Dr. Hamad Al-Thiapi

AI & Digital Transformation Leader

He turns AI and data in government into measurable results: faster services, leaner operations, and decisions backed by evidence.

Read his journey Get in touch

18+ years leading technology in the Saudi government sector
Ph.D. in Networks & Telecommunications Engineering, RMIT University

Portrait of Dr. Hamad Al-Thiapi in Saudi attire

The story, briefly

It began in Makkah, studying computer engineering at Umm Al-Qura University while working in sales and finance. In government he started as a network engineer, connecting regional branches to headquarters in Riyadh. He was sent abroad twice, to the United States for his master's and to Australia for his Ph.D., and each time he came back to a larger responsibility. Today he leads an Artificial Intelligence department he built from the ground up.

The full story

18+years leading technology in government

7peer-reviewed publications

2departments led at the same time

30,000readers of one of his papers, approx.

What he leads

Three areas of government work, from setting the strategy to running it.

AI strategy & governance

From strategy, KPIs and a roadmap to a data warehouse and use cases that reach production.

Digital government services

The largest paperless transformation of official correspondence, and e-services brought to beneficiaries on-site.

Infrastructure & cloud

A network linking regional branches to headquarters, the primary data center, and the move to the government cloud.

How he thinks

Ideas that run through his work and what he writes about AI and digital government.

Results you can measure

For him, technology is worth what it changes: a faster service, a leaner operation, a decision grounded in evidence.

Evidence before verdict

Faced with bold predictions, he sorts them: what holds, what is possible but not as fast as claimed, and what no evidence supports.

Human value moves, it does not vanish

As AI takes on routine work, he sees human value moving to creativity, decision-making, building systems and leadership.

Knowledge that serves

He hopes his knowledge and work will benefit his country, Islam and Muslims, and the whole world.

The Ph.D. question

Why does the internet sometimes slow down?

When a route between two networks breaks, the internet needs time to agree on a new one. That delay is what he studied for his Ph.D., and he proposed an SDN-based way to counter it.

Read about his research

Convergence time

Classic BGP · The news hops from router to router, and networks try alternatives before they settle.

With SDN · A controller sees the whole network and steers the gateways to the new path together.

Recognition

2025

Best Technology Leader Award

2nd place across all sectors and regions.

2025

Consultant Professional Accreditation

From the Saudi Council of Engineers.

2026

Nominated for an international program

Among government leaders, for the government process reengineering program in Singapore.

2019

Ideal Teacher (Rose) Award

RMIT University, with a 93.18% teaching score.

2017

Excellence Award

For running network operations with high reliability.

2016

Master's with honors

University of Bridgeport, GPA 3.67/4, and membership of Upsilon Pi Epsilon.

Get in touch

Dr. Hamad welcomes conversations with technology leaders, government entities and technology firms in the Kingdom.

Get in touch