AI Lead

• Job TitleAI Lead
• CompanyEmata
• Reports ToChief AI Officer
• LocationKampala (relocation support offered)
• Experience6+ years in data science, ML or AI
• Deadline13 November 2026

Emata is a Ugandan agri-fintech and licensed Microfinance Institution, founded in 2021, that gives smallholder farmers AI-powered digital loans repaid through the produce they sell. It has served 70,000+ farmers and partnered with 120+ agri companies and cooperatives.

Emata offers digital loans, crop insurance and payments, with offices in Bugolobi (Kampala) and Mbarara, and is expanding into Tanzania and Rwanda.

The AI Lead takes Emata’s credit algorithms to new crops and countries and puts AI to work across the business. The Chief AI Officer sets direction; the lead brings judgement and owns delivery.

Algorithms and Expansion

• Work out what carries over to a new crop, partner or country, and make each expansion faster.
• Run experiments, test assumptions and find out why models behave differently in different places.

GenAI and Production

• Pick GenAI and agent use cases by value, cost and risk, and take the best into daily use with human checks.
• With the ML engineering team, move models from experiment to dependable production services.

Results and Leadership

• Tie AI work to faster partner onboarding, better lending decisions and less manual work.
• Coach the people in your area and explain the work plainly to partners and investors.

Experience and Education

• 6+ years in data science, ML or AI, including 2+ years leading technical delivery.
• Experience applying AI to very different problems and adapting when the first approach fails.
• Proven record deploying and scaling AI while keeping quality, reliability and cost in check.
• Strong stats, ML, programming and hands-on GenAI skills, with a quantitative degree or equivalent.
• Experience working or living in frontier markets, especially Africa, is preferred.
• No credit or agri-finance background needed.

Technical Skills

• Machine learning: Credit models in production.
• GenAI and agents: Use-case selection and rollout.
• Statistics: Experiment design.
• Programming: Hands-on delivery.

Soft Skills

• Leadership: Coaching a team.
• Judgement: Grow, change or stop.
• Communication: Plain explanations.
• Adaptability: Field to investors.

Competitive package, health insurance, salary loans and a growth budget. Candidates outside Uganda get relocation support (flight, work permit and housing allowance).

• Lead AI at a VC-backed startup.
• Real impact on farmer finance.
• Relocation support offered.
• Clear first-year roadmap.
• Rare senior pick among IT jobs in Uganda.

Apply through Emata’s AI Lead page by 13 November 2026.

Emata reviews applications as they come in, so apply early. See more fintech jobs in Uganda.

• Show AI you’ve deployed at scale.
• Quantify model improvements.
• Mention GenAI use cases you shipped.
• Highlight frontier-market experience.
• Apply early.