Question 1

What does a Senior Data Scientist earn in Riyadh?

Accepted Answer

The Tenure Pay Index median for a Senior Data Scientist in Riyadh is SAR 33,900 a month. The published range for this role and employer bracket runs SAR 28,500 to SAR 39,600 a month. Figures are monthly total fixed cash, the way Gulf offers are quoted, and they exclude bonus, housing paid separately, and gratuity.

Question 2

What is the full pay range for this level in Saudi?

Accepted Answer

Across employer calibre, Senior Engineer / Senior Data Scientist roles in Saudi run SAR 29,000 – 58,000 a month, from the market floor to the top of the range. Where an individual offer sits inside that span is mostly a function of employer calibre, and the calibrated split by tier is part of Tenure Pro.

Question 3

How much more does the level above pay?

Accepted Answer

The next step up on the Data & Engineering ladder is Staff Engineer / Lead Engineer, which runs SAR 38,000 – 77,000 a month in Saudi against SAR 29,000 – 58,000 for Senior Engineer / Senior Data Scientist. Both spans are floor to ceiling across employer calibre, so they overlap: a strong offer at this level can beat a weak one a rung up.

Question 4

What does the level below this one pay?

Accepted Answer

Engineer / Data Scientist, the rung beneath Senior Engineer / Senior Data Scientist on the Data & Engineering ladder, runs SAR 28,000 – 58,000 a month in Saudi. The step between the two is the clearest read on what a promotion at this stage is worth.

Question 5

Is this base salary or total pay?

Accepted Answer

It is total fixed monthly pay, which is how compensation is quoted in the Gulf: the guaranteed cash an employer pays every month, including any fixed allowances rolled into the package. It does not include bonus, gratuity, or a housing allowance paid separately from salary. Technology bonus and allowance norms are covered in the gated sections of this page.

Question 6

Where does this figure come from?

Accepted Answer

From primary sources Tenure holds on file: written offer letters shared by members, anonymised before mapping, and extracts from established Gulf compensation surveys. Nothing is crowdsourced and nothing is modelled from job-ad text. No band publishes on fewer than three independent verified sources, and a band that falls below that floor is withdrawn rather than shown. The Index is refreshed quarterly.

Senior Data Scientist

Senior Engineer / Senior Data Scientist on the Technology ladder