Recruiter field notes · Finance · Investment Banking
Recruiter field notes: Investment Banking (Analyst-MD)
GCC (Dubai/Riyadh)US (New York)
Search snapshot
The search
Placed a VP Coverage hire in Dubai in 11 days last month against 3 competing mandates.
Compensation
The compensation reality
GCC base trails US by ~30-35% but housing+flights close much of the real gap; bonus multiple gap widens fastest above Director.
Market insight
What changed, and what the market gets wrong
Riyadh mandates have gone from 'hard to staff' to competing directly with Dubai for the same VP-level candidates in the last two quarters.
Everyone assumes US comp always wins - once you factor GCC housing and school allowances, a Dubai Director package often beats a New York one net of cost of living.
Hiring signals
Candidate and job description signals
'The bonus multiple gap is where the real US-GCC pay gap lives, not the base salary.'
Recruiter field note, byteSpark.ai