With 2025 already off to a busy start in Dubai for our team, clients, and candidates alike, we felt it timely to share our outlook as to how the talent market in the UAE in 2025 looks to shape up across our respective practice areas. In general, we expect 2025 to see a continuation of positive trends across the sectors which we cover, with candidates with specialist skill sets and/or track records remaining in demand within the UAE. For employers, certain skill sets will be increasingly competitive to hire for, whereas in other areas, there are opportunities to take advantage of an influx of new talent to support growth and upskilling of key areas.
Front Office - Private Markets
Busy Start to 2025 in Private Markets: Private Equity firms are already deploying capital across various sectors in the UAE and KSA after completing significant fund raises. We expect this momentum to continue into 2025, and firms are bolstering their investment teams in the process.
Active Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs): SWFs remain active in both local and international markets, with several GCC SWFs already announcing multi-billion-dollar deals in global private markets, and as a result looking for investment professionals to join their teams, typically with experience in international blue chip investment firms, with exposure to developed market technology deals, infrastructure, and energy.
Sellside Talent Retention: The sellside remains busy, but retention of talent at Associate and Senior Associate levels is likely to be a key challenge as new opportunities continue to open up in the buyside.
Growth in Real Estate Private Equity: Real estate private equity is expanding rapidly, with local managers increasing their investments in the UK, US, and EMEA. This is driving the demand for talent from real estate fund managers and family offices to strengthen their Real Estate Investment teams (and in house development teams).
Investment in Energy and Infrastructure: In line with expectations for the Commodities and Energy Trading markets, we foresee Middle East firms investing in energy assets and infrastructure, capitalizing on new opportunities driven by global geopolitical shifts and the continued development of renewable energy, furthering the demand for energy and infrastructure investment professionals within the region.
Front Office - Public Markets
Continued Uptick in Job Market Activity: In 2024 we saw a significant increase in market activity in liquid asset classes, as international hedge funds and money managers boosted their presence in the UAE, hiring portfolio managers and traders into Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Locally, IPO activity led to numerous new listings on the DFM and ADX, and local asset managers will continue to look to capitalise on the increase in liquidity by hiring GCC Equities Traders.
IPO Appetite Continues in 2025: The demand for IPOs will likely persist through 2025, driving MENA asset managers and family offices to expand their public markets teams. Competition for top talent with GCC trading experience will intensify, potentially opening doors for talent from developed markets.
Continued Hiring in Multi-Strat Hedge Funds: Hedge funds and money managers will continue hiring experienced portfolio managers with solid track records. However, this is likely to remain concentrated in global markets, with most PM hires coming from key hedge fund hubs rather than local markets.
Family Offices
Trend Towards Institutionalization: Family offices are increasingly institutionalizing, hiring senior investment professionals, and expanding their GRC & Finance functions, and bolstering boards with senior board level appointments. This shift is largely driven by the entry of second and third generation family members into senior roles, leading to adjustments in investment strategies, including greater focus on markets beyond the GCC, particularly in the US.
Crypto Adoption: Many GCC family offices are taking a serious approach to crypto, integrating it into their portfolios. As talent demand increases, there will be a need for CIOs capable of conducting fund research and selection for passive deployment into crypto funds or hiring institutional traders making direct investments.
Governance, Risk, and Compliance & Back Office
Increased Demand for Compliance Officers: Following a record number of new registrations with both the DFSA (DIFC) and FSRA (ADGM) in 2024, compliance professionals with "authorized individual" status will remain in high demand. This has led to upward pressure on salaries, pushing employers to either hire for transferable skills or increase their budgets for compliance staff. New market entrants and legacy firms alike will need to be considered in their approach to hiring in compliance, either making compromises on experience, or increasing hiring budgets.
Upskilling GRC Teams in Local Banks and Onshore financial institutions: As global sanctions complexity increases, UAE banks are focusing on enhancing the skills of their GRC teams, driven by the continued effort led by UAE authorities following the country’s removal from the FATF grey list in 2024.
General Increase for Talent in Enablement Functions: As local banks continue to record profits, international firms continue to flock to the UAE seeking to capitalise on a growth market, and local firms continue to grow, we expect to see an increase in demand for talent across Finance, Risk, and Operational roles. Firms will leverage the increased willingness for candidates in developed markets to relocate to the UAE, finding that acquiring talent with track records in developed markets known for best-in-class practice and governance much easier than perhaps a few years ago.
Commodities S&T
Increased Hiring in Sanctions Compliance: As trading firms in the UAE navigate complex geopolitical risks and the UAE's own regulatory landscape, we anticipate a growing demand for Sanctions Compliance professionals, particularly in energy markets. In 2024, several firms in Dubai faced sanctions, disciplinary measures by local authorities, and/or exposure in the international financial press, highlighting that setting up a new trading entity in Dubai won’t provide a risk-free option for firms looking to circumvent sanctions.
Rising Dependency on Asset and System Trading: Following reduced volatility in the energy markets and thinner P&L's, firms are shying away from hiring back-to-back traders. Trading houses are now seeking opportunities to acquire refinery and storage assets, supported by hiring system traders with solid track records. The impact of global energy market shifts following President Trump’s appointment, and the impact on market volatility remains to be seen, so some changes could be expected here.
Continued Hiring in Risk: Market risk hiring will remain a hot spot for 2025, especially in energy, with an increased focus on professionals with exposure to weather risk, climate change, geopolitical risk, and freight risk.
More Hiring in Analytics: AI/ML is gaining traction in the region, with further hiring expected in 2025, with predictive modelling being applied not only in systematic trading but also to support physical trading decisions.
Hiring in Battery Metals: As trading houses look to capitalize on the global demand for battery metals, driven by the growth of EVs and energy storage, we expect to see more focus on asset acquisition and traders capable of maximizing P&L in trading these metals.
Impact of Artificial Intelligence
AI’s Impact on the Job Market: In 2025, in some pockets of the job market we expect to see the beginnings of a gradual replacement of manual roles by AI, such as those heavily focused on manual process and documentation. We expect to see fintechs and technology enabled firms in the GCC take their lead from those in developed markets such as Sweden’s Klarna, who have replaced much of their back office headcount with AI. It is our expectation that this change will be based around natural attrition, rather than wholesale layoffs. Local banks and larger GCC institutions will likely take a much longer-term approach to replacing headcount with AI, given that transformation projects and the adoption of new technologies in the local institutions tend to be at a slower pace.
Growth of AI Roles: On the other hand, we are also seeing the genuine creation of highly skilled roles in AI, as Abu Dhabi Inc leads the charge on positioning Abu Dhabi and the UAE as a global hub for AI investment and development. With this, will come more jobs focused on investment into, and development of, tangible and large scale AI infrastructure.
Venture Search www.venturesearch.com
Established in Dubai in 2019, Venture Search currently operates from locations in the UAE, UK, and US. We recruit for global financial services markets across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America. Our coverage spans Investment Banking, Investment Management, Global Markets, Commodities Trading, Hedge Funds & Proprietary Trading, Financial Technology, and GRC (Governance, Risk, & Compliance).