Abu Dhabi - Investment Director — Investments in AI Startups (Remote)

Employer: Venture Capital Fund - Abu Dhabi-based


Location: Remote role

Function: Direct Investments (Early to Growth) — Artificial Intelligence


The Firm


The Firm is a global private equity and venture investor with a mandate to catalyze innovation and long-term economic value. The Firm invests worldwide across stages, with a dedicated strategy for AI-native companies and enabling technologies (infrastructure, foundation models, agentic systems, MLOps, data platforms, robotics, edge AI, and vertical AI applications).


Role Overview


The Investment Director will originate, lead, and execute AI venture and growth investments worldwide, steward board-level value creation, and deliver top-quartile returns consistent with The Firm’s strategic objectives. This is a senior, hands-on investing role with full deal ownership and portfolio responsibility.


Key Responsibilities


Sourcing & Thesis

  • Develop and maintain proprietary theses across AI infrastructure and application layers; map market structure, moats, and regulatory vectors.
  • Build a differentiated global pipeline through founder, operator, academic, and co-investor networks; originate off-market opportunities.


Evaluation & Execution


  • Lead end-to-end deal process: screening, commercial/technical due diligence, unit economics, market sizing, competitive and IP analysis, product and data advantage assessment, and reference checks.
  • Assess AI-specific risks: model performance/robustness, data supply and governance, compute/latency constraints, security, alignment, and compliance (including responsible/ethical AI).
  • Build and defend investment cases, valuation models, scenarios, and exit pathways; negotiate terms/structures and lead investment committees.


Portfolio Value Creation & Governance


  • Take board/observer seats; set OKRs with founders; recruit key executives; shape GTM, pricing, partnerships, and capital strategy.
  • Establish AI safety and governance frameworks with portfolio companies (evals, monitoring, red-team, privacy, cybersecurity).
  • Drive follow-ons, secondaries, and syndication; plan exits (M&A/IPO).


Stakeholder Engagement


  • Represent The Firm with global LPs, institutional partners, regulators, and ecosystem stakeholders.
  • Contribute to thought leadership and ecosystem development (academia, accelerators, corporates).


Candidate Profile


Experience

  • 10–15+ years in venture capital, growth equity, corporate venture, or top-tier tech investing, with a material track record leading AI/ML deals (seed–Series C+) and board work.
  • Demonstrated success underwriting technical product risk and scaling AI businesses; comfort with both infra (foundation models, vector DBs, orchestration, chips/compute) and applied AI.
  • Operator or researcher credibility is a plus (e.g., Head of AI/ML, research lead, or founding-team role).


Technical & Analytical


  • Ability to interrogate model architectures (transformers, diffusion, multimodal), training regimes, data pipelines, evals, and deployment/observability (MLOps).
  • Strong command of data/IP, licensing, and open-source/commercial model dynamics; understanding of safety, privacy, and AI regulatory trends.


Commercial & Leadership


  • Proven origination capability with a global network of founders, co-investors, and strategics.
  • Boardroom presence; decisive, founder-friendly, and rigorous.
  • Excellent communication and investment memos suited for CIO/IC scrutiny.