Sectors | AI infrastructure and GPU platforms

AI infrastructure leadership search for the platform and GPU seats.

The leaders who turn capacity into compute. Companies secure GPUs and funding faster than they hire the people who can run them in production. I run retained searches for the leaders of GPU estates, AI platforms and the infrastructure engineering behind them, for AI clouds, neoclouds, sovereign AI programmes and the operators hosting them.

Seats like these open quietly. If you lead ai infrastructure and gpu platforms work and would consider a move, including into or out of the Gulf, talk to me in confidence.

Brief me on a search

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A benchmark of your open seats carries no fee. A full compensation study is a fixed-fee piece, credited against a search.

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Last reviewed , the date of the market facts on this page.

Looking at your next move? See this page for leaders

Hiring for one of these seats? See this page for clients

The seats

  • Head of AI infrastructure and GPU operations
  • VP and head of platform engineering, AI platform lead
  • Head of HPC networking, storage and cluster engineering
  • Head of site reliability for AI clouds
  • Country and site leads for AI clouds landing in the Gulf
  • Solutions and technical sales leaders for GPU cloud providers

What is driving hiring, and the timelines

  • Capex is at a record. Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta guided to about USD 700bn to 725bn of 2026 capex, up about 77% on 2025's USD 410bn (company guidance after Q1 2026 earnings, via Yahoo Finance).
  • AI clouds are landing in the Gulf. Nebius signed for up to 50MW at Oxagon on 21 October 2026, its first Gulf footprint; AWS and HUMAIN plan up to 50MW of AI capacity by 2028 (DatacenterDynamics; Channel Insider).
  • AI skills carry a premium. PwC's 2025 Global AI Jobs Barometer found a 56% wage premium for AI skills, and postings needing them grew 7.5% while all postings fell 11.3% (PwC).

My work here

Since 2025 I have run AI infrastructure searches for ML platform, distributed systems and data centre operations teams. The people who can run a GPU estate in production usually sit in a hyperscaler, a neocloud or an HPC lab, and few are looking.

Why clients use me here

  • Searches filled across the GCC, Europe and North America
  • Executive search in energy and EPC across the Middle East
  • Retained mandates for multinational engineering groups, through their subsidiaries
  • Recruitment teams built and trained
  • Your search page, live from day one
  • A shortlist in 10 working days, in writing

How a retained search runs

  1. Map

    Who has delivered this scope, where they sit, what they cost.

  2. Shortlist

    People who have agreed to be introduced, with a written assessment of each, within 10 working days on a retained or engaged search.

  3. Start date

    Offer, notice and relocation handled through to day one.

How retained search works, and when engaged search fits better

Questions clients ask

Do you hire individual ML engineers?
No. I run the leadership seats and the hard specialist seats that lead a team.

Terms

Retained or engaged, with a fee on signing. Retained: three stages, on signing, on the shortlist and at the start date. Engaged: a fee on signing, credited in full against the final fee. Both exclusive, both with a shortlist within 10 working days. How the terms work

Brief me on a ai infrastructure and gpu platforms seat

The more you tell me, the more useful my first reply. I'll come back within one working day.

City, country

Seats I search for in this family

  • Head of AI infrastructure and GPU operations
  • VP and head of platform engineering, AI platform lead
  • Head of HPC networking, storage and cluster engineering
  • Head of site reliability for AI clouds
  • Country and site leads for AI clouds landing in the Gulf
  • Solutions and technical sales leaders for GPU cloud providers

Most of these searches are confidential and never advertised. Published ones are on the careers page.

What they pay

SeatPublished paySource
VP of machine learning, USNational average about USD 275,000; San Francisco median USD 371,000Published figure: Orbyt
Head or director of AI, UAEAED 70,000 to 120,000 a monthPublished figure: Michael Page UAE Salary Guide 2026, via Arabian Business

Published figures from the sources named, not my own data. Base pay unless stated; Gulf packages usually add housing, transport and schooling. For your own seat, ask for a confidential market check.

How a confidential conversation works

  • A call, not a form. What you run today, what you would move for, and what you would not.
  • Nothing shared without your say-so. Your profile goes to a client only with your permission for that one role.
  • The real package, in writing, before you interview: base, housing, schooling, bonus and relocation.
  • The move handled: notice, visas and family questions, into or out of the Gulf.
  • You never pay a fee.

Register and share your CV

I read every profile myself. If a ai infrastructure and gpu platforms seat fits, I'll call you; if not, I'll keep you in mind, only with your permission.

For example https://www.linkedin.com/in/your-name

City, country

Sectors of interest (choose at least one)

Markets of interest (choose at least one)

Open to relocating to the Gulf? (required)

PDF or Word, up to 10 MB. You can join without one and send it later.

Your details are only ever shared with a client with your permission for that role. You can ask me to delete your details at any time: lloyd@millerandwoodall.com.

Salary guide · Bottleneck index

Sources

GPUs arriving before the person who will run them?

Tell me the seat and the date. Not ready to brief? Ask for a pay benchmark for your open seats.

Brief me on a search See the services

Open to the right move?

Register in confidence, or ask what your seat pays elsewhere.

Register and share your CV Confidential market check