Data Engineer Lead for AI & Generative ML Pipelines

McKinsey; Dubai; On-site; AED 661,000 - 1,102,000; Full time

Job summary

McKinsey & Company seeks a senior data engineering lead in the Middle East to design scalable data architectures for AI and agentic systems in a cross-functional team. You will own and deliver data engineering workstreams across cloud environments, mentor junior engineers, and collaborate with clients to implement robust data pipelines and governance.

You will drive end-to-end AI features, including Generative AI, prompt design, RAG, embeddings, and model retraining, while ensuring security and

Qualifications

• Degree in Computer Science/Engineering or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years in data engineering, with leadership of technical workstreams and mentoring.
• Expert-level Python and SQL; polyglot with Scala/Java when needed.
• Experience building Agentic/Generative AI, ML, BI solutions; prompt design and RAG.
• Strong data security/governance, RBAC, and PII/PHI handling.

Responsibilities

• Design scalable data architectures for AI and agentic systems.
• Lead data engineering workstreams and mentor junior engineers.
• Develop robust data pipelines and governed data environments.
• Integrate ML/LLMOps features, observability, and retraining workflows.
• Collaborate with clients and cross-functional teams to deliver AI solutions.

Skills

Python

SQL

Data engineering

Leadership

Mentoring

Polyglot environments

Education

B.S. in Computer Science or Engineering

Tools

Spark

LangChain

Databricks

Dask

Airflow

Dagster

Kedro

Job description

McKinsey & Company seeks a senior data engineering lead in the Middle East to design scalable data architectures for AI and agentic systems in a cross-functional team. You will own and deliver data engineering workstreams across cloud environments, mentor junior engineers, and collaborate with clients to implement robust data pipelines and governance.

You will drive end-to-end AI features, including Generative AI, prompt design, RAG, embeddings, and model retraining, while ensuring security and