Whether you’re a high-level executive needing professional support or a busy person looking for help managing your personal affairs, finding the right assistant is key to streamlining your day-to-day life.
This article will guide you through the ins and outs of hiring a personal assistant in Dubai and an executive assistant for your professional or private needs, helping you understand their roles, responsibilities, and salaries.
The answer in brief: senior private PAs and EAs in Dubai earn from about AED 20,000 a month, and up to AED 75,000 in our placements. Junior roles start at around AED 3,500.
The numbers come from our own placements and from the private PA and EA jobs we’ve advertised in the UAE since December 2023. If you already know what you need, tell us about the role.
PA and EA Salaries in Dubai
In our 2025/26 Household Staff Salaries Annual Report, based on our placements from January 2024 to October 2025, gross pay in the UAE was:
- Personal assistant: AED 300,000 to AED 900,000 a year, or about AED 25,000 to AED 75,000 a month.
- Executive assistant: AED 240,000 to AED 600,000 a year, or about AED 20,000 to AED 50,000 a month.
Our job ads show this in practice, because they include junior roles. We looked at the 11 private PA and EA jobs we advertised in the UAE between December 2023 and March 2026.
Senior roles working for a principal started at AED 20,000 a month:
- “20,000 AED gross/month based on experience and qualifications.” (Senior executive assistant, Dubai, 2025)
- “Starting at AED 20,000, depending on experience and qualifications” (Senior personal assistant, Dubai, 2026)
- “25000 AED and above, depending on experience and qualifications.” (Personal assistant to an executive chairman, Dubai, 2025)
- “Starting at 30k AED Per month- Negotiable, based on experience.” (Chief of staff and personal assistant to a couple, Dubai, 2025)
Junior roles have much lower pay than more senior ones. A job in Dubai in 2024 for a PA with “0 to 1 year of experience” offered AED 3,500 to AED 4,000 a month.
A live-in PA job we worked on in 2026 for a chairman’s household offered up to AED 4,000 a month net, plus a room and meals.
Our report includes jobs we filled, so it shows what the role finally paid. The ads show the offer at the beginning.
Laurine Mallet, our co-founder, explains why a private PA often earns more than a company EA:
“When you work in a company, you need to respect the budget of the company, while [as a] personal assistant, because you are really versatile [and] flexible, you can manage many things… and you negotiate directly with your boss.
“An executive assistant, normally… you work like Monday to Friday, not overtime on the weekend. When you’re [a] personal assistant, you can be called anytime.”
There is no income tax in the UAE on salaries (UAE government), so pay in Dubai is normally agreed as a net amount.
Our report and some ads say gross, but with no income tax the two are normally quite close together.
Home-country tax might still apply, depending on the nationality of the PA.
Morgan Richez, our co-founder, compares London and Dubai offers like this:
“There is no tax, so this is net, not gross. [The] first one [London] is gross; Dubai is net.”
What Goes in a Dubai PA Package?
Of the 11 roles we were briefed on, 72.7% had the same three extras: visa sponsorship, medical insurance and a flight home.
A job in 2024 for a PA in Abu Dhabi had one line: “Sponsorship will be provided: VISA, Medical Insurance, Flight ticket.”
Senior roles though have more benefits. A chief of staff and PA job we recruited for in 2025 for a couple in Dubai offered a “Fully furnished single-occupancy apartment with utilities included” and transport costs.
It also included a yearly flight home, 30 days’ annual leave, visa sponsorship, health insurance and an “Annual discretionary bonus”.
In Dubai, the employer or visa sponsor pays for health insurance and can’t pass the cost on to the employee (UAE government).
The Role of a Personal Assistant: What You Need to Know
What Does a Personal Assistant Do?
A personal assistant (PA) takes on a wide range of responsibilities to help employers manage their personal and professional lives. Their day-to-day tasks often include:
- Managing schedules and appointments.
- Handling correspondence, emails, and phone calls.
- Organizing events and travel itineraries.
- Overseeing household staff in a private residence.
- Assisting with errands and personal shopping.
In Dubai, there’s quite often paperwork to do as well. A job in 2024 we recruited for a PA in Dubai asked them to “Assist with the management of medical insurance and visa applications or renewals for the client.”
A PA hired to work in a primary property might focus on tasks related to family schedules, home organization, and event planning.
In contrast, a PA working in a secondary property might concentrate on maintaining the property during an employer’s absence, ensuring its readiness for future visits.
What Sets an Executive Assistant Apart?
While a PA focuses on personal life management, an executive assistant (EA) specializes in supporting high-level executives in their professional work. Their duties often include:
- Managing complex calendars and coordinating meetings.
- Preparing reports, presentations, and correspondence.
- Liaising with business partners and internal teams.
- Handling confidential and time-sensitive information.
In a private home the two roles often share similar tasks. A job in 2025 in Dubai we worked on, looking for a senior EA, covered “both a rental business and a private residence”.
Laurine, our co-founder, says that’s why families come to a household staffing agency rather than a corporate one:
“An individual is calling an agency because he would like someone with experience, qualification, but above all with a kind of know-how, [a] mindset.
“And this mindset, you can see [it] much more with people who used to work for individuals than for companies.
“For individuals you develop different soft skills… Sometimes you understand much more the confidentiality, discretion.”
Which Visa and Contract Does a Private PA Need?
It depends on who actually employs the PA.
- Your household. A PA who works for you and your family comes under the UAE domestic worker law, Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022. Its regulations list “Personal Assistant” as a domestic job (UAE legislation).
- Your company or family office. A PA or EA employed by your business comes under the UAE Labour Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 (UAE legislation). The company has the work permit and the visa.
On the household path you sponsor the PA yourself, on a two-year standard contract (UAE legislation).
The rules are different. A household PA gets at least 12 hours’ rest a day (8 of them in a row), a paid weekly rest day, 30 days’ annual leave and a ticket home every two years (UAE government).
On the company path, normal hours are 8 a day or 48 a week (UAE government), and the end-of-service gratuity is 21 days’ basic pay for each of the first five years (UAE government).
Probation is up to six months with both paths.
We arrange visas for UAE households through licensed UAE partners. See how we handle visas and payroll in Dubai.
If your PA is also going to manage your other staff, Morgan says keeping up with the rules is part of the job:
“It’s very important to make sure, as a PA, that you follow the regulation[s], the laws… In Dubai, this is the case: every year there is new regulation about the hours, about the contract, about the public holidays.
“So it’s important to stay up [to] date.”
Traveling vs. Non-Traveling PA Roles
Traveling PA Roles
Traveling PAs often accompany their employers on business trips, vacations, or other engagements. They must be adaptable, discreet, and ready to manage tasks on the go, such as:
- Coordinating international logistics and accommodations.
- Assisting with packing, security, and customs processes.
- Managing itineraries for both professional and personal activities.
These roles require flexibility and a willingness to work irregular hours, but they often come with lucrative compensation and unique travel opportunities.
A job we recruited for in 2025 for a French-speaking PA to a principal living in both Dubai and Monaco asked for someone “Willing and able to travel frequently, often at short notice”, starting from £50,000 a year.
Rules about rest are still there on trips. A household PA’s UAE contract stays binding when they travel abroad with your family, unless the other country’s law says otherwise (UAE legislation).
Make sure to agree beforehand how rest days work when you travel.
Non-Traveling PA Roles
Non-traveling PAs remain at a fixed location, managing tasks such as household operations, local errands, and appointments. These roles offer a more predictable work-life balance, making them ideal for candidates who prefer stability.
How We Find a PA in Dubai
Our experienced household staff recruitment team in Dubai advertises PA jobs on our website and LinkedIn and other places and searches our database of 50,300+ vetted candidates built over years of recruiting. Every placement has a three-month replacement guarantee.
Discretion is extremely important to us and our clients. In 90.9% of our UAE PA and EA ads, discretion or confidentiality was a stated requirement.
Morgan says the best sign we’ve done it well is when a PA comes back to us:
“We place many PAs [each year], and the best rewards we’ve got [is] when the PA [placed] by us call[s] us back again to say, ‘…
“My new employer is looking for some [staff], and I recommend your services, because I know your process.’”
How to Find the Right PA or EA?
Finding the right assistant requires a clear understanding of your needs. Ask yourself:
- Do I need someone who can travel frequently?
- Should they have experience in a specific industry?
- What level of discretion and confidentiality is required?
- Will they work for my household or for my company? That sets the visa and contract.
- Live-in or live-out? If live-in, can I offer separate accommodation?
When we send you a shortlist, move quickly. Morgan:
“When I send you a candidate, you have to be very responsive… because the candidate can be available today, but maybe tomorrow they won’t be available anymore, especially when we’re talking about candidate[s] with experience.”
Ready to Hire or Start a PA Career?
To start a search with us, tell us about the role, or read more about hiring household staff in Dubai.
Looking for a PA job in Dubai? See our current jobs. In our UAE ads, 72.7% asked for fluent English.
Our service is free for candidates, and under UAE law a licensed recruitment office can’t charge a domestic worker any fee (UAE legislation).
Have your references ready. Morgan:
“It’s not easy, and especially in [the] Middle East, it’s not easy to reach the previous employer… If we can’t talk to the previous employer and [don’t] have any proof, we can’t use [the] references.
“This is the job of the candidate to bring the information.”
And if you’re moving to Dubai for the job, sort out your visa first. Morgan:
“When you come [to] Dubai, the first thing you need to get is the visa, because with the visa you can open a bank account… Without the visa, you are completely stuck. You can’t do anything.”
Sources: UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022 and Cabinet Resolution No. 106 of 2022 (domestic workers); Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 (Labour Law); u.ae (domestic workers, working hours, end-of-service benefits, health insurance, taxation); all checked 15 October 2026. Our Annual Report and our UAE job ads, December 2023 to March 2026 (how we gather our figures).
