Scale AI — the company powering AI for Meta, Mayo Clinic, the Government of Qatar, and the US Army and Air Force — is hiring an Engineering Manager based in Dubai, UAE to lead the development of AI applications directly for UAE federal and local government agencies. This is a founding team role at the intersection of cutting-edge LLM applications, AI agents, full-stack engineering, and UAE government digital transformation. If you are ready to shape the future of AI in the world’s most ambitious AI-first government environment, Scale AI wants to hear from you in 2026.
About Scale AI — Powering AI for the World’s Most Important Decisions
Mission: Develop reliable AI systems for the world’s most critical decisions
Clients: Meta, Ernst & Young, Mayo Clinic, Government of Qatar, US Army and Air Force
Products: High-quality data, full-stack AI technologies, and AI application deployment for enterprises and governments
UAE Focus: Global Public Sector team — custom AI applications, national LLM training data, AI upskilling & advisory
Culture: Inclusive, equal opportunity — whole self at work, every background welcomed
🇦🇪 UAE Government AI Context — World’s Most Ambitious AI Nation
National Strategy: UAE Vision 2031, National AI Strategy, smart government programmes
Scope: Custom AI applications impacting millions of UAE citizens
Priority: Sovereign AI, national LLM development, digital transformation at scale
Language: Arabic language skills a strong plus for UAE government client engagement
Opportunity: Founding member of Scale AI’s UAE Public Sector team — ground-floor career impact
Position Overview
The Engineering Manager at Scale AI Dubai is a uniquely powerful role that combines hands-on technical leadership with senior government client engagement. You will lead a team of engineers building AI-powered applications for UAE federal and local government clients — while simultaneously acting as Scale AI’s primary technical point of contact with UAE ministry and agency stakeholders. You will run discovery workshops, lead technical demos, present solutions at the executive level, and own engineering delivery across multiple concurrent workstreams.
This is a founding role — you will help establish Scale AI’s engineering culture, delivery processes, and technical excellence standards within the UAE public sector team. If you thrive at the intersection of deep AI engineering and high-stakes government client relationships, and you are excited by the prospect of building AI applications that will genuinely impact millions of UAE citizens, this is the most meaningful engineering leadership role available in Dubai in 2026.
Why This Role Matters: The UAE government is not just talking about AI — it is actively building and deploying it at national scale, with sweeping programmes around sovereign AI, smart government, and digital public services. As Scale AI’s Engineering Manager in Dubai, you will be building the AI applications that power those programmes — creating systems that will serve millions of citizens, trained on national data, running at production scale, and trusted by the government agencies that use them. This is engineering leadership work that genuinely shapes a nation’s future.
Key Responsibilities
Engineering Team Leadership & Delivery
- Lead and manage a high-performing team of engineers building AI-powered applications for UAE federal and local government clients — setting clear technical direction, managing delivery quality, and ensuring strong, measurable client outcomes on every project
- Manage delivery across multiple concurrent AI workstreams — balancing development velocity and engineering quality in a dynamic, fast-paced environment where government client expectations are high and timelines are real
- Mentor and develop engineers on the team — building a culture of technical excellence, ownership, and client focus that reflects Scale AI’s values and positions the UAE team as a model of engineering leadership within the global public sector organisation
- Contribute to shaping team culture, engineering processes, and best practices as a key founding leader — establishing the standards and ways of working that will define Scale AI’s UAE engineering team as it scales
AI Application Design & Full-Stack Engineering
- Design, build, and optimise full-stack AI applications end-to-end — spanning data pipelines, ML model integration, APIs, and frontend delivery — ensuring production-grade quality, scalability, and reliability for UAE government deployments
- Develop and deploy LLM-powered applications, AI agents, and intelligent automation solutions tailored to specific UAE government use cases — from citizen-facing digital services to internal government operations and decision-support tools
- Architect and maintain robust API integrations between Scale’s platform and UAE government systems and third-party services — ensuring secure, reliable, and high-performance data exchange across complex government technology ecosystems
- Partner with product, go-to-market, and government counterparts to translate complex government requirements into scalable engineering solutions — driving delivery from initial concept all the way through to production deployment and operational handover
UAE Government Client Engagement
- Act as Scale AI’s primary technical point of contact for UAE government stakeholders — building trusted, long-term relationships with ministry and agency contacts that make Scale AI the preferred AI partner for UAE public sector transformation
- Lead discovery workshops, technical design sessions, and requirements gathering meetings with UAE government clients — bringing structured facilitation skills and deep AI domain knowledge to extract the insights that shape effective, practical solutions
- Present AI solutions and project updates at the executive level — communicating complex technical content clearly and confidently to senior UAE government audiences, including ministry leadership and agency directors, in a way that builds confidence and drives approvals
- Represent Scale AI in technical demos, client briefings, and executive workshops with UAE ministry and agency stakeholders — consistently positioning Scale as the most knowledgeable, most capable, and most trusted AI partner in the UAE public sector
Roadmap, Strategy & Cross-Functional Partnership
- Contribute to shaping Scale AI’s UAE public sector strategy and engineering roadmap — providing technical and client insight that informs investment priorities, solution design, and capability development for the region
- Generate high-quality training data for national UAE LLMs — contributing to the foundation of the UAE’s sovereign AI infrastructure through Scale’s data pipeline and annotation expertise
- Support UAE government clients through AI upskilling and advisory services — helping agency teams build their own AI literacy, adoption confidence, and long-term operational AI capability alongside Scale’s technical delivery
- Partner with Scale’s global product, engineering, and go-to-market teams to ensure that UAE-specific requirements, insights, and innovations flow back into Scale’s global product roadmap and capability investment decisions
What We’re Looking For — Qualifications
Experience Requirements
- 6+ years of total software engineering experience with a strong background in AI/ML engineering and full-stack development — demonstrating the technical depth to lead credibly in both engineering design reviews and government stakeholder meetings
- 3+ years of engineering leadership experience — with a proven ability to manage and grow high-performing technical teams in a fast-paced, delivery-focused environment where quality and client outcomes are equally important
- Proven experience in a customer-facing or client-embedded engineering role — confident engaging directly with government or enterprise clients, running technical workshops, and communicating clearly with non-technical senior stakeholders
Technical Skills
- Strong AI/ML engineering foundation — hands-on experience building, fine-tuning, or deploying machine learning models and LLM-based applications in production environments, not just prototype or research contexts
- Full-stack engineering proficiency across the entire application stack — backend services, APIs, data pipelines, and frontend interfaces — able to design, build, and review solutions across all layers of a production AI application
- Experience designing and integrating APIs at scale — including RESTful services, AI/ML APIs, and government system integrations — with strong understanding of security, performance, and reliability requirements in government deployments
- Track record of shipping high-quality products and features at pace in dynamic, ambiguous environments — able to turn complex government requirements into practical, scalable engineering solutions under real delivery pressure
UAE & Government Knowledge (STRONGLY PREFERRED)
- Familiarity with UAE government digital transformation priorities — including UAE Vision 2031, smart government programmes, the UAE National AI Strategy, and sovereign AI initiatives — to accelerate client engagement and solution relevance from day one
- Experience working in or with the UAE or broader GCC region — with an understanding of government client dynamics, cultural expectations, and stakeholder management norms that are specific to the public sector in the Gulf
- Arabic language skills are a plus — supporting more effective engagement with UAE government stakeholders and strengthening Scale’s positioning as a locally embedded, culturally aware AI partner
Why This Engineering Manager Role at Scale AI Dubai Is Career-Defining in 2026
The UAE is not a passive observer of the global AI revolution — it is one of its most active and ambitious architects. With national sovereign AI programmes, a world-leading AI strategy, and government agencies actively deploying AI across citizen services, defence, health, education, and infrastructure, the UAE is creating an extraordinary opportunity for AI engineering leaders who want their work to matter at a national scale. Scale AI — already trusted by the US military, the Government of Qatar, and some of the world’s largest enterprises — is now building the team that will power UAE government AI from the inside.
As a founding Engineering Manager on Scale AI’s UAE Public Sector team, you will not be joining a mature, established function. You will be building it — setting standards, growing engineers, winning client trust, and writing the playbook for what world-class government AI delivery looks like in the Gulf. Combined with Dubai’s zero income tax, Scale AI’s global prestige, and the once-in-a-generation opportunity to shape national AI infrastructure, this role stands apart as one of the most impactful engineering leadership positions available in the UAE market in 2026.
Who Should Apply?
- Senior AI/ML Engineers with Leadership Experience: With 6+ years of engineering background, 3+ years of team management, and hands-on LLM or AI agent deployment experience in production environments
- Client-Embedded Technical Leads: Who have managed government or enterprise client relationships, run technical workshops, and presented AI solutions to senior and executive stakeholders with confidence and credibility
- Full-Stack AI Engineers Ready for Management: With strong backend, API, and data pipeline engineering skills who want to grow into an Engineering Manager role at a company that is actively shaping the future of public sector AI
- UAE Government Tech Specialists: With familiarity with UAE Vision 2031, UAE National AI Strategy, or smart government programmes — and prior experience working with or within UAE federal or local government agencies
- Arabic-Speaking AI Engineers: Who can deepen Scale AI’s UAE government relationships through language, cultural fluency, and regional government knowledge — and who want to be founding members of a transformative UAE public sector team
Recently Opening Job👇
