Engineering Manager, Defense
Remote • Doha, Qatar
Posted 1d ago
Job Location
Doha, Qatar
Tech Stack
Remote Work Policy
Fully remote
Categories
Applied AI Engineer
About the job
Scale AI is seeking a highly technical and strategic Senior Manager, Defense Engineering to lead engineering efforts for defense-related projects in the Middle East region. This role involves driving the delivery of custom AI applications for defense and national security clients, combining deep defense domain knowledge with AI and full-stack engineering expertise. The company is focused on using AI to address critical public sector challenges, creating custom AI applications, generating training data for national LLMs, and providing AI upskilling and advisory services. As these applications move to production, Scale AI is investing in the infrastructure and people to ensure reliability, security, and trust with government partners.
Responsibilities
- Manage and grow the engineering team in the region, driving technical delivery across defense and public sector engagements.
- Design, build, and optimize backend services for advanced AI-driven applications, focusing on AI agents, evaluation tooling, and automation.
- Lead full-stack engineering efforts end-to-end, from system design and architecture through debugging, testing, and production deployment.
- Serve as the senior technical authority on defense-related projects, ensuring solutions meet mission-critical standards and security requirements.
- Architect and deploy AI agent frameworks and API integrations tailored to defense and government workflows.
- Work cross-functionally with internal engineering teams and external defense and government clients.
- Own the full product lifecycle from conceptualization through production, ensuring high-velocity delivery without sacrificing quality.
- Deliver experiments and MVPs at high velocity and quality to drive engagement with defense customers.
- Influence the culture, values, and processes of a growing engineering team in the region.
- Inspire and mentor engineers, fostering a technically excellent and mission-driven team environment.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define, design, and ship new product features and experiences tailored to defense requirements.
Requirements
- 10+ years of relevant software engineering experience, with a strong emphasis on backend systems and full-stack development.
- 5+ years of experience managing and leading engineering teams, with a proven track record of developing high-performing teams in complex, mission-driven environments.
- Demonstrated domain knowledge in the defense sector, including understanding of defense operations, national security priorities, and unique regulatory and security requirements.
- Deep expertise in AI and machine learning, specifically with AI agents, LLM-powered applications, and agentic frameworks.
- Hands-on experience designing, building, and integrating APIs in production environments (cloud and on-premises), including AI/ML APIs and third-party defense or government platform integrations.
- Full-stack engineering proficiency across backend services, APIs, data pipelines, and frontend delivery.
- Proven success leading, managing, and developing high-performing engineering teams at scale.
- Expertise in identifying product engagement patterns and trends for large-scale applications, ideally in government or defense contexts.
- Track record of shipping high-quality products and features at scale in fast-paced, high-stakes environments.
- Ability to translate complex defense business and mission requirements into pragmatic, scalable engineering solutions.
- Excellent problem-solving skills, with the ability to work independently and as part of a cross-functional, international team.
- Experience working in or with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region is strongly preferred.
- Arabic language skills are a plus.