Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 2026 — NTT DATA Middle East and Africa has announced the appointment of Manoj Unnikrishnan as Head of AI Consulting & Solutions (Middle East), based in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The appointment was formally shared by Ali Burcak Soydan, Managing Executive for Middle East, NTT DATA, who welcomed Manoj to the leadership team and highlighted his nearly two decades of progressive experience across data architecture, analytics, and artificial intelligence spanning global markets including EMEA, APAC, and North America.
In his new capacity, Manoj will lead Data & AI offerings for NTT DATA in the Middle East, supporting the region’s accelerating AI transformation agenda. He will also serve as an extended member of the Global AI unit managed by Andrew Wells, enabling deep collaboration between NTT DATA’s regional execution and global AI capabilities.
Before joining NTT DATA, Manoj Unnikrishnan served at KPMG Saudi Arabia for about one year as Director, Data Analytics & AI – KPMG ME, where his work spanned areas including FS technology-led transformation, data architecture, data modelling, AI, and data engineering.
Prior to that, he built significant tenure at KPMG UK, spending nearly nine years in progressive leadership roles. Most recently, he served for over four years as Director – Data Science & Analytics, where he worked in client-facing roles across financial services and non-financial services, and also built and managed a 20+ member team across the UK, Ireland, and India, delivering complex outcomes in AML, fincrime, and broader data analytics engagements.
Earlier at KPMG UK, Manoj served for about four years as Senior Manager – Data & Fincrime Analytics, where he contributed to building out the Quantexa COE within KPMG, leading solution delivery across domains such as CDD, KYC, fraud, and transaction monitoring, leveraging data engineering, entity resolution, and network analytics to strengthen real-time risk detection.
Before KPMG, Manoj spent over two years at MetricStream, where he held roles including Cluster Head and Senior Delivery Manager, leading program delivery across international geographies in the governance, risk and compliance (GRC) space, customer relationship management, operational excellence, and people leadership across delivery teams.
Earlier in his career, he served at Oracle India Pvt. Ltd. for nearly four years as Senior Principal Consultant (Service Delivery Manager), managing multiple projects across Oracle’s product line with responsibilities including project reviews, mentoring, and recruitment participation.
He also held delivery leadership roles at DXC Technology (around two years), where he was responsible for delivery management, budget ownership, and leading engineering and architecture teams, followed by a stint at RS Software (around two years) in project management and offshore delivery leadership.
Manoj began his early career with roles at Emirates as Software Engineer, followed by experience at IBM Global Services as Senior Software Engineer, and earlier as Software Engineer at Tata Consultancy Services, including work across Chennai (India) and Cardiff (UK).
About NTT DATA Middle East and Africa
NTT DATA, Inc. is a global innovator in business and technology services, committed to enabling clients to innovate, optimize, and transform for long-term success. With strong investments in R&D, the organization supports digital transformation globally and is recognized as a Global Top Employer.
NTT DATA has experts across 50+ countries supported by a robust partner ecosystem, offering a wide range of services including business and technology consulting, data and artificial intelligence, industry solutions, and the implementation and management of applications, infrastructure, and connectivity.
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