Foreign consultancies’ hiring spree in the Kingdom reaching an endgame caught the interest of the foreign press, with the Financial Times attributing the trend to Saudi Arabia’s reassessment of spending priorities, along with scaling back some of the Vision 2030 plans. The impact is noticeable and measurable, as the Saudi consulting market growth decelerated to 12% last year, down from 25% in 2023, Dane Albertelli, senior research analyst at Source Global Research, told the FT. Government clients are also showing increased skepticism, demanding better value and scrutinizing contracts more closely.

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The salmon-colored paper pointed out several factors driving the job curb, including lower oil prices, which are squeezing the government budget and leading to feasibility studies for multiple projects. Meanwhile, some projects are reaching the delivery phase, which requires fewer strategists and more builders. Adding to the pressure, the AI era is enabling firms to automate analytical tasks, reducing the need for large teams of junior consultants.

BUT- Some see the Saudi consultancy market is naturally “softening back into a real market,” after an extraordinary boom since the pandemic. Consultancy firms employed an “unprecedented” number of staff to meet the government’s demand for Vision 2030 projects. Now that this demand decreases, the Kingdom’s consulting market is hitting a “pause rather than a decline,” Albertelli said.

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