Job Description
Lead Data Scientist – AI Lab | Banking
Location: Abu Dhabi
My client is looking for a
Lead Data Scientist
to join a newly established
AI Lab within a leading banking organisation
. This is a high-impact opportunity for a technically strong, hands-on Data Scientist who can take AI and machine learning solutions from
concept through to production
.
The ideal candidate will have a strong
Computer Science / technical academic background
and be a genuine
full-stack Data Scientist-
someone who can write production-ready code, build models, work across the engineering stack and deploy solutions independently, rather than relying on separate teams to operationalise their work.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the design, development and deployment of advanced
AI and machine learning solutions
across banking use cases.
- Own the full lifecycle from
problem definition, data preparation and modelling through to deployment, monitoring and optimisation
.
- Develop production-grade solutions using
Python, SQL and modern ML/AI frameworks
.
- Build and productionise
GenAI, LLM, RAG, NLP and agentic AI solutions
where relevant.
- Work closely with Data Engineers, Software Engineers and Product teams to take AI solutions into production.
- Develop robust ML pipelines, APIs, model-serving components and MLOps processes.
- Establish best practices around model deployment, testing, monitoring, reproducibility and responsible AI.
- Evaluate emerging AI technologies and identify opportunities to create tangible value for the bank.
- Mentor Data Scientists and contribute to the technical direction of the new AI Lab.
Ideal Candidate
- 8+ years' experience
in Data Science, Machine Learning, AI Engineering or a related technical field.
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in
Computer Science, AI, Machine Learning, Mathematics, Statistics, Engineering or another highly quantitative discipline
.
- Strong hands-on
Python
development skills and excellent SQL.
- Proven track record of taking
machine learning / AI models into production
.
- Strong understanding of software engineering principles including
Git, APIs, testing, CI/CD and containerisation
.
- Experience with cloud platforms such as
AWS, Azure or GCP
.
- Experience with modern ML/AI technologies such as
PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hugging Face, LLMs, RAG, vector databases and agentic AI
is highly desirable.
- Banking, financial services or fintech experience would be advantageous.
What Will Differentiate You
My client is particularly interested in
"full-stack" Data Scientists
who are equally comfortable experimenting with models and engineering them into scalable production systems.
Strong preference will be given to candidates with a rigorous Computer Science or technical background over candidates whose background is primarily business, commercial or MBA-focused.
The successful candidate will be a
builder
-technically autonomous, hands-on and capable of taking an AI solution from an initial idea all the way through to production.
* Only successful candidates will be contacted *