Senior Lead – AI & Data Innovation

📍 Dubai, UAE (Hybrid)We are looking for a Senior Tech Lead with exceptional depth in AI, data systems, and product innovation.This is not a traditional software engineering management role. We are seeking a world-class thinker and builder who is passionate about challenging legacy incumbents, leading deep technical exploration, and shipping real products that change the game.You will lead forward-looking R&D efforts, explore and prototype breakthrough ideas, and set the technical direction as this company scales across the MENA region. Working directly with the founders, you’ll have a primary voice in shaping not only what we build, but how we think.What you'll do:Lead Technical Innovation: Identify whitespace opportunities, challenge legacy solutions, and architect future-ready systems for credit intelligence.Prototype & Build: Translate abstract concepts into high-impact prototypes and production-grade systems using AI and real-time data infrastructure.Set Technical Direction: Own the architectural roadmap and strategic vision for R&D initiatives with autonomy and clarity.Push the Edge: Evaluate and apply emerging techniques in foundation models, causal inference, streaming analytics, and real-time ML.Collaborate Across Disciplines: Partner with product, design, data science, and executive leadership to align technical innovation with strategic goals.Mentor & Elevate: Raise the bar for engineering and research excellence while building and scaling a high-performing team around you.Who you are:You’ve led complex, high-impact engineering or AI projects at companies known for technical excellence (Big Tech, top-tier AI labs, or venture-backed startups).You possess a strong grasp of the math, the models, and their practical application to real-world systems.You are an active individual contributor who codes daily, prototypes rapidly, and understands systems at scale.You combine vision with execution—you don’t just rebuild what’s been done, you imagine what’s possible.You’ve worked across the full stack—from data infrastructure and backend systems to deploying ML models in production.You thrive in ambiguous environments and operate with a bias toward bold action and continuous iteration.Qualifications:8+ years of engineering experience, with a strong track record of leading innovation in AI or data-intensive products.Hands-on expertise with Python, distributed data systems (e.g., Spark, Kafka, Snowflake, Databricks), and ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow).Proven experience architecting, deploying, and scaling production-grade systems.Demonstrated ability to think creatively, challenge conventions, and lead R&D from 0 to 1.Deep understanding of the current AI research landscape and how to translate cutting-edge research into working software.