Data Scientist

***HIRING***

Job Title - Data Scientist

Salary - AED 26,800 Max. Per Month

Job Location – Dubai

Contract Length – 3 Months with extensions or to go perm

Start date – ASAP

I am working with a client who are a leading product consultancy in Dubai. They are looking for a Data Scientist to come in for an internal project, not outsourced to a customer. They have said they want to move to the next phase which is into AI but have not got a few key hires to make this happen, therefore, they need you to come in and work closely with the senior stakeholders to work out what is needed, and how they will do it. Right now, they still don't know the platform they want to use, so they need a solid Data Scientist to come onboard and support.

They are looking for a commercially minded Data Scientist to join them at the ground floor of a greenfield product. This is not a maintenance role; you will be instrumental in defining the data and AI layer of an SME banking platform from scratch. You will collaborate closely with product, engineering, and business teams to turn raw financial data into intelligent, actionable features that genuinely improve how small businesses manage their finances

The client is looking for someone who can come in and work on reports straight away and be able to translate into tangible outcomes. They require someone who can connect with the team, and understand what they are doing, they do not want someone to be narrow minded, they want someone who can stretch the truth and see things others can't.

Ideally, the client needs someone who has experience in finance sector, however someone without finance/banking can be trained. The non negotiables are someone who can walk the walk and talk the talk. They need someone who is a good talker, and confident. Overall, you just need to be innovative and has good ideas.

The client has said what they will reject is candidates who have polished CVs, but when they get on the call struggle with communication skills, therefore communication is key for this role. Another is when CVs do not match with job responsibilities, this will be rejected straight away. The client's idea of a perfect candidate, is someone who can own the call, owns the meeting, and does not need babysitting, and is an individual leader. You will not have a project manager, therefore, they are looking for someone to manage their own workflows, and someone who is proactive.

Key Responsibilities

Product & AI Strategy

• Collaborate with the product and leadership team to define the AI/ML roadmap for the SME banking platform
• Identify high-impact opportunities where machine learning and predictive analytics can create differentiated product value
• Translate business requirements into well-scoped data science problems with clear success metrics

Modelling & Experimentation

• Design, develop, and validate ML models for use cases such as credit risk scoring, cash flow forecasting, anomaly detection, and transaction categorisation
• Run structured experiments, evaluate model performance, and iterate rapidly in a startup-speed environment
• Ensure models are fair, explainable, and appropriate for regulated financial services contexts

Data Architecture & Pipelines

• Work with engineers to define data ingestion, storage, and feature engineering pipelines
• Establish data quality standards and monitoring processes
• Contribute to selecting the right cloud and AI infrastructure for scalable model deployment

Insight & Stakeholder Communication

• Produce clear, actionable analyses and visualisations for both technical and non-technical audiences
• Document methodologies, model cards, and experiment logs to maintain rigour and institutional knowledge
• Present findings and recommendations to leadership and external stakeholders as needed

Required Qualifications & Experience

• 3+ years of hands-on experience in data science or applied machine learning roles
• Strong proficiency in Python, with experience using core data science libraries (pandas, scikit-learn, PyTorch or TensorFlow, etc.)
• Proven experience building and deploying predictive models in production environments
• Background in financial services, fintech, or banking data is a strong advantage
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and their ML/data services
• Solid understanding of statistical modelling, A/B testing, and experiment design
• Comfortable working in ambiguous, fast-moving product environments

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with LLMs and generative AI techniques (RAG, fine-tuning, prompt engineering)
• Experience with open banking APIs, transaction data, or credit modelling
• Knowledge of UAE or GCC regulatory frameworks for financial data and AI
• MLOps experience model monitoring, versioning, CI/CD for ML pipelines
• Exposure to graph-based modelling for fraud or relationship mapping