AI-Related Gulf Job Vacancies Nearly Triple to 3.4% in Four Years

DUBAI — The share of professional vacancies in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar mentioning artificial intelligence has nearly tripled in four years, reaching 3.4% in the first half of 2026 from 1.2% in 2022, according to new research from GulfTalent.

The findings mean AI-related duties, skills or tools now appear in roughly one in every 30 professional vacancies across the three Gulf markets.

The study analysed 118,000 direct employer vacancies advertised between January 2022 and June 2026, highlighting the growing influence of generative AI and workplace platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot on employers’ skill requirements.

Demand remains heavily concentrated by industry. Technology leads by a wide margin, with nearly one in three vacancies involving AI, while banking and audit follow at approximately one in 15.

Oil and gas and real estate each reference AI in around one in 30 vacancies. In construction, retail, healthcare, manufacturing, education and hospitality, the proportion falls to approximately one in 100 jobs or fewer.

AI demand also rises significantly with seniority. Around one in 30 non-supervisory positions involves AI, compared with roughly one in 12 senior leadership roles, suggesting employers increasingly expect executives to oversee AI strategy, adoption and business transformation.

The research also challenges the assumption that AI hiring is primarily about recruiting model developers.

Around one-third of AI-related vacancies involve using AI tools in daily work, while another third focus on implementing AI solutions within organisations. Around one-quarter are sales positions involving AI products and services, while fewer than one in 10 focus on building or training AI models.

This indicates that demand is expanding into roles including sales, marketing, consulting, product management and other business functions.

Internationally, GulfTalent estimates AI appears in 3.4% of professional vacancies across the three Gulf markets. PwC separately found that AI-related postings represented 3.2% of UAE vacancies in 2025, reinforcing the region’s position among faster-growing AI talent markets.

The findings suggest AI capabilities are becoming more important across the Gulf workforce, although adoption remains highly uneven outside technology-intensive sectors.