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How to land a job in Saudi Arabia without speaking Arabic

7 June 2026·4 min read

The biggest myth about working in Saudi Arabia is that you need fluent Arabic. Walk into any office in Riyadh's King Abdullah Financial District, any project office in NEOM, or any hospital in Jeddah, and you will hear English everywhere. The country has thousands of expats from India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Egypt, Lebanon, and beyond who work entirely in English. That said, the rules of breaking in are slightly different from the UAE. Here is the honest playbook for getting hired in Saudi Arabia without speaking Arabic.

Understand which sectors hire in English.

The big English-friendly sectors are oil and gas, including Aramco and the joint ventures around it, banking and finance especially the international banks, IT and tech where global firms like Google, Microsoft, AWS, Oracle are expanding fast, healthcare in private hospitals like King Faisal Specialist, Saudi German, and Magrabi, the giga-projects including NEOM, Red Sea Global, Qiddiya, Diriyah Gate, ROSHN, hospitality including the major international hotel chains, and consulting and audit including the Big Four. In these sectors, English is the working language. Arabic is a nice plus, not a requirement.

The sectors where Arabic matters more. Government-facing sales, retail in smaller cities outside Riyadh and Jeddah, public sector roles, and any job dealing directly with local Saudi customers will lean heavily on Arabic. If you do not speak any Arabic, focus your job search on the English-dominant sectors above and avoid roles where Arabic is listed as essential.

Leverage your home country experience strategically.

Saudi hires heavily from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Egypt, and Jordan for mid-level technical roles. If you have strong experience in your home country in oil and gas, healthcare, IT, or construction, you can move directly into senior positions in Saudi often with a salary jump. Engineering certifications like SCE (Saudi Council of Engineers) registration matter for engineers and need to be obtained early.

The giga-projects are a goldmine right now.

NEOM, Red Sea Global, Qiddiya, Diriyah, Amaala, ROSHN, Lusail-equivalents, all are hiring thousands of professionals at every level. Most of these run their hiring entirely in English because the project teams are international. Apply directly through the project websites and through major recruitment partners like NES Fircroft, Brunel, Airswift, and Worley who staff these projects.

The Premium Residency advantage. Saudi introduced the Premium Residency in recent years, which allows certain skilled expats to live and work without local sponsorship. Talent Visa, Special Talent Residency, Investor Residency, Real Estate Residency, all are paths to longer-term security. If you qualify, this gives you more flexibility than the traditional sponsored work visa.

The Iqama system, simplified.

When you accept a job in Saudi, your employer sponsors your Iqama, the residency card. Your sponsor is your employer. With recent labour reforms, you can transfer between employers without your sponsor's consent in many cases, though the rules vary by contract type and sector. The Saudization (Nitaqat) program affects how easily companies can hire expats, so some sectors face stricter caps. Banking, real estate, and HR roles are increasingly Saudized, so check the quota for your sector before relying too heavily on those.

The lifestyle reality check.

Riyadh and Jeddah now have cinemas, concerts, mixed-gender restaurants, and a thriving entertainment scene. The dress code is more relaxed than it used to be, though women should still dress modestly in public and many still wear abayas, especially outside major cities. Weekends are Friday and Saturday. Working hours are usually Sunday to Thursday. Ramadan brings shorter working hours by law, around 6 hours a day.

Salary expectations in Saudi. Salaries in Saudi for the same role are often higher than the UAE, especially for senior technical roles in oil and gas, healthcare, and giga-projects. Housing allowance, transport allowance, schooling allowance for kids, and annual return tickets are common in the package. Always negotiate all-inclusive and confirm the breakdown clearly — our Saudi salary guide shows current ranges.

Apply through the right channels.

For Aramco, apply directly via the Aramco careers portal, the recruitment cycle takes longer but the package is unmatched. For giga-projects, NEOM Careers, Red Sea Global Careers, and Qiddiya Careers portals. For Sabic, Sabic Careers. For healthcare, the hospital websites directly. For finance, the bank careers pages and major recruitment agencies like Mackenzie Jones, Macdonald and Company, Charterhouse, and Robert Walters who have Saudi desks. LinkedIn is increasingly the dominant channel for white-collar Saudi roles.

Learn basic Arabic anyway. You do not need fluency, but learning 50 to 100 phrases for greetings, directions, restaurants, and basic office interactions will dramatically improve your daily life and quietly help your career.

The biggest career mistake. Many English-speaking expats avoid Saudi for years assuming it is too hard. Meanwhile, the country has become one of the fastest-growing job markets in the world. The Vision 2030 transformation has created more opportunity here in the next five years than almost anywhere else in the region.

Career Club lists Saudi vacancies across all major cities and sectors, free to browse and filter by Arabic requirement from the app home screen.