Turning national AI ambition into capability that lasts.
General Manager, SDAIA Academy Full Professor of Software Engineering · Prosci® Certified Change Practitioner
I lead Saudi Arabia's national data and AI capability development at the SDAIA Academy — the training programmes, certifications and partnerships that turn Vision 2030 priorities into a workforce able to deliver them. Behind that sit more than a decade of executive leadership in technology governance and digital transformation, three deanships and a CIO role, and a research record of 146 peer-reviewed publications.
Three arenas that rarely meet in one career.
Executive leadership of national programmes, hands-on technical governance, and an active research record — each one makes the other two more credible.
National AI & data capability
I lead the SDAIA Academy: the strategy, portfolio and delivery of advanced training programmes, bootcamps and professional certifications that prepare Saudi talent for data and AI careers — with quality, assessment and certification frameworks held to international standards.
See the leadership record 02Technology governance & delivery
Enterprise architecture maturity, PMO playbooks, CMMI-aligned SDLC and CI/CD-enabled DevOps — the unglamorous machinery that decides whether a strategy ever ships. Paired with AI governance, ethics and privacy controls that work in operation, not only on paper.
See projects & impact 03Research that travels back into practice
146 peer-reviewed publications on software security, AI for software engineering and digital transformation in education — and a 2026 working-paper series on AI-native and agentic software engineering.
Browse the publicationsThings that existed afterwards that did not exist before.
- Founded a college from zeroPrince Sultan University · 2024
Built the College of Space & Aviation Sciences from inception — academic vision, governance structure and founding programme architecture.
- ISO certification and institutional accreditationPrince Sultan University · 2020–2024
Led the quality strategy and Quality Management System behind ISO certifications and national and international academic accreditation.
- Three degree programmes and a new track designedPrince Sultan University
B.S. in Software Engineering, M.S. in Software Engineering and M.S. in Cybersecurity Engineering, plus a Digital Transformation track and six new courses.
- Delivery modernised at national scaleTahakom · 2024–2026
PMO playbook institutionalised, enterprise-architecture maturity raised, SDLC rebuilt with CMMI-aligned controls and CI/CD-enabled DevOps.
- University-wide ERP implementationPrince Sultan University · 2015–2019
Delivered enterprise resource planning across finance, accounting and HR as CIO, alongside a continuous IT planning process.
- A regional AI capability mandateArab Standing Committee on AI · 2026
Chair of the Capacity Building & Partnerships technical team and vice-chair of the AI Governance team, shaping a 2026–2029 Arab workplan on skills frameworks, capacity mapping and partnerships.
- Three international conferences chairedSDMA 2018 · CDMA 2020 · CDMA 2024
Conference chair for three international conferences on data science and machine learning applications, hosted in Riyadh.
Selected publications.
116 journal articles, 27 conference papers and three book chapters, cited more than 8,300 times. A few that represent the work:
- 2026
- 2026
- 2025
- 2020
AI-native and agentic software engineering.
A series of 10 single-author working papers published through 2026 asking one question from several directions: if agents write most of the code, what is left of the engineering discipline — and what must change in architecture, lifecycle, governance and education?
Writing, most recently.
Short essays on AI strategy, software engineering practice and technology leadership — 67 pieces so far, in English and Arabic.
الذكاء الاصطناعي يكتب أسرع مما نفهم: كيف ننتقل من إنتاج المحتوى إلى صناعة القرار؟
Read October 11, 2026 · LinkedInالذكاء الاصطناعي لا يكتفي بالإجابة: عصر جديد من القرارات المؤسسية
Read October 9, 2026 · MediumYour AI Models Will Change. Your Institutional Memory Should Survive.
ReadLet's build something with national impact.
I'm open to speaking engagements, advisory and board roles, research collaboration, and strategic partnerships in AI capability building and technology governance.