UAE Salary Index 2027
How pay changed for the same role between the Michael Page UAE Salary Guide 2026 and 2027. Monthly AED, role by role and sector by sector.
Of 529 UAE roles priced in both Michael Page guides, 76 pay more in 2027, 420 are flat and 33 pay less. The average change is +1.3%.
Roles compared
529
Same role in the 2026 and 2027 guides
Average change
+1.3%
Mean of every role's change. Median 0%
Roles rising
76
420 flat, 33 falling
Roles falling
33
Medium below the 2026 average
Monthly AED. Source: Michael Page UAE Salary Guide 2026/2027. 26 roles are new in 2027, 6 are no longer listed and 2 combine earlier roles.
Change by sector
Average change in each sector, across the roles that appear in both guides. Click a heading to sort.
| Consultancy, Strategy and Change | +6.1% | 13 | 4 | 0 |
| Healthcare and Life Sciences | +4.1% | 27 | 7 | 1 |
| Secretarial and Office Support | +3.7% | 24 | 6 | 0 |
| Energy | +2.5% | 39 | 7 | 6 |
| Digital | +2% | 44 | 9 | 0 |
| Engineering and Manufacturing | +1.7% | 39 | 13 | 8 |
| Technology | +1.7% | 54 | 5 | 1 |
| Finance and Accounting | +1.4% | 66 | 15 | 3 |
| Procurement and Supply Chain | +1.1% | 22 | 3 | 1 |
| Legal (Private Practice) | +0.7% | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| Data and Analytics | +0.3% | 28 | 2 | 3 |
| Human Resources | 0% | 21 | 0 | 0 |
| Retail | 0% | 35 | 0 | 0 |
| Sales and Marketing (B2B) | 0% | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| Sales and Marketing (Consumer) | 0% | 21 | 0 | 0 |
| Legal (In-House & Policy) | -0.3% | 14 | 1 | 1 |
| Banking and Financial Services | -1% | 59 | 3 | 9 |
Biggest rises and falls
The 15 roles whose pay moved furthest each way, 2026 average to 2027 medium.
Biggest rises
- CEOEnergy · Management Consulting and Strategy Consulting+66.7%
- Medical DirectorHealthcare and Life Sciences · Medical Science+33.3%
- AI Solution ArchitectData and Analytics · Data Science & AI+29.4%
- Site Reliability EngineerTechnology · Cloud, DevOps, & Architecture+27.9%
- Clinical Application SpecialistHealthcare and Life Sciences · Sales+27.3%
- Infrastructure Head / DirectorTechnology · Infrastructure+27.3%
- PMOConsultancy, Strategy and Change · Internal Strategy and Transformation+25%
- Design ManagerEngineering and Manufacturing · Project+25%
- Office ManagerSecretarial and Office Support · SME+25%
- Corporate Strategy & PlanningConsultancy, Strategy and Change · Internal Strategy and Transformation+23.6%
- Full Stack DeveloperDigital · Development+22.2%
- Construction ManagerEnergy · Management Consulting and Strategy Consulting+22.2%
- Executive AssistantSecretarial and Office Support · SME+22.2%
- Project & Programme ManagementConsultancy, Strategy and Change · Internal Strategy and Transformation+20%
- DevOps EngineerDigital · Development+20%
Biggest falls
- Data ScientistData and Analytics · Data Science & AI-21.1%
- AnalystBanking and Financial Services · Investment Banking - M&A / DCM / ECM / LEV FIN-17.5%
- Vice President / DirectorBanking and Financial Services · Private Equity / Investments-12.5%
- HSE EngineerEnergy · Engineering Roles-12%
- Junior Accountant (General) - MNCFinance and Accounting · Accounting Roles-11.8%
- ManagerBanking and Financial Services · Risk-11.1%
- Applied Data Scientist (Domain Specific)Data and Analytics · Data Science & AI-10.5%
- AssociateBanking and Financial Services · Private Equity / Investments-10%
- Procurement ManagerProcurement and Supply Chain · Procurement-10%
- Senior AssociateBanking and Financial Services · Private Equity / Investments-8.3%
- Maintenance EngineerEngineering and Manufacturing · Quality, Sustainability and Maintenance-8.3%
- General Counsel / Chief Legal OfficerLegal (In-House & Policy) · In-House-8.3%
- Technical / Functional ConsultantTechnology · Enterprise Applications-7.7%
- Reliability EngineerEnergy · Engineering Roles-7.4%
- Renewable Energy EngineerEnergy · Engineering Roles-7.4%
New roles in 2027
Roles that Michael Page prices in 2027 and did not list in 2026. They have no change figure.
Data and Analytics
- Agentic AI Architect · Data Science & AI
- Agentic AI Engineer · Data Science & AI
- AI/ML Manager/Lead · Data Science & AI
- AI Research Scientist · Data Science & AI
- ML/MLOps Engineer · Data Science & AI
- Model Evaluation Engineer · Data Science & AI
- Applied AI (Private Markets) · Quantitative & Applied AI
- Applied AI Engineer · Quantitative & Applied AI
- Investment Data Scientist · Quantitative & Applied AI
- Portfolio Analytics – Associate / VP · Quantitative & Applied AI
- Portfolio Analytics – SVP · Quantitative & Applied AI
- Quantitative Data Scientist · Quantitative & Applied AI
- Quantitative Developer · Quantitative & Applied AI
- Quantitative Researcher · Quantitative & Applied AI
- Head/Director of Agentic AI · Data Leadership & Strategy
Consultancy, Strategy and Change
- AI & Digital Transformation · Internal Strategy and Transformation
- Operating Model & Org Design · Internal Strategy and Transformation
Digital
- Performance Marketing Manager · Digital Marketing
- AI Software Engineer/Integration · Development
Legal (In-House & Policy)
- Legal Specialist · In-House
- Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) Manager · Governance
- Group Company Secretary · Governance
- Head of Governance · Governance
Sales and Marketing (B2B)
- Marketing Executive · Marketing
- Enterprise Sales Executive (SaaS) · Sales
Technology
- Platform Engineer · Infrastructure
Roles no longer listed
These 2026 titles have no counterpart in the 2027 guide. That is a change in how Michael Page lists roles, not evidence that the job has gone.
Digital
- Growth Hacker · Digital Marketing
- Visual/Graphic Designer · User Experience and Design
Sales and Marketing (B2B)
- CEO · Sales
- Regional Head of Product · Marketing
- Marketing Research · Marketing
Technology
- Infrastructure Engineer · Infrastructure
Merged roles
Michael Page combined these 2026 roles into one 2027 role, so there is no single 2026 figure to compare. They show no change.
- AI Engineer (Applied AI, GenAI, LLM, RAG, etc.): combines GenAI Engineer and AI/ML Engineer (2026), AED 45,000 a month in 2027Data and Analytics · Data Science & AI
- Finance Manager/Financial Controller: combines Finance Manager and Financial Controller (2026), AED 50,000 a month in 2027Banking and Financial Services · Finance & Accounting (Investments/Funds)
How we built this index
- All figures are monthly AED. For each role, change = (2027 Medium minus 2026 Avg) divided by 2026 Avg, rounded to one decimal place.
- The 2026 guide gives From, Avg and To. The 2027 guide gives Low, Medium and High. We compare the 2026 Avg with the 2027 Medium, one figure per role.
- Coverage: 529 roles match across both guides. 26 are new in 2027 and 6 are not listed in 2027. Renamed roles are compared with their 2026 title. Ambiguous matches are treated as new rather than guessed.
- Merged roles combine two or more 2026 roles into one 2027 role. They have no single 2026 base, so they carry no change figure and are not counted in the comparison.
- Michael Page's 2027 guide carries no updated property figures, so Property and Construction roles are excluded from the index.
- City figures (for example Abu Dhabi and Sharjah) are excluded. The index uses the guide figures only.
- Attribution: Source: Michael Page UAE Salary Guide 2026/2027. The underlying salary data belongs to Michael Page. We publish only our derived changes, counts and statuses.
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, "UAE Salary Index 2027", derived from the Michael Page UAE Salary Guide 2026 and 2027. https://jobxdubai.com/salary-index
Source: <a href="https://jobxdubai.com/salary-index">JobXDubai UAE Salary Index 2027</a>, derived from the Michael Page UAE Salary Guide 2026 and 2027
Our derived changes, counts and statuses are licensed under CC BY 4.0. Credit "JobXDubai" with a link to jobxdubai.com/salary-index. Underlying salary data: Michael Page UAE Salary Guide 2026/2027.
Source: Michael Page UAE Salary Guide 2026/2027. Looking for what a role pays? See the UAE salary guide.