What is inside
- 3 markets: Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt.
- 13 roles across 7 practices, at Mid (4–6 years), Senior (6–9) and Lead (9+) level.
- Gross monthly salary for direct hires, in local currency.
- Fully loaded monthly cost, including mandatory employer contributions.
- Monthly engagement rates by level and delivery location.
- 5 open tables on this page; full detail in a 36-page PDF.
Cities covered Riyadh, Jeddah and the Eastern Province; Dubai and Abu Dhabi; Cairo.
5 key findings for 2026
- Full cost exceeds salary. Hiring a Senior engineer directly in Riyadh costs 37% more than their gross monthly salary once on-costs are added.
- The generative AI premium. Senior LLM engineers earn 27% more than Senior backend engineers in Saudi Arabia.
- Time is a hidden cost. Hiring a Senior engineer directly in Saudi Arabia takes an estimated median of 58 days, against 4 working days to deploy a Remote Pro Ai team.
- Cybersecurity is hardest to fill. SOC and penetration-testing roles stayed vacant longest, at an estimated median of 74 days.
- The Cairo gap. A Senior engineer delivered from Cairo costs about half as much as the same role hired directly in Riyadh, fully loaded: SAR 21,900 against about SAR 43,000 a month.
Source: Remote Pro Ai, GCC & Egypt Tech Talent Salary & Rate Guide 2026. remote-pro.ai/en/insights/reports/gcc-tech-talent-salary-rate-guide-2026
Preview the tables
Table 1 · Gross monthly salary, direct hire in Saudi Arabia (SAR)
Indicative monthly gross, Remote Pro Ai Research estimates, October 2026.
| Role | Mid (4–6) | Senior (6–9) | Lead (9+) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backend engineer | 16,000–24,000 | 25,000–38,000 | 38,000–55,000 |
| Frontend engineer | 14,000–21,000 | 22,000–33,000 | 33,000–48,000 |
| Mobile engineer | 15,000–23,000 | 24,000–36,000 | 36,000–52,000 |
| DevOps / SRE engineer | 18,000–27,000 | 28,000–42,000 | 42,000–60,000 |
| Data engineer | 18,000–27,000 | 28,000–42,000 | 42,000–60,000 |
| ML / MLOps engineer | 20,000–30,000 | 32,000–48,000 | 50,000–72,000 |
| Generative AI (LLM) engineer | 20,000–30,000 | 32,000–48,000 | 50,000–75,000 |
| SOC analyst | 15,000–23,000 | 24,000–36,000 | 36,000–52,000 |
| Penetration tester | 18,000–27,000 | 28,000–42,000 | 42,000–60,000 |
| Cloud security engineer | 20,000–29,000 | 30,000–45,000 | 45,000–65,000 |
| Unreal / Unity game developer | 14,000–21,000 | 22,000–33,000 | 33,000–48,000 |
| UX designer | 13,000–20,000 | 20,000–30,000 | 30,000–44,000 |
| Technical product manager | 18,000–26,000 | 27,000–40,000 | 40,000–58,000 |
Table 2 · Gross monthly salary, direct hire in the UAE (AED)
Indicative monthly gross, Remote Pro Ai Research estimates, October 2026. 7 of the 13 roles shown; the PDF has all 13.
| Role | Mid (4–6) | Senior (6–9) | Lead (9+) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backend engineer | 18,000–28,000 | 28,000–42,000 | 42,000–60,000 |
| DevOps / SRE engineer | 20,000–30,000 | 30,000–46,000 | 46,000–66,000 |
| Data engineer | 20,000–31,000 | 31,000–47,000 | 47,000–68,000 |
| Generative AI (LLM) engineer | 25,000–42,000 | 42,000–72,000 | 65,000–98,000 |
| SOC analyst | 17,000–26,000 | 26,000–40,000 | 40,000–57,000 |
| Unreal / Unity game developer | 15,000–24,000 | 24,000–37,000 | 37,000–53,000 |
| UX designer | 15,000–23,000 | 23,000–35,000 | 35,000–50,000 |
Table 3 · Gross monthly salary in Egypt (EGP, with USD equivalent)
Indicative monthly gross, Remote Pro Ai Research estimates, October 2026. 7 of the 13 roles shown; USD at EGP 50 = USD 1 (2026 average).
| Role | Mid (4–6) | Senior (6–9) | Lead (9+) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backend engineer | 35,000–60,000 (USD 700–1,200) | 60,000–110,000 (USD 1,200–2,200) | 110,000–180,000 (USD 2,200–3,600) |
| DevOps / SRE engineer | 40,000–68,000 (USD 800–1,400) | 68,000–120,000 (USD 1,400–2,400) | 120,000–195,000 (USD 2,400–3,900) |
| Data engineer | 38,000–65,000 (USD 800–1,300) | 65,000–115,000 (USD 1,300–2,300) | 115,000–185,000 (USD 2,300–3,700) |
| Generative AI (LLM) engineer | 48,000–80,000 (USD 1,000–1,600) | 80,000–140,000 (USD 1,600–2,800) | 140,000–225,000 (USD 2,800–4,500) |
| SOC analyst | 30,000–50,000 (USD 600–1,000) | 50,000–90,000 (USD 1,000–1,800) | 90,000–150,000 (USD 1,800–3,000) |
| Unreal / Unity game developer | 28,000–48,000 (USD 600–1,000) | 48,000–88,000 (USD 1,000–1,800) | 88,000–145,000 (USD 1,800–2,900) |
| UX designer | 25,000–45,000 (USD 500–900) | 45,000–80,000 (USD 900–1,600) | 80,000–135,000 (USD 1,600–2,700) |
Table 4 · Fully loaded monthly cost of a Senior backend engineer in Riyadh (SAR)
Indicative monthly cost, Remote Pro Ai Research estimates, October 2026.
| Item | Direct hire | Remote Pro Ai |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary and allowances | 31,500 | Included |
| GOSI social insurance | 2,820 | Included |
| Medical insurance | 1,100 | Included |
| Recruitment cost, spread monthly | 3,150 | None |
| Leave and vacancy cover | 2,520 | Replacement cover included |
| Equipment and security tools | 600 | Included |
| End-of-service accrual, spread monthly | 1,310 | None |
| Monthly total | 43,000 | From SAR 21,900 |
Saudi national; GOSI employer share 11.75% on basic plus housing (SAR 24,000); family medical cover SAR 13,200 a year; recruitment fee 20% of annual salary, spread over 24 months; leave and vacancy cover 8%; end-of-service accrual of half a month per year. A non-Saudi hire pays 2% GOSI (SAR 480) but carries the expat levy and iqama costs, which brings the total to about the same level.
Table 5 · Monthly cost of one specialist, by level (USD)
Indicative monthly cost, Remote Pro Ai Research estimates, October 2026.
| Level | Riyadh hire, fully loaded | Dubai hire, fully loaded | Cairo hire, fully loaded | Remote Pro Ai monthly rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid (4–6 years) | 7,300 | 8,100 | 1,200 | From USD 4,450 |
| Senior (6–9 years) | 11,500 | 12,300 | 2,200 | From USD 5,850 |
| Lead (9+ years) | 17,000 | 17,800 | 3,600 | From USD 7,600 |
Fully loaded cost includes salary, mandatory social insurance, end-of-service accrual, allowances, visas and recruitment fees where they apply. Loading factors on the backend-engineer midpoint: Riyadh ×1.37, Dubai ×1.28, Cairo ×1.24. The Remote Pro Ai rate is the base band before any practice uplift; it is all-inclusive, and VAT is shown separately.
Charts in the PDF
- Salary ranges by level in the 3 markets, in USD for comparison.
- The scarce-skill premium: AI and security roles against backend roles at the same level.
- Time to hire against time to deploy: days from job advert to first working day, by role, against 4 working days.
Bar chart of median days to hire by role in Riyadh, Dubai and Cairo, with a 4-working-day reference line
Apply these numbers to your own team with the team cost calculator.
Methodology
- Sources. Remote Pro Ai quotations (2025–2026), salary expectations recorded during vetting and live engagement contracts (2025–2026), plus named public job adverts that state salaries.
- Period. January to September 2026.
- Definitions. Gross monthly salary before tax, including fixed allowances. Levels: Mid (4–6 years), Senior (6–9) and Lead (9+). No junior figures.
- Rules. Indicative ranges estimated by Remote Pro Ai Research from the sources above; records anonymised before analysis; no range rests on fewer than 10 underlying records, and thinner cells show “—”. Figures are estimates, not survey medians.
- Currency. Local-currency tables, with USD at average 2026 exchange rates for comparison.
- Limits. The data reflects the roles and sectors Remote Pro Ai works in, and may under-represent early-stage startups and the public sector.
- Dataset. GCC & Egypt Tech Talent Salary and Rate Dataset 2026. Variables: market, role, level, currency, gross monthly salary (indicative range), monthly engagement rate, sample size.