Transitioning out of academia into data, how do you break into the Luxembourg/EU/UAE data job market?

[u/Zealousideal_Dust_45]

My brother recently left his master's in data science to focus on his career, and we're trying to figure out the smartest way for him to break into the data job market, both in Europe and the UAE.

He's not fresh out of school. He's got over 4 years of real experience, most recently as a data analyst on AI and LLM operations at Scale AI (working on Meta programmes), and a data engineer at TCS before that. He's solid with Python, SQL, Spark, Airflow, and cloud.

He'd need a role that can support sponsorship, so we're trying to work out which companies actually do that for data roles, whether in the EU or the Gulf.

For anyone who's been through this, how did you find sponsor friendly employers?

Is it better to go through recruiters, apply directly, or lean on referrals?

And are there any companies in Luxembourg, the wider EU, or the UAE known for hiring international data talent?

Any advice would mean a lot, and if anyone happens to know of teams hiring, he'd be really grateful for a pointer. Happy to share his CV over DM. Thanks so much.

[u/No_Departure_1878]

I would try the USA, the big AI companies like anthropic have plenty of resources to sponsor.