Nationality does not just change the total — it changes which cost lines exist at all. And at SDR salaries the answer surprises most people.
Hiring in a different market? Compare all four side by side.
Saudi Arabia is the only one of these markets where the cost lines themselves change with who you hire. An expatriate carries 2% GOSI for occupational hazards plus a flat labour levy of SAR 8,400–9,600 a year. A Saudi national carries no levy but 11.75% GOSI, rising to 12.75% in the second half of 2026 under the post-July-2024 scheme.
Because the levy is flat and GOSI is proportional, the two curves cross at roughly SAR 145,000 a year. Below that line — where most SDR packages sit — the Saudi national is the cheaper hire, which is the opposite of the common assumption. Above it, the expatriate is. Move the salary in the calculator and watch them swap.
Everything below the salary line is statutory and sourced. The salary is yours.
In Saudi Arabia nationality changes the cost lines themselves, not just the total. An expatriate carries 2% GOSI and a flat labour levy of SAR 8,400–9,600 a year. A Saudi national carries no levy but 11.75% GOSI, rising to 12.75% in the second half of 2026 under the new scheme. Because the levy is flat and GOSI is proportional, the two cross at roughly SAR 145,000 a year: below that the Saudi national is the cheaper hire, above it the expatriate is. Move the salary and watch the two swap.
Excludes tooling, data, management overhead and recruitment. Those are real and they only push the number up. The riyal is pegged at SAR 3.75 to the dollar, so USD figures are exact rather than indicative.
We could not establish a credible published SDR salary median for Saudi Arabia. The public aggregators are visibly broken on this role — one lists a Riyadh SDR at 'SAR 7,646 per year', which is a monthly figure with the wrong label, and quotes a 25th percentile of SAR 1,417. The regional guides that would settle it, Hays GCC and Cooper Fitch, are gated. So this calculator asks for your number instead of publishing a bad one.
$3,500–$5,500/mo depending on market; $5,500/mo ($16,500/quarter) for a US-market dedicated SDR. At the same 12–15 meetings a month, that is $233–$458 per meeting. Your in-house number above works out at $334 per meeting once ramp is counted.
Pricing depends on the market your SDR sells into. $5,500/month is the US-market dedicated SDR; rates start at $3,500/month for other regions. The comparisons on this page use the US rate, because everything they are compared against is US cost.
No recruiting, ramp, tooling spend, or attrition risk on the buyer's side. That risk sits with us.
Talk to us about this marketGOSI. Expatriates are covered only by the occupational hazards branch, funded entirely by the employer at 2% of basic plus housing. They are not in the pension or SANED unemployment branches. Saudi nationals are: the employer side is 11.75% for anyone registered before 3 July 2024, and under the new scheme it steps to 12.25% for the first half of 2026 and 12.75% for the second, still climbing. Contributions are calculated on basic plus housing and capped at SAR 45,000 a month.
The expatriate labour levy. A flat government charge per non-Saudi worker — SAR 700 a month for a Saudisation-compliant establishment, SAR 800 if you fall into the red band, so SAR 8,400–9,600 a year — plus a SAR 100 work permit service fee. It is unrelated to salary, which is exactly why it weighs so heavily on a junior seat and barely registers on a senior one.
End-of-service award. Half a month's pay for each of the first five years of service, becoming a full month a year thereafter, under the Saudi Labour Law. As an annual accrual that is 0.5/12 of basic — about 4.17%.
Saudisation is usually the binding constraint, not the rate. Nitaqat bands set the ratio of Saudi to non-Saudi staff you must maintain. Drop into the red band and the levy rises and permit renewals can be blocked. For most firms the real question is not what an expatriate SDR costs but whether there is quota headroom to sponsor one at all — and a Saudi hire creates the headroom that lets you sponsor expatriates elsewhere in the business.
We do not publish a Saudi salary median. The public aggregators are visibly broken on this role — one lists a Riyadh SDR at 'SAR 7,646 per year', plainly a monthly figure with the wrong label, alongside a 25th percentile of SAR 1,417. The regional guides that would settle it, Hays GCC and Cooper Fitch, are gated. So the field starts at a round number and asks for yours.
The basic-versus-package split matters. GOSI and the end-of-service award are charged on basic plus housing rather than the full package. A 60% basic share is common market practice, not law, and it is editable here.
At the starting figures above, employer on-costs come to SAR 13,831 a year — about 9.6% on top of pay. Statutory rates move; this dataset was verified on 5 August 2026 and is re-verified quarterly. The full cross-market write-up is in What an SDR actually costs in 2026. This calculator runs entirely in your browser and stores nothing you type.