Senior Director of Data & AI

Posted 16 January 2026
Salary Competitive salary and package!
LocationAbu Dhabi
Job type Permanent

Job description

In this role you will lead the enterprise-wide data, analytics, and AI agenda. You will be owning strategy, governance, and priorities to drive performance and enable better decision-making across the organisation.

Job Responsibilities:

Data Strategy, Governance & Architecture

  • Define and lead the Data & AI strategy aligned with business goals and long-term scalability.

  • Establish data governance covering ownership, metadata, quality, security, and access.

  • Oversee enterprise data platforms (data lakehouse, warehouse, integration layers, analytics tools).

Analytics, AI/ML Enablement & Business Value Realization

  • Lead advanced analytics, predictive models, ML solutions and AI use cases.

  • Collaborate with business leaders on high-impact opportunities and prioritization.

  • Oversee BI dashboards, self-serve analytics tools, and data products for decision-making.

  • Ensure AI/ML governance, ethical principles, monitoring, and lifecycle management.

  • Drive business value and maximize ROI from analytics initiatives.

Data Platform Delivery, Operations & Performance

  • Oversee engineering, ETL pipelines, model development, ERP/app platform integration.

  • Manage platform reliability, security, cost optimization (cloud/on-prem).

  • Lead technology vendor management and oversee AI/ML/data platform contracts.

Minimum Required Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s in Information Systems, Computer Science, Engineering.

  • 10+ years in data/analytics/AI functions; proven experience building large-scale enterprise data platforms and delivering AI/ML solutions.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Master’s degree.

  • 15+ years in senior leadership roles in data/analytics/AI.

  • Expertise across Azure/AWS/GCP, MLOps, cloud architecture, enterprise data frameworks.

Preferred Skills

  • Deep expertise in data engineering, analytics, AI/ML, data governance.

  • Strong business acumen and ability to translate business needs into data solutions.

  • Influences senior stakeholders and drives enterprise-wide decisions.

  • Vendor management, SLA governance, contract negotiation.

Relocation support provided if candidate is oversea's. Apply now!