Dubai is where most of our UAE mandates begin: international groups appointing a regional head, developers and family conglomerates strengthening the C-suite, and DIFC firms hiring senior finance and risk leaders. We work across the free zones and the mainland, and we know which rules apply to each.
Dubai concentrates the largest pool of senior expatriate and Emirati talent in the Gulf, which cuts both ways. Candidates are reachable, but the best of them receive several approaches a month and rarely respond to a cold message. Our shortlists come from relationships built over two decades in the city, not from a database, and roughly 85% of the leaders we place were not looking when we called.
Typical Dubai mandates include Chief Executives and Managing Directors for regional headquarters, Chief Financial Officers for listed and pre-IPO groups, Chief Operating Officers for real estate developers and hospitality groups, and Heads of Risk, Compliance and Investment for DIFC-regulated firms.
A DIFC entity is governed by the DIFC Employment Law and regulated by the DFSA, with its own rules on end-of-service, leave and termination, and no MOHRE Emiratisation quota. A DMCC, Dubai Internet City or Dubai Media City company falls under the federal UAE Labour Law but is still outside the mainland Emiratisation quota. A mainland LLC with fifty or more employees must grow its Emirati skilled workforce by two percentage points a year or pay the monthly contribution.
Our HR audits and contracts work are built around the correct framework for each entity in your group, and our Emiratisation advisory covers the mainland companies that carry the target.
Dubai is the Gulf’s scale-up capital, and founders here usually reach sixty or seventy people before hiring an HR lead. We set up contracts, policies, grading and visa processes in eight to twelve weeks, then run the search for the person who will own them. See HR navigation and consulting for how that engagement runs.
Our office is in Abu Dhabi and our partners are in Dubai every week. Briefings, interviews and client meetings take place in Dubai whenever that suits you.
DIFC, DMCC, Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City, Dubai Healthcare City, JAFZA and Dubai South, as well as mainland companies licensed by the Department of Economy and Tourism.
Companies registered only in a free zone are currently outside the MOHRE quota. Mainland entities in the same group are in scope, and many free-zone firms build Emirati talent anyway for government clients.