UAE led global hiring surge in 2025, reveals RemotePass report

New workforce data from RemotePass 2025 Hiring Report shows the UAE recording the fastest hiring growth worldwide in 2025, with a 39% year-on-year increase that outpaces all major markets.

Saudi Arabia follows with a strong 26% rise, driven largely by national digitalisation programmes under Vision 2030 and sustained investment in technology-led transformation.

The hiring momentum is matched by sharp salary growth across the Gulf.  The UAE posted an 18% increase in median salaries, the highest in the dataset, while Saudi Arabia recorded 17%, underscoring intensifying competition for skilled talent.

According to RemotePass, the parallel rise in both hiring and salaries suggests demand is being driven less by volume expansion and more by the need for specialised, high-impact capabilities.

 AI and Data roles redefine hiring priorities

The UAE also leads globally in AI hiring growth, rising from 32% in 2023–24 to 48% in 2024–25.

The acceleration is among the sharpest recorded in any market and is being fuelled by enterprise AI adoption, fintech automation and large-scale digital infrastructure projects.

Saudi Arabia shows a similar direction of travel, though at a steadier pace, as AI talent demand expands across both public and private sectors.

This shift is reflected in the roles seeing the fastest growth. Data Scientist hiring rose 43% year on year, while AI Product Manager roles increased by 37%, pointing to a growing emphasis on data readiness and product-led execution.

At the same time, demand for traditional software engineering roles declined, highlighting a change in the types of skills organisations are prioritising.

RemotePass Co-founder and CEO Kamal Reggad, said the data shows organisations in the UAE and Saudi Arabia moving decisively from experimentation to execution.

AI is no longer confined to innovation teams, he noted, but is increasingly embedded into core business functions, making workforce planning a critical lever of competitiveness.

MENA talent hubs continue to power the GCC

While demand is strongest in the Gulf, the wider MENA region remains central to meeting it. Egypt continues to lead hiring volume across nearly every major tech role, including software engineering, backend, frontend, data science and QA, confirming its position as the region’s largest tech talent exporter.

Pakistan ranks second across several engineering categories, supported by a large and cost-effective developer base.

Egypt’s AI hiring growth, after surging by 112% in the previous year, has stabilised at 28% in 2025.

In contrast, Gulf markets have accelerated, reinforcing a regional realignment in which the UAE and Saudi Arabia are emerging as the primary centres of advanced technology hiring, supported by a broader MENA talent ecosystem.