Enter your role, seniority, city and current base salary. You'll see how far you are from the median, your estimated percentile, and which seniority level your pay actually matches.
Seniority
In line with the market
6% below the median
The monthly median for a mid-level AI / ML Engineer in United Arab Emirates is AED 34,000. Your salary sits at roughly the 20th percentile. Reaching the median would take AED 2,000 more.
Where you sit against the AI / ML Engineer ladder
| Junior medianyour pay reaches this level | AED 23,000 |
| Mid-level median | AED 34,000 |
| Senior median | AED 45,000 |
| Principal/Lead median | AED 57,000 |
Shaded: the in-line zone (AED 30,600 to AED 37,400), which is the published p25 to p75 range where one exists, and never narrower than 10% either side of the median.
Base salary only, compared with PayMetric's own benchmarks for United Arab Emirates. City figures scale the level's median by that city's premium or discount for this role. The percentile is an estimate and only appears where a real p25 to p75 range is published for the level.
The monthly median for each role's headline level, and the salary below which this checker calls it underpaid, nationally. Cities move both figures.
| Role | Level | Median | Underpaid below |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Engineer | Mid-level | AED 34,000 | AED 30,600 |
| Business Analyst | Mid-level | AED 37,000 | AED 33,300 |
PayMetric's own benchmarks for the UAE, base salary only. See how the benchmarks are built.
1. The benchmark. Your salary is compared with the median for your role at the level you pick. If you choose a city, that median is scaled by the city's premium or discount for the same role.
2. The verdict. You're in line with the market inside the p25 to p75 range, or within 10% of the median where the range is narrower than that or not published. Below that zone is underpaid; above it is above market.
3. The percentile. Where a real range exists, your position is interpolated between the published points. Outside the range, the checker says 10th-or-lower or 90th-or-higher instead of inventing a precise number.
4. The ladder. Every level's median is shown side by side, so you can see whether your pay matches the level you're actually working at.
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Compare your base salary with the median for the same role, seniority and city. This checker calls you underpaid when your pay is below the in-line zone: the published p25 to p75 range where one exists, and never narrower than 10% either side of the median. Being a little under the median is normal, since half the market is.
It's an estimate of the share of people in the same role and level who earn less than you. At the 30th percentile, roughly 30% earn less and 70% earn more. The checker only shows a percentile where a real p25 to p75 range is published for your level, and reports anything beyond the edges of the range as 10th-or-lower or 90th-or-higher rather than guessing.
Because the same job title covers very different pay. A senior engineer's median is often 40% to 60% above a junior's. The ladder view shows which level's median your pay reaches, which is useful if you're doing senior work on a mid-level salary.
Each city's median for your role is compared with the national median, and that premium or discount is applied to your level's figures. A city is only offered where its benchmark is at the same seniority as the national one, so the comparison is like for like.
No. Enter base salary only, because that's what the benchmarks measure. If you're comparing a new offer with a full package, the Offer Checker adds take-home pay, pension and equity on top.
Take the median and p75 figures for your exact level into a pay review, along with evidence of the scope you cover. Our guide to negotiating with percentile data walks through the script. If an internal raise isn't possible, the gap shown here is a reasonable target for an external move.
What to check next
Bring the calculation together with the pay and demand in your target market.