Saudi Arabia · free · no signup · calendar-year planning

What does an SDR actually cost in Saudi Arabia?

Compare the right employee cohort, contribution wage and employment costs. Use your actual offer and employer quotes; a nationality label alone is not enough to price a hire.

Hiring in a different market? Compare all four side by side.

TL;DR

Separate the wage bases. GOSI contributions and the end-of-service provision are not automatically calculated from the same pay figure. Enter each applicable monthly amount, already included within your annual package.

Choose the cohort and calendar year. The new Saudi pension schedule changes in July. A full 2026 budget uses six months at each applicable rate, not the August rate multiplied by twelve. The SAR 144,000 package and SAR 2,000 insurance budget are illustrations, not market benchmarks.

Build your Saudi employer-cost estimate

One private-sector SDR, 12 full months in the selected calendar year, unchanged pay and a first-five-years end-of-service budget provision. Saudi scenarios assume pension and SANED coverage; the expatriate scenario excludes GCC nationals. Not for government, domestic workers, pensioners, special coverage, partial-year employment or a termination settlement.

New-scheme status depends on contribution history before 3 July 2024, not when this employer hires the person. Confirm coverage from GOSI records.

Twelve full months at unchanged pay, not twelve months starting today.

SAR 144,000 is an illustration, not a salary benchmark. Include the wage and housing values used below within this package.

Use the payroll-assessed contribution wage after minimums, housing valuation and other adjustments. The calculation caps it at SAR 45,000/month.

The applicable end-of-service wage may differ from GOSI. This models a one-year provision within the first five years, not an exit settlement.

Each wage starts at one twelfth of the package. Once edited, that field stays independent of the package and the other wage.

Select the worker's actual billable tier. The count-based schedule is not the company's red/green Nitaqat label. The ordinary SAR 100 annual work permit is separate.

SAR 2,000 is illustrative. Enter the employer premium for the employee and eligible dependents. Zero is not a legal exemption.

14 is a planning assumption, not a Saudi benchmark or a delivery promise.

Optional planning scenario, not a forecast. Ramp to full productivity does not mean zero meetings. Attrition, vacancies and replacement costs are not calculated.

Your 2026 planning estimate

Non-GCC expatriate: ordinary GOSI occupational hazards only.

Annual packageSAR 144,000
Selected employer costsSAR 19,380

13.5% of this example's package, not a country average.

Pay plus selected employer costs / yearSAR 163,380

USD 43,568 at the peg, before exchange fees. Not a fully loaded operating budget.

Calendar-month costSAR 13,615

Annual budget divided by 12, not productive months.

Steady-output cost per booked meetingSAR 973

Based on booked meetings, not held meetings or accepted opportunities.

Recruitment, residency processing beyond the work permit, tools, travel, management, overtime, leave-cover staffing and settlement adjustments are excluded. The EOS amount is a budget provision, not an immediate cash payment.

Where the employer costs come from

GOSI occupational hazards
SAR 2,880

Ordinary employer rate: 2% of the assessed contributory wage, capped here at SAR 45,000/month. Special surcharges are outside this scenario.

Evidence: statutory rule. Reviewed 2026-08-31. Read the source

Expatriate labour levy
SAR 8,400

Selected billable tier: SAR 700/month × 12. The worker-count tier is not a red/green Nitaqat label. Confirm this worker's charge in Qiwa.

Evidence: statutory rule. Reviewed 2026-08-31. Read the source

Work permit fee
SAR 100

SAR 100 for a full-year work permit in the cited ordinary schedule, separate from the levy. Not a complete residency or recruitment bill.

Evidence: statutory rule. Reviewed 2026-08-31. Read the source

First-five-years EOS budget provision
SAR 6,000

Half one month's applicable EOS wage for one full year. This wage is separate from the GOSI base. Resignation, service history and termination circumstances change the actual settlement.

Evidence: statutory rule. Reviewed 2026-08-31. Read the source

Employee and eligible-family health budget
SAR 2,000

SAR 2,000 is an editable illustration, not a quote. Replace it with the employer premium for the employee and eligible dependents. Zero input does not remove an insurance obligation.

Evidence: illustrative budget. Reviewed 2026-08-31. Read the source

Compare the work, not just the payroll total

A managed SDR service and an employee's payroll subtotal have different inclusions. Compare the role, capacity, tools, supervision, qualification criteria, onboarding and contractual commitment before deciding.

Discuss a scoped Saudi-market proposal

Explore the other market examples

United StatesSelected costs: 22.2% at this example's inputsUnited KingdomSelected costs: 16.0% at this example's inputsUnited Arab EmiratesSelected costs: 6.6% at this example's inputs
SDR Cost Calculator · Saudi Arabia → Division50

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Division50 runs the SDR seat from $3,500/month by region, billed quarterly. Confirm the role, capacity, included tools, onboarding and contract terms in your proposal. Bring your Saudi Arabia budget and qualification criteria so we can compare equivalent scopes.

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How the math works — every component, sourced

Planning scope. One private-sector SDR, 12 full months in the selected calendar year, unchanged pay and a first-five-years end-of-service budget provision. Saudi scenarios assume pension and SANED coverage; the expatriate scenario excludes GCC nationals. Not for government, domestic workers, pensioners, special coverage, partial-year employment or a termination settlement. The wage inputs must already reflect applicable registration minimums, housing valuation and other payroll adjustments. The tool does not decide eligibility or reconstruct those assessments.

GOSI cohort and timing. GOSI's new scheme concerns people with no prior civil-pension or social-insurance contribution periods before 3 July 2024. Its official phase-in guide increases the employer pension share by 0.5 percentage points each July from 2025 through 2028. The calculator sums all twelve months; the legacy pension share remains separate.

Use the assessed contribution wage. The GOSI employer FAQ describes contributory wage and housing treatment. Enter the amount assessed for payroll, not an assumed 60% of package. A SAR 45,000 monthly cap is applied. National/GCC, retirement, multi-employer and special coverage issues require their own review.

End-of-service is a separate budget provision. HRSD's award guidance uses the last applicable wage and different service/resignation rules. This example reserves half a month for one first-five-years year. It does not calculate an exit payment. Under Article 86, certain variable commissions may be excluded by agreement; do not automatically strip all allowances or commissions from the wage.

Choose the actual levy tier. The HRSD work-licence guide distinguishes billable workers up to the Saudi count from workers above it. SAR 700 or SAR 800 monthly is a selected scenario, not a Nitaqat colour test. Exemptions require separate confirmation in Qiwa. The guide's English annual SAR 9,100 figure conflicts with its SAR 800 monthly entry; this tool explicitly multiplies the monthly input by twelve rather than copying that inconsistent annual cell.

Health and omitted expenses. CHI guidance includes employer health cover for employees and eligible dependents, including probation. Replace the illustrative premium with your quote. The total still excludes residency processing beyond the work permit, recruitment, travel, tools, management, overtime, leave-cover staffing and settlement adjustments.

At the starting figures above, employer on-costs come to SAR 19,380 a year, about 13.5% of this example's pay, not a country average. Saudi scope and sources reviewed 2026-08-31. Salary and insurance defaults remain illustrative; confirm coverage and charges with payroll. The cross-market write-up is in What an SDR actually costs in 2026. Calculations run in your browser; no calculator submission is required.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an SDR cost to employ in Saudi Arabia?
Our starting example is SAR 144,000 annual pay for a non-GCC expatriate, SAR 12,000 assessed monthly GOSI and EOS wages, the SAR 700 monthly levy tier, a SAR 100 work permit and SAR 2,000 illustrative insurance. Selected employer costs are SAR 19,380, giving SAR 163,380 including pay. This is not a national salary benchmark, a quote or a fully loaded operating budget.
What GOSI employer rate does the 2026 Saudi example use?
For a Saudi covered by the legacy pension and SANED branches, the ordinary combined employer rate is 11.75%. For the new scheme, it is 12.25% in January–June 2026 and 12.75% in July–December. The full-year calculation sums both periods. The ordinary non-GCC expatriate example includes 2% occupational hazards only. Eligibility must be confirmed; an employer's hire date alone does not identify the scheme.
Is a Saudi hire cheaper than an expatriate hire?
There is no universal salary crossover. Compare the actual offers, GOSI cohort and wage, applicable levy or exemption, insurance, end-of-service basis and additional employer costs. The same salary input does not prove equal skills, coverage or employment obligations. This page does not claim that most SDR salaries lie below a particular threshold.
Does the SAR 800 levy mean the company is in the red Nitaqat band?
No. The cited levy table separates billable workers by their count relative to Saudi workers. Nitaqat status and occupation-specific localisation requirements are separate hiring and permit checks. Confirm the assigned charge or exemption in Qiwa rather than deriving it from a colour label.
Can I use the GOSI salary as the end-of-service wage?
Only if payroll has confirmed both happen to be the same. They serve different rules. The EOS provision here uses its own monthly wage input; changing GOSI wage must not silently change it. A final settlement also depends on service length, resignation or other termination circumstances and any lawful treatment of variable commissions.
Does selecting an exemption or zero insurance remove an employer obligation?
No. An exemption selection is a planning assumption you must confirm through the relevant authority. A zero insurance input only removes that amount from this calculation. It does not exempt an employer from covering an employee or eligible family members. If the cohort or levy is unknown, choose the unknown option and no total is shown.