Lead AI Engineer

* Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Alef\_Abu\_Dhabi) * Posted 0 Days Ago * Office - Flexible * Fulltime **Who we are** Alef Education began with a bold idea: that every learner deserves a personalised and meaningful education experience. What started in 2016 as a small pilot programme in Abu Dhabi has evolved into one of the world’s most dynamic EdTech companies—reshaping how millions of students engage with learning across the globe. Today, Alef is proudly headquartered in the UAE, working hand-in-hand with ministries of education, schools, and teachers to bring smart, data-powered platforms into classrooms in over 14,000 schools. Supporting over 1.1 million students and 50,000 teachers across the UAE, Indonesia & Morocco our AI-driven platforms generate 16+ million data points every day, helping drive smarter learning decisions. Whether it’s improving national exam results, boosting classroom engagement, or supporting educators with world-class tools, Alef is committed to impact at scale. In 2024, Alef made history as the first EdTech company to list on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), cementing our role as a regional innovator with global reach. **About The Role** Lead AI Engineer will lead and manage AI Engineering Team, delivering projects from end-to-end: problem statement and conceptualization, proof-of-concept, and participation in the final deployment. The role combines technical leadership, people management, and applied AI Engineering, ensuring AI innovation translates into real educational impact. **Key Responsibilities:** * Drive the end-to-end delivery of scalable AI and Generative AI features, from initial conceptualization and prototyping through fast, reliable deployment, and continuous monitoring in live learning environments. * Prioritize scalable implementation and efficient deployment strategies on Azure, leveraging CI/CD and MLOps principles. Ensure engineering excellence through rigorous technical reviews, maintaining high code quality and architecture standards. * Partner closely with Product and Engineering teams to align AI innovation with user needs and business goals, providing clear communication on project status, risks, and technical decisions. * Guide the AI engineering team in building reusable tools, frameworks, and experimentation pipelines to accelerate future feature launches. * Stay updated on the latest Gen AI trends and technologies, applying findings pragmatically. * Promote a strong innovation culture through mentoring, workshops, and documentation. * Ensure all AI solutions meet safety, privacy, and ethical standards before scale-up. **To Be The Right Fit, You'll Need** * Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering or related preferred. * 10+ yrs AI/ML engineering or equivalent software engineering background with, 3+ yrs hands-on Gen AI (LLMs, Agents, RAG, diffusion, etc.); Ed-Tech industry experience preferred. * AI/ML Specialty certs (AWS/GCP/Azure) or peer-reviewed publications/patents preferred. * Familiarity with Azure AI Services and Azure AI Foundry preferred. * Proven end-to-end scalable AI applications in production. * MLOps & CI/CD experience. * Fluent English presentation & writing. * Strong Python development expertise with; cloud deployment on Azure/AWS; Usage of AI Coding Agents. * Innovative, creative, and passionate mindset, and willing to learn. * Proven leadership of AI projects or teams. * Fluency in English; Arabic is preferred. **What we offer** We believe our people are our greatest advantage. We value curiosity, purpose, and the drive to make a real difference. When you join Alef, you join a mission — and a team that’s just as passionate about transforming education as you are. Here’s a glimpse of what we offer: * Annual flight allowance * Annual performance bonus * Education allowance * Life insurance * Enhanced leave policy * A hybrid work model and up to 40 remote working days per year to work from anywhere (with flexibility built in) At Alef, we don’t just imagine a better future for education. We build it — together.