opinion required on package offered

You can visit www.bayt.com to have an idea about salaries range for the offered role in KSA.

awpal wrote:

Hello all,

I'm in discussion with a contractor for a job based in Jubail. It's an expert level IT role at a large chemical manufacturer. Employment contract will not be with the manufacturer but with the contractor. I've been offered overall package of SR 43K i.e. SR33K Base + SR10K Housing allowance. I'm currently based in England and will relocate with family i.e. myself, wife and two very young children. I've also been offered that for the first year I have a choice to leave my family behind in the UK and I can visit my family every month, company can bear air ticket cost for my monthly visit. Not sure what will happen with housing allowance in this scenario.

Is it a good package?

I m still in negotiation to get a best offer. Is it worth asking for medical and children education?   

Thanks in advance for replies!!

It's an excellent package. There is no harm in asking about medical insurance. Though, I'm sure it will be a VIP coverage policy for all four of you.

School fee is a major expense here. Do find out what they've to offer.

what TLL said, however, i'd try to negotiate the school tuition as well as it can be a major expense. Also, how much experience do you have? I'm sure you can stretch it far to 50K.

The idea of going to meet your family every month is not bad, this way you rack up your miles

I did the travelling (actually I am still doing it). If you are a real family man, I wouldn't do it. Everytime I would miss my family a lot. That is why I put pressure on my company to get my family here as soon as possible.

Besides that, don't forget that if you have to travel that often, that you will spoil a lot of your weekends. And concerning medical insurance, I don't think you have to worry about that. If they can offer you such an amount, then they can definitely give you the best insurance there is. About the tuition, I would negotiate about that. Most often, that is also provided.

And I think you will still keep getting your housing allowance even though you would fly back. After all, you need housing when you are in Riyadh, so..

Depends on which core field of IT you are getting the offer and how many years of experience you have.

Hi AWPAL,
I have a question for you:
  I got my visa paper and about to start the processing at Saudi Consulate. I was offered a very similar package, around 40K including all benefits (no schooling is included). I have around 10+ years of experience in IT.

My highest degree is Master of Science in Computer Sciences. My job title mentioned in my job-contract is 'Computer Engineer'. Do you think, it matches with my degree area (Computer Science) or do i need to have it in 'Computer Engineering'?   If I want to go with my 'Computer Science' degree, what job-title should I ask my Employer to use in my contract?

If you don't mind, can I ask your job-title and the degree you have?

Thanks in advance for your reply!

Thanks everyone for the enlightenment.

So role in question is info sec role, with focus on security architecture development and review. I’ve got around 15+ years’ overall IT and Info sec experience, with around 6 years’ direct info sec experience (with combination of sec proj mgmt, engineering and consultancy). Have got MSc info sec with usual certs like CISSP, CISM, PMP etc.

Answering ‘drrubinai’; in my personal opinion title doesn’t matter a lot. It’s always subjective and somewhat skewed. But I may be wrong, cause I don't know much about the middle east job market. As far as package is concern, I m in the same boat as you are