Technical Lead, Applied AI

About the Role

A leading frontier AI company is hiring a Technical Lead, Applied AI to open and build their Abu Dhabi market. This is a priority hire - some customers are already in place, and you'll be the person who shapes the region from day one.

You'll start by leading yourself, then grow and lead a team hired around you. This is not a pure management role: you're expected to operate at roughly 70% individual contributor level. The work is hands-on, the ownership is real.

The split is approximately 30% presales and strategic positioning (identifying common use cases, building a point of view on the market, being the primary technical contact for your most strategic customers) and 70% building and deploying AI solutions end-to-end.

Arabic language is mandatory for this role.

What You'll Do

• Lead technical discussions during presales - translate customer requirements into actionable solutions and communicate the company's technological advantages to diverse stakeholders
• Design and oversee the implementation of complex AI systems including fine-tuning, RAG, agentic workflows, and custom LLM applications
• Drive innovation by identifying emerging trends in AI, evaluating new tools and methodologies, and championing best practices for fine-tuning, inference, and deployment
• Work closely with product managers, researchers, and engineers to feed customer insights into the product development cycle
• Identify common use cases in the region, build a strategic point of view, and own the Abu Dhabi market as it grows
• Grow and eventually lead a local Applied AI team

How the Team Works

• What matters is what you ship, not the time you spend on it
• No bureaucracy - you talk to whoever you need to, the best idea wins
• Low ego, high standards; direct, honest feedback
• Unstructured environment; people who thrive here find joy in it

About You

• Fluent in English and Arabic (mandatory)
• 7-8+ years of experience in AI/ML, with at least 2+ years in a technical leadership role (Tech Lead, Engineering Manager, or Solutions Architect) focused on AI products or enterprise solutions
• Proven track record of leading teams to deliver complex AI projects from prototyping to production
• Strong combination of machine learning/data science and software engineering - not a pure researcher, comfortable with production and infrastructure constraints
• Strong Python coding skills
• Experience with fine-tuning LLMs, advanced RAG, and agentic workflows
• Autonomous, impactful, with a strong drive - quality of experience matters more than years

Location & Work Model

• Abu Dhabi (no office yet - initially remote/coworking, then hybrid)
• Company standard: 1 day remote per week; additional days require management approval
• Candidates expecting fully remote or strong half-remote setups are not a fit (flexibility possible for exceptional candidates - flag rather than reject)

Compensation

Base salary + meaningful equity

Pay: AED23,000.00 - AED44,000.00 per year

Application Question(s):

• Cover letter
• Expection Salary

Work Location: In person