Principal Data Scientist

Overview
Job Description: Principal Data Scientist | Abu Dhabi, UAE

About Presight
Presight is an ADX-listed public company with G42 (Abu Dhabi) as its majority shareholder and the region's leading big data analytics company powered by GenAI. We combine big data, advanced analytics, and AI to drive business and societal impact, helping public and private sector organizations realize their AI strategies faster.

Position Overview

We are seeking a Principal Data Scientist with deep expertise in large language models (LLMs) and applied AI, who can both shape the strategic direction of our GenAI capabilities and deliver cutting-edge solutions across sectors. This role goes beyond hands-on modelling—it encompasses setting the LLM and agentic AI strategy, building scalable frameworks, guiding technical teams, and influencing product and business roadmaps.

The Principal Data Scientist will play a pivotal role in architecting Presight's AI ecosystem, ensuring our models are not only state-of-the-art but also aligned with organisational priorities, partner expectations, and responsible AI standards.

Responsibilities
Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Leadership

• Define the strategic roadmap for LLMs and agent-driven AI within Presight, aligning with business goals, client needs, and regulatory frameworks.
• Act as the thought leader and subject matter expert, guiding executives and partners on GenAI opportunities, risks, and best practices.
• Mentor, coach, and upskill data scientists and engineers, building organisational capability in LLMs and applied machine learning.

Research & Innovation

• Stay ahead of global research in foundation models, reasoning, and multi-modal AI; assess and integrate relevant breakthroughs into Presight's platforms.
• Represent Presight in the AI ecosystem (conferences, publications, collaborations) to enhance visibility and credibility.
• Establish frameworks for responsible AI—bias mitigation, fairness, security, and data governance.

Solution Architecture & Delivery

• Oversee the design and scaling of LLM-driven applications (knowledge assistants, copilots, decision intelligence tools, domain-specific copilots).
• Lead the creation of agentic workflows, integrating LLMs with enterprise data, APIs, and external systems for autonomous execution.
• Architect multi-modal AI pipelines, combining structured and unstructured data, vision, and knowledge graphs to unlock insights.
• Ensure production systems meet performance, scalability, and cost-efficiency standards.

Cross-Functional Influence

• Partner with product, engineering, and client teams to translate AI research into real-world impact.
• Guide vendor and partner selection for LLM infrastructure, orchestration frameworks, and ecosystem tools.
• Serve as escalation point for technical complexity in strategic programmes.

Qualifications
Qualifications

• Master's or Ph.D. in Computer Science, AI/ML, Data Science, Applied Mathematics, or a related field.
• 8+ years of progressive experience in AI/ML, with at least 3 years at a strategic or principal/lead level.

Experience

• Proven leadership in defining and executing LLM/GenAI strategies in complex organisations or large-scale projects.
• Track record of deploying LLM-powered applications into production at enterprise scale.
• Experience building or influencing multi-disciplinary AI teams (data science, engineering, product).

Skills

• Deep knowledge of LLM fine-tuning, evaluation, and optimisation (RLHF, RAG, prompt engineering, alignment).
• Familiarity with orchestration frameworks (LangChain, LlamaIndex, Haystack) and vector databases (FAISS, Pinecone, Milvus).
• Expertise in Python and ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hugging Face).
• Ability to set direction, inspire teams, and communicate complex concepts to both technical and executive audiences.

Preferred

• Exposure to multi-agent systems and autonomous planning frameworks.
• Knowledge of Model Context Protocol (MCP) and advanced reasoning models.
• Awareness of regulatory, ethical, and societal implications of GenAI at scale.

What Presight Offers

• Culture: Inclusive, diverse, and innovation-driven environment with a global vision.
• Impact: High-visibility role driving Presight's LLM and GenAI strategy across industries.
• Career: Leadership pathway with accelerated growth, ecosystem engagement, and the chance to shape AI adoption at national scale.
• Rewards: Competitive package with healthcare, education support, leave benefits, and more.