For employers
No discovery call before you learn our price. No sixty CVs to prove we were busy. A named consultant, a shortlist you will actually interview, and a written timeline you can hold us to.
The problem we solve
First on cost. A vacant commercial seat in Dubai burns revenue every week it stays open, and the good candidates in this market are typically off it within three weeks — often with two competing offers.
Then on compliance. Offers have to be registered with MOHRE, visa files have to track, regulated roles need the right licence in hand, and Emiratisation quotas run against a clock with a AED 9,000 monthly price tag attached to each unfilled seat.
An agency that only sends CVs leaves both problems with you. We take the whole thing.
Shortlist review
Engagement models
We run the search at our own risk and you pay only when your hire signs and starts. Suited to mid-level and specialist permanent roles where the talent pool exists and speed matters more than exhaustive mapping.
For C-suite, country manager and functional head appointments, and for replacing someone still in post. A structured market map, competitor benchmarking, and a longlist you see before it becomes a shortlist.
Five or more similar roles in one campaign — a site mobilisation, a hotel pre-opening, a new contact centre floor. Batch screening, assessment days, and staged starts mapped to your programme.
Maternity cover, project peaks, seasonal demand, or a specialist you need for nine months but not for three years. Day-rate or monthly, with the employment administration handled.
Fees
Agency fees across the Emirates typically span 8% to 25% of annual package, with a market median near 12.5%. Executive and retained mandates run higher. Here is where we sit, published rather than negotiated in the dark.
| Engagement | Ambizent fee | Payment | Guarantee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contingency — junior to mid | 10–12% | On start date | 90 days |
| Contingency — senior / specialist | 12–15% | On start date | 90 days |
| Retained executive search | 18–25% | Thirds: brief / shortlist / start | 180 days |
| Volume campaign (5+ hires) | From AED 4,500 per hire | Per batch on mobilisation | 60 days |
| Contract staffing | Disclosed margin on day rate | Monthly in arrears | 2-week replacement |
| Emiratisation sourcing | Preferential — quoted per mandate | On start date | 90 days |
Budget alongside it: visa and work permit costs, Emirates ID, medical fitness testing, mandatory health insurance, and the productivity gap in the first ninety days. Employers who plan only for the agency fee routinely underestimate total cost per hire by half. We will give you the full picture at intake.
The Ambizent track
Committed in writing on every permanent mandate. If a stage slips, you hear it from us first.
Sixty minutes on the role, the team, the band, and what will genuinely make someone say yes.
Three to five people, video-screened, salary-aligned, visa status confirmed, actually interested.
We schedule, brief, debrief and keep candidates warm through your process.
Negotiation, counter-offer risk and the resignation conversation, managed.
MOHRE offer registered, visa tracked, first-week check-in, then 30/60/90 follow-ups.
Offer & visa file
Compliance
Hiring in the UAE is a regulated process, not an administrative afterthought. We keep the file straight so a start date does not slip three weeks because a medical was booked late.
Employer questions
Yes, and the levers are predictable. Exclusivity, a commitment to multiple hires, or a retainer against a rolling pipeline all reduce the rate. Urgency, scarcity and confidentiality push it up. We would rather agree a written schedule at the start of the relationship than renegotiate role by role.
No fee is payable. Our terms include a candidate ownership clause with a clear window and a simple test: if you can show prior direct contact with that person for that role, the introduction does not count. We would rather lose a fee than argue about one.
Both. Exclusive mandates get a lower fee and more of our time, because we can invest in the search without racing three other agencies to the same LinkedIn profiles. If you prefer to run multiple agencies, we will still work the role properly — just faster and narrower.
Candidate records sit in our own system with role-based access. Employers see only the candidates submitted to their mandate. Candidates never see client pipelines or other applicants. We retain placement and candidate records for the five-year period expected of licensed agencies, and we share CVs with a client only with the candidate's consent for that specific role.
Yes. Multi-emirate mandates are common — a Dubai head office role alongside site staff in Abu Dhabi and a warehouse team in Jebel Ali. One consultant owns the account and coordinates, so you are not managing three separate conversations.
On contingency you pay nothing, and we will tell you why — usually the salary band, the seniority expectation, or a requirement that does not exist in the market as written. That diagnosis is worth having even when it is not what you wanted to hear, and it is free.
Next step
No retainer, no exclusivity required, no obligation. You will have a market read within one working day and a shortlist inside 72 hours.