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Consultant vacancies at Riyadh's major hospital groups for Irish-trained doctors, with SCFHS licensing and relocation handled from our Dubai office.
Riyadh is where most of Saudi Arabia's consultant vacancies sit, and the city that has changed most since 2019. Vision 2030 has reshaped Riyadh into a different destination for Irish and other Western families than it was ten years ago. Consultant pay runs SAR 65,000 to 70,000 on our current listings, tax free. First enquiry to first shift typically takes around six months.
Five consultant roles are open in Riyadh as of August 2026, all available to Irish-trained consultants. Listings current at time of publish.
View all Riyadh vacancies or send us your specialty; roles move quickly and not everything we recruit for is listed publicly.
Riyadh is Saudi Arabia's business, political, and healthcare capital, and Vision 2030 has channelled the largest concentration of hospital investment into the city. The Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, and King Fahad Medical City between them run over 4,700 beds in Riyadh alone, and all three are actively recruiting Western-trained consultants. The private sector, led by Dr Sulaiman Al Habib and Fakeeh Care Group, is expanding capacity to serve the growing expatriate and Saudi middle-class population.
Demand is strongest in the specialties Ireland trains well: paediatric subspecialties, neurosurgery, plastic surgery, gastroenterology, and emergency medicine. Our current Riyadh listings reflect that. Irish CCST holders are recognised at consultant grade by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, and Ireland is on the SCFHS list of countries whose training is accepted for professional classification.
Consultant roles on our current Riyadh listings pay SAR 65,000 to 70,000 per month, roughly EUR 15,000 to EUR 16,500, tax free. That is below the AED 70,000 to 120,000 range you see for equivalent consultant roles in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and the gap is real. Package composition typically closes some of it: Saudi hospital groups usually add larger housing allowances, education allowances for international schooling, and repatriation flights structured differently to UAE contracts.
For a full breakdown of Saudi doctor salary structures by specialty and grade, our doctors' salary in Saudi Arabia guide covers the current picture, and we can walk you through your specific numbers on a call.
The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties is a single national regulator, so one SCFHS licence covers Riyadh and the whole Kingdom. Ireland is on the SCFHS list of recognised training countries, and Irish CCST holders qualify for Consultant classification if their experience meets SCFHS requirements. The process runs five stages: DataFlow document verification (four to eight weeks), professional classification, Prometric exam (with exemption available for many Irish CCST holders), Council registration, and Mumaris Plus portal activation. Total timeline for most Irish cases runs three to six months.
For the SCFHS process in full, with document requirements and current fees, see our guide to medical licensing (SCFHS) in Saudi Arabia.
Four hospital groups run most of the consultant recruitment in Riyadh.
King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh is the largest MNGHA facility, plus King Abdullah Specialized Children's Hospital opened in 2015. MNGHA is the government tertiary anchor and one of the strongest teaching environments in the Kingdom. Our MNGHA guide covers the network in detail.
The Riyadh campus runs 1,600 beds and 28 outreach centres, with strong research programmes in oncology, cardiovascular surgery, organ transplantation, and genetics. Newsweek ranked it 20th globally and first regionally among academic medical centres.
A JCI-accredited complex of four hospitals with 1,200 beds combined, covering adult, women's, children's, and rehabilitation care.
Dr Sulaiman Al Habib Group's flagship Olaya Hospital sits in Riyadh's business district, and Fakeeh Care Group runs JCI-accredited hospitals in the city. Both actively recruit Western-trained consultants. For the full public and private network, see our Riyadh hospitals guide.
Riyadh is safer than Dublin on published crime data. Most Western expat doctors and their families live in employer-provided compounds, which are secure, gated, and include swimming pools, tennis courts, parks, restaurants, and sometimes on-site international schools. Rent inside compounds is high, but housing is usually included in the employment package or covered by allowance.
Since 2018, women can drive, mix freely with men in public, and travel independently within the Kingdom. Dress code is modest but the abaya requirement has gone; international dress is common in compound life and private hospital settings. Weekends run Friday to Saturday, and Ramadan shifts working hours across the whole month.
The American International School Riyadh runs a US curriculum with the IB Diploma at senior level, the British International School Riyadh has campuses across the city including in the Diplomatic Quarter, and newer schools like Reigate Grammar School Riyadh and Aldenham Prep bring British curricula from newer campuses.
Our Riyadh schools guide, life for expat women in Riyadh, and what living in Riyadh is like go deeper on each.
Riyadh's Western expat neighbourhoods cluster in five areas, all within easy reach of the major hospital campuses and international schools.
High-security expat-favoured area, close to the British International School campus, quieter pace.
Established expat area, another BISR campus, close to Al Nakheel Mall.
Premium residential district with wide school choice and modern amenities.
Family-oriented neighbourhoods with a range of villa options and close to newer international schools.
Close to DSFH's flagship hospital and Al Nakheel Mall, best for doctors placed at private-sector hospitals.
Our SCFHS licensing covers the whole Kingdom, so if your search widens beyond Riyadh into Jeddah or the Eastern Province, one licence and one team covers all of it.
Our office is in Tiffany Towers, Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai. Riyadh placements start with a video call, then move to hospital interviews in Riyadh when the shortlist is ready. If you are transiting through Dubai on the way, we can meet in person.
Riyadh moves fast, and the hospital groups that are hiring hardest today were not the same six months ago. Send us your specialty and we will tell you which are recruiting your grade right now, whether exam exemption applies to you, and which two or three specific consultants we have placed you could speak to about the move.
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