Lead Data Scientist

Lead Data Scientist – AI Lab | BankingLocation: Abu Dhabi My client is looking for a Lead Data Scientist to join a newly established AI Lab within a leading banking organisation. This is a high-impact opportunity for a technically strong, hands-on Data Scientist who can take AI and machine learning solutions from concept through to production.The ideal candidate will have a strong Computer Science / technical academic background and be a genuine full-stack Data Scientist- someone who can write production-ready code, build models, work across the engineering stack and deploy solutions independently, rather than relying on separate teams to operationalise their work.Key ResponsibilitiesLead the design, development and deployment of advanced AI and machine learning solutions across banking use cases.Own the full lifecycle from problem definition, data preparation and modelling through to deployment, monitoring and optimisation.Develop production-grade solutions using Python, SQL and modern ML/AI frameworks.Build and productionise GenAI, LLM, RAG, NLP and agentic AI solutions where relevant.Work closely with Data Engineers, Software Engineers and Product teams to take AI solutions into production.Develop robust ML pipelines, APIs, model-serving components and MLOps processes.Establish best practices around model deployment, testing, monitoring, reproducibility and responsible AI.Evaluate emerging AI technologies and identify opportunities to create tangible value for the bank.Mentor Data Scientists and contribute to the technical direction of the new AI Lab.Ideal Candidate8+ years' experience in Data Science, Machine Learning, AI Engineering or a related technical field.Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, AI, Machine Learning, Mathematics, Statistics, Engineering or another highly quantitative discipline.Strong hands-on Python development skills and excellent SQL.Proven track record of taking machine learning / AI models into production.Strong understanding of software engineering principles including Git, APIs, testing, CI/CD and containerisation.Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure or GCP.Experience with modern ML/AI technologies such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hugging Face, LLMs, RAG, vector databases and agentic AI is highly desirable.Banking, financial services or fintech experience would be advantageous.What Will Differentiate YouMy client is particularly interested in "full-stack" Data Scientists who are equally comfortable experimenting with models and engineering them into scalable production systems.Strong preference will be given to candidates with a rigorous Computer Science or technical background over candidates whose background is primarily business, commercial or MBA-focused.The successful candidate will be a builder -technically autonomous, hands-on and capable of taking an AI solution from an initial idea all the way through to production.*** Only successful candidates will be contacted ***