Dubai Forums Dubai Classifieds Dubai Job Wanted

Hello everyone

First time contributor; great website, great discussions.

As I launch a concerted effort to find employment in the ever expanding financial services sector in Dubai, I was wondering if I could get some comments on some questions to realistically gauge my candidacy.

First, a brief background:

- Mid career accountant (ACA) specializing in capital markets controllership.
- Broad exposure to trading, valuation, risk management, regulatory, operational and infrastructural aspects of capital markets based businesses.
- 10 years in controllers department at a major Wall Street investment house in New York.
- Experienced in managing / mentoring teams.

Now some questions:

- What is the likelihood of securing a job paying AED 30,000 (all in) plus performance based bonus. Is this is a high number, a very high number or an average for a senior finance manager type role, in your opinion.
- Is the work environment comparable to that in London / New York.
- Are the local employers better/ worse or similar to the international ones on an overall basis.
- I have heard that such jobs are unofficially earmarked for “white” expats or arabs, how true is that in your opinion (perhaps a touchy question, but I’ve heard that things are very hierarchical in Dubai, based on one’s national origin and not necessarily citizenship or even qualifications).

Apologies for the long e-mail, thank you for your response.

If your skillset is in demand you can expect to get paid the same as you would get paid in any other major financial center in the world assuming you are working for a major international company. Its a global market for labour.

If you are working for a large local company rather than an international one I would expect to discount that salary by about 40%.