Senior Machine Learning Engineer

About the Role

Join SAP as a Senior Machine Learning Engineer in Dubai, where your expertise will help shape innovative AI solutions that address complex product and business challenges at scale. You will design and deliver production-ready ML and generative AI systems, owning architecture and implementation across the entire ML lifecycle, including data pipelines, feature stores, model training, serving, online experimentation, and monitoring.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development of advanced machine learning and generative AI applications covering deep learning, natural language processing, ranking, recommendation, forecasting, semantic search, and large language model (LLM) functionalities such as retrieval-augmented generation and tool integration.
• Optimize system performance, reliability, latency, and cost-efficiency in live environments while providing technical direction on model selection, distributed training/inference, GPU use, model compression, prompt optimization, drift detection, retraining policies, and ethical AI controls.
• Mentor other engineers and formalize best practices into scalable platforms and reusable patterns.

Required Skills and Experience

• Expert-level proficiency in Python programming, complemented by solid software engineering skills in Java or Go, to build scalable and reliable production systems.
• In-depth understanding of machine learning, deep learning, and optimization techniques for structured data, NLP, search, ranking, and recommendation scenarios.
• Proven experience in designing end-to-end ML pipelines encompassing data ingestion, experiment management, deployment, observability, and lifecycle governance.
• Hands-on experience with modern ML and LLM frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, and scikit-learn, including capabilities in model fine-tuning, evaluation, orchestration, and serving.
• Practical expertise in constructing generative AI solutions using embeddings, vector databases, retrieval-augmented generation pipelines, agent workflows, prompt engineering, and safety guardrails.
• Strong background in MLOps and platform development, covering model registries, feature stores, CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code, experiment tracking, and automated validation.
• Comprehensive architectural knowledge of distributed, event-driven, and cloud-native ML platforms with focus on scalability, reliability, performance optimization, and cost control.
• Ability to define robust evaluation and governance strategies including offline benchmarking, online A/B testing, hallucination detection, model risk assessment, and responsible AI practices.
• 7 to 9+ years of combined software engineering and machine learning experience, with a record of leading complex, scalable AI system delivery.
• Strong product sense and strategic mindset to translate ambiguous business problems into impactful AI implementations.
• Ability to excel in fast-paced, complex environments, bringing ownership, clarity, and strategic foresight for long-term platform success.

About the Team and Culture

You will join a dynamic group of AI and industry specialists focused on delivering scalable, high-impact AI frameworks for customers across the Middle East region. The team prides itself on collaboration, technical excellence, ownership, and building solutions designed to meet complexity and scale. SAP promotes an inclusive culture emphasizing health, well-being, flexible working, and equal opportunity to ensure every employee thrives.

Additional Information

• Work location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
• Travel expectation: up to 10% travel.
• Employment type: Regular full-time position.
• SAP is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of age, race, gender, disability, or other protected characteristics.
• Applicants might undergo background verification through an external vendor.
• Use of AI in recruitment is governed by ethical guidelines to ensure fair hiring practices.