Mai Dawood's Career Reinvention in Riyadh After Family Move

The moment things shifted

In 2021, Mai Dawood made the decision to leave her senior banking role in Egypt and relocate to Riyadh with her family. The move marked a significant departure from the established trajectory of her career. She had built substantial expertise in banking and compliance over years of professional work, but relocating to Saudi Arabia meant stepping away from that familiar context entirely. The transition was not straightforward. Beyond the logistical demands of moving her household across borders, she faced the prospect of rebuilding her professional identity in an unfamiliar environment and industry landscape.

The early months in Riyadh presented real challenges. Adapting to a new country, a new professional culture, and the demands of family relocation required considerable adjustment. Yet Dawood approached this period not as a setback but as an opportunity to reconsider how her existing skills might be applied in different ways.

What they tried

Two years after arriving in Riyadh, in 2023, Dawood joined PwC Middle East. Rather than seeking a direct continuation of her previous banking role, she moved into risk assurance—a field that drew on her compliance background but required her to apply that knowledge in new contexts and frameworks. This represented a deliberate choice to leverage her existing expertise while stepping into unfamiliar professional territory.

The role at PwC Middle East allowed her to work across risk and compliance domains in ways that differed from her previous banking experience. She was not simply repeating what she had done before; instead, she was translating her skills into a different professional setting. This distinction mattered. It required her to understand new industry practices, client needs, and regulatory environments while drawing on the foundational knowledge she had developed over her career.

What worked, what didn't

The transition proved rewarding, though not without its difficulties. What worked was Dawood's ability to recognise that her banking and compliance background remained valuable even outside the banking sector. Risk assurance at PwC Middle East offered a context where those skills could be meaningfully applied. Her professional foundation gave her credibility and provided a framework for understanding complex governance and risk challenges—even when the specific industry context was new.

What required adjustment was the shift in perspective itself. Moving from a senior role in one sector to a new role in another meant accepting a period of learning and reorientation. Dawood addressed this directly, acknowledging the genuine difficulty of the transition.

Starting a completely new career in a different industry and region at 38 was challenging, but I firmly believe in the human capacity to adapt.

This statement, made during an interview with PwC Middle East in 2023, captures both the honesty of her experience and her underlying conviction. The challenges were real, but they were also navigable through deliberate effort and a willingness to learn.

What they'd tell someone else

Dawood's experience offers a practical lesson for professionals facing significant career transitions. When circumstances require relocation or a shift away from established work, the instinct is often to view previous experience as context-specific and therefore less transferable than it actually is. Her move into risk assurance demonstrated that skills developed in one industry—banking and compliance knowledge, in her case—can have genuine value in adjacent fields.

The key is recognising what is truly transferable and being willing to apply it in new ways. Dawood did not try to recreate her previous role in a new location. Instead, she identified the core competencies that had made her effective—her understanding of governance, risk, and compliance frameworks—and sought a role where those competencies could be deployed in a different context. This approach required both humility about what she needed to learn and confidence in what she already knew.

For anyone navigating a similar transition—whether prompted by relocation, industry change, or other circumstance—Dawood's path suggests that adaptability and the willingness to leverage existing skills in unfamiliar contexts can transform what initially appears as a career disruption into a genuine opportunity for professional growth.