Director of Technology - Agentic AI (Government Sector)

Publicis Sapient is seeking a consultative, hands-on engineering leader to join our Riyadh-based team and make a significant impact across Saudi Arabia’s public sector. You will work closely with government organisations to accelerate digital transformation, support the adoption of in-country hyperscaler platforms, and lead the practical application of Generative and Agentic AI to deliver citizen-centric services at national scale.

Impact

• You will support major government transformation programmes aligned to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 agenda, working directly with clients to shape and deliver AI- and cloud-enabled solutions
• You will lead and actively contribute to the development of AI proof-of-concepts and agentic workflows within small, high-impact engineering pods, define and implement AI SDLC practices, and modernise legacy architectures to enable scalable AI-driven solutions
• You will lead and contribute to strategic pursuits, RFP responses, and proposal development, bringing hands-on technical insight to client presentations, solution workshops, and executive discussions
• You will act as a trusted technical advisor during pursuits and delivery, articulating architecture strategies and AI-led transformation approaches to senior stakeholders
• You will provide technical leadership and direction to multidisciplinary teams, remaining close to design and implementation decisions while guiding engineers through complex delivery challenges
• You will own engineering delivery end-to-end, including solution design, estimation, execution, and quality, ensuring alignment with Publicis Sapient’s global engineering standards
• You will actively contribute to the development of engineering capability, coaching teams and supporting the application of modern engineering practices within live client programmes
• You will partner with Industry Leadership to shape go-to-market strategies, develop reusable accelerators, and bring practical delivery insight into industry offerings

To enable our teams to make the type of client impact that we are famous for, fluency in Arabic and English is essential for this role. Now for the interesting part.

We are looking for a passionate engineering leader who loves to stay hands on and keep abreast of the latest technologies & trends. The types of technology expertise our Directors typically bring to our teams and clients are as follows:

• • Java development and distributed systems
  • Hyperscaler platforms (GCP/AWS/Azure/OCI)
  • Cloud-native application architecture
  • Microservices architecture
  • API management and integration platforms
  • Headless digital architectures
  • Event-driven systems
  • Data and analytics platforms
  • CI/CD and DevOps environments
  • Enterprise integration technologies (iPaaS, ESB, ETL)

In addition, as AI is central to our Saudi clients transformation agenda our Directors in the region also bring hands on expertise in areas such as: 

• • Experience designing and delivering AI-enabled solutions, including Generative AI use cases, LLM integration, and RAG-based architectures
  • Experience developing AI proof-of-concepts and prototypes, with an understanding of how to scale these into production environments
  • Familiarity with AI/ML lifecycle practices (AI SDLC), including model integration, governance, and deployment within enterprise systems
  • Experience working with modern data platforms, machine learning environments, and AI-enabled applications

Publicis Sapient is a People + Products company, and delivering impact goes well beyond products and technology. We care deeply about our peoples ability to make positive lasting impact with our clients, and as a Director within our Saudi business you will demonstrate many of the below:

• • Experience working with Middle Eastern government entities, ministries, or PIF-backed organisations   
  • Knowledge of the Saudi (or similar regional) Government client ecosystems to include familiarity with digital transformation priorities, public sector governance structures, procurement models and large-scale national transformation initiatives
  • Strong consulting, executive communication and stakeholder management skills
  • Pre-Sales, client pitching and presentation skills
  • Experience of partnering with and influencing CIO/CTO-level stakeholders

Benefits 

• An inclusive workplace that promotes diversity and collaboration
• Access to ongoing learning and development opportunities
• Competitive compensation and benefits package
• Flexibility to support work-life balance.
• Comprehensive health benefits for you and your family
• Generous paid leave and holidays
• Wellness program and employee assistance

Publicis Sapient is a digital transformation partner helping established organizations get to their future, digitally enabled state, both in the way they work and the way they serve their customers. We help unlock value through a start-up mindset and modern methods, fusing strategy, consulting, and customer experience with agile engineering and problem-solving creativity. United by our core values and our purpose of helping people thrive in the brave pursuit of next, our 20,000+ people in 53 offices around the world combine experience across technology, data sciences, consulting, and customer obsession to accelerate our clients’ businesses through designing the products and services their customers truly value.