Director of Software Engineering (DSE001)

Foreground LLC; Dubai; On-site; AED 200,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

A venture-backed AI software company in Dubai is seeking a Director of Software Engineering to lead the engineering vision and drive product excellence. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in software development, particularly in SaaS environments, and will oversee a technical team focused on building and deploying AI-powered software products. Responsibilities include setting technical standards, implementing best practices, and collaborating with product leadership. This role requires strong communication skills and the ability to manage cross-functional teams.

Qualifications

• 1215 years of hands-on software engineering experience, with at least 5 years in a leadership role overseeing SaaS or platform-based software development.
• Experience leading teams using Agile/Scrum and DevSecOps frameworks in fast-growth environments.
• Prior experience working in AI/ML product environments is a strong advantage.

Responsibilities

• Set the technical vision and software architecture for core product platforms.
• Oversee backend, frontend, and infrastructure teams.
• Implement engineering best practices including DevOps pipelines and CI/CD automation.
• Define and enforce coding standards and testing coverage benchmarks.
• Build engineering workforce plans and mentorship frameworks.
• Collaborate closely with product leadership to translate customer feedback into engineering sprints.
• Ensure security and compliance in multi-tenant enterprise environments.
• Report on platform performance to executive leadership.

Skills

Hands-on software engineering experience

Leadership in SaaS development

Agile/Scrum methodologies

DevOps practices

Strong communication skills

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science

Job description

Foreground is partnering with a venture-backed AI software company serving enterprise clients across MENA to appoint a product-driven and deeply technical Director of Software Engineering, based in Dubai. As the company scales its SaaS platforms across industries including logistics, banking, and government services, the role will lead the engineering vision and drive product excellence through scalable, cloud-native architecture.

Role Purpose

To lead the engineering team responsible for designing, building, and deploying AI-powered software products that meet enterprise-grade performance, reliability, and security standards while maintaining speed of innovation and delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Set the technical vision and software architecture for core product platforms, ensuring modularity, scalability, and continuous improvement across releases.
• Oversee backend, frontend, and infrastructure teams, ensuring effective coordination with product managers, data scientists, and QA leads.
• Implement engineering best practices, including DevOps pipelines, CI/CD automation, version control, and secure code development.
• Define and enforce coding standards, peer review protocols, testing coverage benchmarks, and documentation quality.
• Build engineering workforce plans, recruitment pipelines, and mentorship frameworks to scale the team as the company grows.
• Collaborate closely with product leadership to translate customer feedback and roadmap priorities into executable engineering sprints.
• Ensure security and compliance in multi-tenant enterprise environments, particularly around data privacy, AI model explainability, and system availability.
• Report on platform performance, technical debt, delivery velocity, and capacity planning to executive leadership and board stakeholders.

Ideal Candidate Profile

• 1215 years of hands-on software engineering experience, with at least 5 years in a leadership role overseeing SaaS or platform-based software development.
• Experience leading teams using Agile/Scrum and DevSecOps frameworks in fast-growth environments.
• Bachelors or Masters degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field.
• Prior experience working in AI/ML product environments is a strong advantage.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to collaborate across tech and non-tech stakeholders and manage remote, cross-functional teams.