Head of Engineering

Tarjama&; United Arab Emirates; On-site; AED 200,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading AI solutions provider in the United Arab Emirates is seeking a Head of Engineering to provide strategic leadership across software engineering and AI disciplines. The role involves overseeing AI system development, managing engineering teams, and ensuring product compliance with security standards. Ideal candidates will have extensive experience in engineering management and a strong background in AI systems. This position offers an opportunity to shape the future of government-grade AI solutions.

Qualifications

• 10-15+ years of experience in engineering roles, including 5+ years in senior leadership positions.
• Proven experience scaling engineering organizations and managing complex systems.
• Prior work in regulated or high-security environments is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the engineering vision and strategy.
• Oversee the development of production-grade AI pipelines and ecosystems.
• Lead and mentor engineering teams across multiple disciplines.
• Ensure system reliability through monitoring and performance optimization.
• Partner with stakeholders to deliver impactful solutions.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Software Engineering

AI/ML expertise

Cloud Infrastructure

DevOps

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Job description

Job Purpose

The Head of Engineering provides strategic and operational leadership across all engineering disciplines—including software engineering, AI/ML, data infrastructure, architecture, and DevOps—to build secure, scalable, and high-performing government-grade AI systems.

Key Responsibilities

• Leadership & Strategy
  • Define and execute the engineering vision, strategy, and long-term roadmap.
  • Build a high-performing engineering culture centered on quality, collaboration, and innovation.
  • Align engineering goals with organizational priorities and product strategy.
• AI System Development
  • Oversee the development of production-grade AI pipelines, platforms, and ecosystems.
  • Ensure AI products adhere to secure-by-design and government performance standards.
  • Guide teams in building scalable architectures for RAG, LLM, and automation systems.
• Engineering Management
  • Lead, scale, and mentor engineering teams across multiple technical disciplines.
  • Recruit and develop top engineering talent.
  • Establish effective team structures, workflows, and performance frameworks.
• Technical Execution & Quality
  • Oversee technical architecture, system design, and operational excellence.
  • Enforce best practices in software engineering, automation, DevOps, security, and documentation.
  • Ensure system reliability through monitoring, observability, performance optimization, and incident management.
  • Define technical governance, evaluation methodologies, and AI reliability/quality standards.
  • Oversee rigorous testing, benchmarking, and compliance validation to ensure production-grade performance.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
  • Partner with product, data, AI/ML, and business stakeholders to deliver impactful solutions.
  • Support technical evaluations, feasibility studies, and architectural reviews.

Qualifications & Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology or related field.
• 10–15+ years of experience in engineering roles, including 5+ years in senior leadership positions.
• Proven experience scaling engineering organizations and managing complex systems.
• Strong expertise in software engineering, AI/ML environments, cloud infrastructure, and DevOps.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience delivering enterprise or government-scale AI systems is a plus.
• Prior work in regulated or high-security environments is a plus.