Executive search · Construction & real estate
Senior and executive appointments for developers, main contractors, consultancies and design practices. Twenty-eight years in this sector, thirteen of them in Dubai. Retained and engaged search — a small number of mandates, worked properly.
Malta sits an hour ahead of the UK and two behind Dubai. A London firm can't service the Gulf properly; a Dubai firm can't service the UK. This is the overlap, live.
A six-hour window every working day in which both markets are live at the same time.
UK output is flat this year. Gulf increments have cooled. European data centre construction is growing twenty per cent a year and cannot find people at any price. Working all three at once is how you see that — and how you move a candidate from a soft market into a tight one.
Leeds, West Yorkshire and the North. Site and commercial leadership on apartment and high-spec residential programmes.
2 live mandates
High-end villas, towers, hospitality, branded residences and fit-out. Thirteen years placing into this market from inside it.
6 live mandates
Hyperscale and colocation builds across the Nordics, the Netherlands, Germany and Iberia — the tightest labour market in construction anywhere.
5 countries, one brief
What is actually on the desk this month. If your profile fits one of these, send a CV. If you are hiring something like them, the same market knowledge applies.
| Ref | Appointment | Location | Rate / salary | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK-01 | Site Manager / Block Manager High-spec residential apartments · freelance |
Leeds, UK | Negotiable, day rate | Immediate |
| UK-02 | Site Manager Residential development · permanent |
Leeds, UK | £50,000 – £70,000 | Live |
| AE-01 | Senior Construction Project Manager Design & build · high-end bespoke villas |
Dubai, UAE | AED 25,000 – 30,000 pm | Live |
| AE-02 | Senior Architect — BIM / Revit Towers, multi-residential, hotels |
Dubai, UAE | AED 25,000 – 32,000 pm | Immediate |
| AE-03 | Business Development & Bids Manager Architecture & interior design consultancy |
Dubai, UAE | AED 24,000 – 30,000 pm + bonus | Live |
| AE-04 | Interior Design Site Architect High-end residential fit-out · shop drawings |
Dubai, UAE | AED 22,000 – 27,000 pm | Live |
| AE-05 | Head of Procurement, Commercial & Cost Control Real estate development · $300M+ programmes |
Dubai, UAE | On application | Live |
| EU-01 | CSA Project Manager — Data Centres Civil, structural & architectural package lead |
SE · PT · DE · FI · NL | €85,000 – 120,000 + rotation | Immediate |
Applications to db@bottegasearch.com with CV and project record.
Most salary guides give you one confident number — a national average smoothed across markets that behave nothing like each other. It is why so many briefs arrive with a budget that was never going to work.
This one shows its working. Where two credible sources disagree, both are published. There is a section listing the roles we refuse to put a number against, because a made-up benchmark is worse than none.
UK day rates and salaries, Dubai packages in AED, European data centre bands in EUR. Sent as a PDF, no follow-up unless you ask for one.
Thanks — I'll send the Construction & Real Estate Pay Benchmarks 2026 over shortly. If there's a specific role or market you want a view on, say which and I'll answer that directly rather than just sending a PDF.
Recruitment in construction and real estate since 1997 — Leeds, Manchester, Dubai, now Malta. Long enough to tell you when a brief is unrealistic before you spend a quarter finding out.
Retained to find a lead senior site architect with twenty years of major hospitality brand experience — and to find them quickly.
Key team appointments with the lead architectural practice on the extension to the existing luxury hospitality and leisure development.
CSA and delivery leadership into mission-critical programmes across five European jurisdictions, concurrently.
Very quick satisfaction of a client's strict and immediate requirement in less than one week — and follow-up at one month and several months after with placed candidates.
Dan found the right job in a desired location. Extremely hard working, kept on top of everything, brought the process to a speedy conclusion in a highly professional manner.
Tell me the project and the problem. If I can't help, I will say so and point you at someone who can — that costs me nothing and it is how the good mandates arrive.
db@bottegasearch.com