AI department vs AI engineer
An AI department or one AI engineer in Dubai: what each costs, and what you get
One senior AI engineer in Dubai costs AED 40,000 to 60,000 a month in salary alone. It takes months to find one, and one person can’t cover every department. Backend&Co’s AI department costs from AED 12,000 a month plus onboarding, priced by company size, and brings a dedicated CTO, a business operations expert, a team of AI engineers and your Business OS.
Side by side
| One senior AI engineer in Dubai, or Backend&Co | |
|---|---|
| Monthly cost | Engineer: AED 40,000 to 60,000 a month in salary alone. Backend&Co: from AED 12,000 a month plus onboarding, priced by company size. |
| Who you get | Engineer: one person. Backend&Co: a dedicated CTO, a business operations expert and a team of AI engineers. |
| Time to start | Engineer: it takes months to find one. Backend&Co: your Business OS is live in the first month. |
| Coverage | Engineer: one person can’t cover every department. Backend&Co: sales, marketing, customer service, finance, HR, operations and management. |
| Strategy | Engineer: one person without a team or a strategy behind them. Backend&Co: a 12-month AI strategy, reviewed every quarter and renewed every year. |
| If it doesn’t work out | Engineer: the search starts again. Backend&Co: an initial term of three months, then 30 days’ notice. |
The catch with each option
| Option | The catch |
|---|---|
| Hire an AI engineer | One senior AI engineer in Dubai costs AED 40,000 to 60,000 a month in salary alone. It takes months to find one, and one person can’t cover every department. |
| Add another tool | Every new tool adds one more place where your data lives. |
| Hire an agency | Most deliver one project and move on. Nobody stays accountable for the whole picture. |
| Build a custom system | One system for the whole company costs USD 40,000 to 250,000 and 3 to 12 months to build. Usually only large companies can justify that. |
Questions owners ask
- How is this different from hiring an engineer or an agency?
- An engineer is one person without a team or a strategy behind them. An agency delivers a project and moves on. We become your department: one system that improves every month, a 12-month strategy and a team that stays accountable.
- How much does it cost?
- It depends on the size of your company. AED 12,000 a month plus AED 15,000 one-time onboarding for 10 to 30 employees; AED 20,000 plus 25,000 for 31 to 100; AED 35,000 plus 40,000 for 101 to 300; and from AED 60,000 plus 60,000 above 300. That’s less than one senior AI engineer in Dubai, whose salary alone is AED 40,000 to 60,000 a month. Paying a year upfront gives you 12 months for the price of 11. Your exact investment comes in writing within 48 hours of the strategy session.
Read next
- AI department vs agency
Most agencies deliver one project and move on; a custom system costs USD 40,000 to 250,000 and 3 to 12 months. An AI department stays accountable, from AED 12,000 a month.
- Pricing
Backend&Co costs from AED 12,000 a month plus onboarding, priced by company size: less than one senior AI engineer. Your exact investment in writing within 48 hours.
- AI department
An AI department as a service: a dedicated CTO, a business operations expert and AI engineers who set up your Business OS in month 1, then add a new AI capability every month.
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