,500 to AED 55,000, +29.4%
- Site Reliability Engineer: AED 21,500 to AED 27,500, +27.9%
- Clinical Application Specialist: AED 27,500 to AED 35,000, +27.3%
- Infrastructure Head / Director: AED 55,000 to AED 70,000, +27.3%
See the full bands on the Site Reliability Engineer and AI Solution Architect pages.
The biggest fallers
- Data Scientist: AED 47,500 to AED 37,500, -21.1%
- Analyst (Investment Banking): AED 40,000 to AED 33,000, -17.5%
- Vice President / Director (Private Equity): AED 80,000 to AED 70,000, -12.5%
- HSE Engineer (Energy): AED 25,000 to AED 22,000, -12.0%
- Junior Accountant (General), MNC: AED 17,000 to AED 15,000, -11.8%
A falling mid-point does not mean existing salaries are cut. It means the guide's typical figure for new hires is lower. The Data Scientist page shows the 2026 band for comparison.
Which sectors move most
- Consultancy, Strategy and Change: +6.1% on average (4 of 13 roles rising, none falling)
- Healthcare and Life Sciences: +4.1% (7 of 27 rising, 1 falling)
- Secretarial and Office Support: +3.7% (6 of 24 rising)
- Banking and Financial Services: -1.0% on average (9 of 59 falling, 3 rising, the other 47 flat)
Human Resources, Retail and both Sales and Marketing sectors are flat across the board.
New and missing roles
There are 26 new roles. 10 of them have AI, ML or agentic in the title, such as Agentic AI Architect (AED 60,000) and Agentic AI Engineer (AED 55,000), and 15 sit in Data and Analytics. The rest include quantitative and governance roles. These are 2027 mid-points with no 2026 figure, so they sit outside the percentage change.
Two pairs of roles were merged rather than dropped: Finance Manager and Financial Controller became one role (AED 50,000), and GenAI Engineer and AI/ML Engineer became AI Engineer (AED 45,000). Six roles are no longer listed under these titles: Growth Hacker, Visual/Graphic Designer, CEO (B2B Sales), Regional Head of Product, Marketing Research and Infrastructure Engineer.
What we left out
Property and Construction is excluded from the index. Michael Page's 2027 guide carries no updated property figures, so there is nothing to compare. Property roles keep their 2026 figures on JobXDubai.
How to use this before an offer
- Find your role in the UAE Salary Index and note whether it is rising, flat or falling.
- If your role is rising and your offer matches last year's band, you have grounds to ask for more.
- If your role is falling, negotiate on scope and benefits, not just base pay.
- Download the full comparison as a CSV and check it against the offer in front of you.
Source: Michael Page UAE Salary Guide 2026 and 2027. The comparison and index are JobXDubai's own work, published under CC BY 4.0.
FAQ
Are UAE salaries going up in 2027?
For most roles, no. Of 529 roles compared, 420 are flat, 76 rise and 33 fall. The average change is +1.3%.
Which UAE role has the biggest salary rise for 2027?
CEO in the Energy sector, from AED 90,000 to AED 150,000 a month (+66.7%). The next largest is Medical Director at +33.3%.
Which roles are falling?
Data Scientist (-21.1%), Investment Banking Analyst (-17.5%) and Private Equity Vice President / Director (-12.5%) fall the most.
How is the change calculated?
We take the 2026 average salary and the 2027 mid-point for the same role, then work out the percentage difference, rounded to one decimal place. All figures are monthly AED.
Why is Property missing?
Michael Page's 2027 guide carries no updated property figures, so we cannot compare it year on year.
Where does the data come from?
The Michael Page UAE Salary Guide 2026 and 2027. The comparison is ours.
