data science team lead

Oxford Policy Management

<div>Overview:
<div>
The Research and Evidence Practice at Oxford Policy Management is currently seeking a Principal Consultant on a full-time, permanent basis. The position can be located in any of the following offices: Abuja, Addis Ababa, Berlin, Dar es Salaam, Islamabad, Nairobi, New Delhi, or Oxford.</div><div></div><div> 
We are an international development consultancy working to improve lives through sustainable policy change in low- and middle-income countries. Our vision is for fair public policy that benefits both people and the planet.</div><div> 
</div><div>Through our global network of offices, we work in partnership with national stakeholders and decision makers to research, design, implement and evaluate impactful public policy. We draw on our local and international sector experts to provide the very best evidence-based support. We deliver projects with expert knowledge and experience, and can be relied upon for excellence in all aspects of project delivery. We work collaboratively, with ambition, to help deliver impactful public policy that will bring about lasting change.</div>
Position Summary:

OPM&rsquo;s Data Science team seeks to apply modern data science methods to a wide range of challenges in international development. We make use of innovative technology across the data and policy cycles underpinned not only by sector specific technical expertise and a creative use of new technology, but also a deep understanding of the drivers and obstacles to behaviour change and organisational reform in development environments. The Data Science team is part of our wider Quantitative Methods and Data Science technical area, within the Research and Evidence Practice. Other methods teams in this technical area focus on quantitative impact evaluations, quantitative primary data collection, third party monitoring, and MEL systems.
The Principal Consultant will lead the Data Science team in utilising modern data science methods in a wide range of settings, from the use of machine learning to improve existing impact evaluation methodologies or to conduct text analytics for monitoring and evaluation, to the use of Big Data to support the use and analysis of online-generated and disseminated data to support programme implementation. They will lead the team in business development activities and in shaping an offer for governments, funders and partners that is analytically rigorous, whilst focused on real-life application and delivery.
As a Principal Consultant and leader of our Data Science team you will:
<ul><li>Lead the technical delivery and quality assurance of projects employing modern data science methods. This might involve projects that rely on survey data, but a particular focus would be on projects where we work with data and methods not traditionally used in the social sciences and policy formulation: text data (NLP and AI/LLM deployment), imagery (satellites, mobile phones, etc.), social media data, geospatial data, mobile phone data, etc. Analytical techniques should focus on how to derive policy relevant insights from such data and could relate to both predictive work and inferential analyses, with a focus on causal inference. Given recent developments in the use of AI and LLMs, this area is of particular importance to us.</li><li>
Work across the full project cycle including defining analysis plans, leading scoping visits, designing approaches and models, overseeing data production, designing and carrying out data analysis, providing technical quality assurance and disseminating results through written reports, briefing notes, presentations, and dashboards.</li><li>
Contribute to the Portfolio&rsquo;s intellectual capital development activities, including developing technical resources such as standardised approaches and tools that can easily be shared in a collaborative working environment.</li><li>
Manage a team of quantitative data analysis specialists, providing support and on-the-job learning for junior team members, and delivering internal training seminars to contribute to the wider company&rsquo;s technical development in quantitative analysis.</li><li>
Lead on business development, including shaping and driving the strategic direction and management of OPM&rsquo;s Data Science offer and leading proposal development in support of new business. Working as part of the Research and Evidence practice leadership team, to develop and implement business strategy.</li><li>
Contribute to the portfolio's intellectual reputation, through external engagement activities to promote OPM's high-quality, high-impact use of data science and AI.</li></ul> 

Key Qualifications / Experience / Skills / Behaviours:
<ul><li>Degree and post-graduate qualification (master&rsquo;s degree or PhD) in a relevant discipline: data science or economics, development economics or other social science discipline with significant data science training and application in social sciences.</li><li>
At least 12 years&rsquo; experience of applied quantitative social science research or policy advice, with a focus on policies in low-and middle-income countries.</li><li>
An in-depth understanding of the data landscape in low-and middle-income countries, including traditional (survey, census) and non-traditional data.
</li><li>Significant experience in using and applying innovative data science techniques in areas relevant to OPM&rsquo;s work, such as e.g. machine learning methods for predictive analytics, wrangling and analysis of large datasets, geospatial mapping, text analytics, AI in evaluations, and creating interactive and shareable dashboards for data visualisation.
</li><li>Experience of developing and applying AI pipelines (i.e. via local deployment of LLMs) in contexts relevant to OPM&rsquo;s work.
</li><li>Experience in managing data collection or data harvesting activities.</li><li>
Fluency working in R, Python, or other statistical programming package used for quantitative social science research.
</li><li>Experience of research project management, including the management of collaborative coding.
</li><li>Team management experience.
</li><li>Experience working in low-and middle-income countries.
</li><li>Ability to travel overseas for short-term assignments.</li></ul><div></div><div> 
Desirable Qualifications/Experience/Skills/Behaviours</div><ul><li>
Experience with big data handling, parallel computing.</li><li>
Ability to work in at least one relevant language, other than English.
</li><li>Experience in designing and implementing experiments or quasi-experiments in the social sciences.
</li><li>Experience of combining survey data with other non-traditional data for the purposes of evaluating policies.</li></ul>
Our Offer:
<ul><li>We enable colleagues&rsquo; capacity to grow professionally through enhanced learning resources, opportunities to work cross functionally, and space to engage with a range of internal and external industry events.</li><li>
Our non-hierarchical culture values support, collaboration, intellectual curiosity, and a rich diversity of perspectives.</li><li>
We provide an exceptionally generous annual leave entitlement and a hybrid working model to encourage and enable healthy work/life balance.</li><li>
Wellbeing resources including a global Employee Assistance Programme and access to the UnMind app.</li><li>
Competitive salary and contributory pension scheme.</li></ul><div>
We are strengthened by the diversity of colleagues across our global business and are committed to being an equal opportunities employer, promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace for all.</div><div> 
</div><div>Our recruitment practices reflect our ambition to make the international development sector more inclusive and firm belief that our work delivers the best outcomes when we actively include a diversity of perspectives and experiences.</div>
Application:
<div>
If you share our vision for fair public policy that benefits both people and planet, we would love to hear from you. Please submit your application through our careers&rsquo; site by the advertised closing date.</div><div></div><div> 
Unfortunately, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this role and candidates must have a pre-existing right to work in pre-existing right to work in one of the countries in which the position could be based (Germany, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tanzania, United Kingdom) for their application to be considered.</div><div></div><div> 
Oxford Policy Management is committed to promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion at every level of the business. Should you require adjustments to make the application process more accessible please inform us through completing this form or scan the QR code below.</div></div><div></div>

Principal Consultant, Data Science, Research & Evidence Practice

Houseful

<div>Alto Software Group is a B2B SaaS company that powers more than half of all UK housing transactions each year. We create software solutions that connect businesses and consumers, delivering a one-stop shop for estate agents and home builders. Our goal is to drive efficiency, speed up transactions, reduce risk, and improve the end-customer experience. While we&rsquo;re not a start-up, we have a start-up mindset and want our people to operate with this mindset so that we can achieve our ambitions.
The Role
We are looking for a Data Science Lead to build and lead Alto&rsquo;s data science capability from the ground up. We have rich data flowing through our Mission Control platform and a clear commercial ambition to turn it into predictive insight &mdash; this hire gives us the leadership and technical depth to make that happen. You&rsquo;ll work at the intersection of data, product, and commercial strategy, with direct access to executive leadership and a platform that&rsquo;s ready to be exploited.
What You&rsquo;ll Do<ul><li>Define and own Alto&rsquo;s data science roadmap, prioritising use cases based on measurable ROI and commercial impact.</li><li>Build, deploy and maintain production-grade predictive models across churn, customer health, propensity and capacity forecasting.</li><li>Design and analyse experiments to test pricing, product and operational changes, raising the standard of statistical rigour across the business.</li><li>Partner with Platform and Data Engineering to productionise models on Mission Control, defining data quality and feature requirements for reliable modelling.</li><li>Develop segmentation and scoring frameworks that Customer Operations and Commercial teams can act on directly.</li><li>Work with the Head of AI Operations to identify automation opportunities grounded in data science outputs.</li><li>Surface insights through ThoughtSpot and AI-enabled reporting for senior stakeholders, up to executive level.</li><li>Mentor analysts and grow data science capability across the business, building a team rather than a one-person silo.</li></ul>
Who You Are<ul><li>A Builder: You don&rsquo;t just advise on data science &mdash; you write production code, ship models, and take personal accountability for outputs that are actually used.</li><li>Commercially Sharp: You understand SaaS metrics (MRR, churn, NRR, GRR) and have personally connected data science work to measurable business outcomes, not just model performance.</li><li>A Technical Authority: You bring expert-level Python and SQL, a solid grounding in statistics and causal inference, and a track record of models in production &mdash; not just notebooks.</li><li>Cross-Functionally Effective: You move comfortably between engineering, commercial, and operational stakeholders, translating between data science and business outcomes without losing either audience.</li><li>Outcome-Focused: You prioritise ruthlessly, track ROI on your work, and resist the pull of interesting-but-unactionable projects.</li><li>Comfortable in Ambiguity: You can define the problem as well as solve it &mdash; you don&rsquo;t need a fully formed brief to make progress, and you bring structure where there isn&rsquo;t any.</li></ul>
Our Technology Stack
Languages<ul><li>Python, SQL</li></ul>
BI &amp; Reporting<ul><li>ThoughtSpot</li></ul>
Platform<ul><li>Mission Control (Alto&rsquo;s internal data platform)</li></ul>
AI / ML<ul><li>Modern ML frameworks; experimentation and causal inference tooling; LLMs and practical AI applications</li></ul>
Why Join Alto?
This is a rare opportunity to build a data science function with a blank sheet, executive sponsorship, and a data platform already in production. You&rsquo;ll have the mandate and the access to make data science a structural part of how Alto operates &mdash; from retention and pricing to operational efficiency and intelligent automation. For a technically strong data scientist who wants to lead, not just contribute, this is that role. 
Benefits<ul><li> 
Hybrid &mdash; 2 days/week in London HQ</li><li>Everyday Flex &mdash; greater flexibility over where and when you work</li><li>25 days annual leave &mdash; plus extra days for years of service</li><li>Day off for volunteering &amp; Digital detox day</li><li>Festive Closure &mdash; business closed between Christmas and New Year</li><li>Cycle to work and electric car schemes</li><li>Free Calm App membership</li><li>Enhanced Parental leave</li><li>Fertility Treatment Financial Support</li><li>Group Income Protection &amp; private medical</li><li>Gym on-site in London</li><li>7.5% pension contribution by company</li><li>Discretionary annual bonus up to 10% &mdash; of base salary</li><li>Talent referral bonus up to &pound;5K</li></ul></div>

Data Science Lead

TSP LLC

<div>The Opportunity
TSPi is seeking a Data Scientist Manager with experience leading teams supporting federal data science and analytics programs. TSPi excels in meeting the needs of our partners (clients) by offering advanced technology solutions utilizing our industry-specific knowledge, iterative Agile approach, commitment and passion to serve, collaborative and fun team atmosphere, and pride in our work.
The successful candidate will lead teams of data scientists, data analysts, and other technical staff supporting data-intensive federal government projects. Projects may include work involving healthcare, social science, public health, and other federal program data. This individual will be responsible for managing analytics delivery, overseeing data management, data science, and analytical activities, supporting client engagements, and ensuring the production of high-quality data products and actionable insights.
The ideal candidate combines strong technical expertise in data analytics and data science with demonstrated experience leading project teams, managing project execution, and embracing emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities, to improve analytical outcomes and operational efficiency.
The candidate will also be responsible for managing a team of data scientists, analysts, and engineers administratively and engaging in one-on-one meetings to provide mentorship, monitor performance and utilization, and nurture career growth. They will also be responsible for recruitment efforts to expand the overall data science and analytics team to support business growth.
Core Responsibilities<ul><li>
Implement and promote the adoption and effective use of artificial intelligence, LLMs, machine learning, automation tools, and emerging analytical technologies.</li><li>
Oversee the analysis, visualization, and interpretation of various federal datasets.</li><li>
Manage delivery of analytical products, reports, dashboards, and data-driven recommendations to clients and stakeholders.</li><li>
Provide leadership across the data lifecycle, including data intake, storage, governance, synthesis, automation, and analytical development.</li><li>
Establish and implement policies, processes, and procedures that support effective data management, analytics delivery, and team performance.</li><li>
Lead the development and implementation of QA/QC protocols, defect tracking processes, and data governance standards to ensure data quality, integrity, security, and availability.</li><li>
Serve as the primary technical and operational point of contact for clients, stakeholders, and project leadership.</li><li>
Manage project priorities, resource allocation, staffing, workload balancing, and delivery schedules to ensure successful project outcomes.</li><li>
Lead and manage teams of data analysts, data scientists, data engineers, and other technical staff across multiple projects and workstreams.</li><li>
Mentor, coach, and develop team members, providing technical guidance, performance feedback, and career development support.</li><li>
Evaluate AI-enabled tools and methodologies to improve data processing, coding efficiency, workflow automation, and analytical capabilities.</li><li>
Support proposal development, technical solutioning, project planning, and business development activities.</li><li>
Collaborate with cross-functional teams including project leadership to communicate insights and translate complex analytical findings into actionable recommendations.</li><li>
Promote continuous improvement, innovation, and adoption of industry best practices across analytics and data science teams.</li></ul>
Position Requirements &amp; Preferences
Required Qualifications<ul><li>
Bachelor's degree plus 9 years of relevant experience, Master's degree plus 7 years of relevant experience, or PhD plus 4 years of relevant experience.</li><li>
Degree in a data-focused discipline such as informatics, statistics, data science, computer science, economics, social science, public health, mathematics, or a related field.</li><li>
Strong understanding of AI tools and LLMs, machine learning concepts, analytical methodologies, and emerging technologies relevant to data analytics and data science.</li><li>
Demonstrated experience leading and managing teams of data analysts, data scientists, data engineers, and other technical professionals.</li><li>
Experience managing analytics projects, contract tasks, and client-facing deliverables.</li><li>
Strong expertise in statistical, data analytics, and data management languages including SQL, Python, SAS, and/or R.</li><li>
Strong experience with cloud platforms including AWS, Azure, or GCP.</li><li>
Experience working with relational databases and modern data management platforms including Databricks and Snowflake as well as with associated technologies including Docker, Kubernetes, MLFlow, or similar platforms.</li><li>
Experience implementing data governance, QA/QC, and data lifecycle management practices.</li><li>
Stay current on emerging trends, technologies, and best practices in data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence and apply these learnings to project work and employee mentorship.</li><li>
Experience evaluating and implementing AI-enabled processes, automation tools, and analytical efficiencies including understanding the pros and cons of various AI LLMs.</li><li>
Experience working in a consulting environment, including direct client engagement and stakeholder communication.</li><li>
Strong technical writing skills with the ability to produce clear, concise, and well-documented analyses, reports, and presentations.</li><li>
Critical thinker with strong leadership, communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills.</li><li>
Experience supporting proposal efforts, technical solutioning, and business development activities.</li><li>
Ability to obtain and maintain public trust access for federal information systems and successfully complete a federal background check.</li></ul>
Preferred Qualifications<ul><li>
Experience managing federal data and analytics programs particularly for CMS contracts.</li><li>
Experience with data linking methodologies, including fuzzy matching techniques such as Levenshtein distance, Jaccard similarity index, and Jaro-Winkler similarity index.</li><li>
Proficiency with version control tools including Git, Bitbucket, and SourceTree.</li><li>
Proficiency with agile project management principles and tools, including Jira and Confluence.</li><li>
Experience with leading analytic code translation and modernization efforts from SAS to Python including code evaluation and refactoring.</li><li>
Experience developing reports and dashboards, reporting solutions, workflow automation, and integrated data products.</li><li>
Experience supporting data science, predictive analytics, machine learning, or AI-enabled initiatives.</li><li>
Experience managing multidisciplinary teams in Agile project environments.</li></ul></div>

Data Scientist Manager

UNITE Students

<div>The Role
This is a 12-month fixed-term opportunity to lead the Data Science team within the Data &amp; Insight function. The role focuses on delivering high-impact advanced analytics, supporting business decision-making, and managing a team of analysts to implement data science initiatives.
Reporting to the Senior Analytics Manager, this hands-on role combines technical expertise with team leadership to deliver actionable insights aligned with key business priorities.
What You`ll Be Doing
<ul><li>Apply an analytical, evidence-based approach to solving key business problems and identifying opportunities to improve business performance.</li>
<li>Lead, coach and develop a team of Data Scientists and Analysts, fostering a high-performing, collaborative culture and driving excellence in delivery.</li>
<li>Design, develop and implement advanced analytics, machine learning models and AI-powered solutions to enhance customer understanding, optimise revenue, automate processes and support strategic decision-making.</li>
<li>Identify and prioritise new opportunities for data science across strategic initiatives and business-as-usual activities.</li>
<li>Ensure AI and data science solutions are practical, scalable and deliver measurable business value.</li>
<li>Stay at the forefront of emerging trends in data science and AI, championing innovation and embedding best practice across the business.</li>
<li>Build strong relationships with senior stakeholders and subject matter experts, translating business challenges into data-driven solutions.</li>
<li>Partner with Data Engineering and Business Intelligence teams to productionise models and embed analytics into operational processes.</li>
<li>Provide leadership and expertise across forecasting, machine learning, AI, clustering, benchmarking and advanced analytics, while mentoring analysts across the wider business.</li>
</ul>
What We`re Looking For
<ul><li>Strong experience using data science, advanced analytics and statistical techniques to solve business problems and deliver measurable business value.</li>
<li>Expertise in modern data and analytics tools such as Databricks, Python, R, SQL, Tableau and Power BI.</li>
<li>Experience leading, coaching and developing analysts, building high-performing teams and fostering a culture of continuous learning.</li>
<li>Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify trends, patterns and actionable insights from complex data.</li>
<li>The ability to translate business challenges into analytical approaches by identifying relevant data, conducting robust analysis and presenting clear, evidence-based recommendations.</li>
<li>Experience working with and integrating data from multiple sources, including data warehouses, data lakes and cloud-based platforms.</li>
<li>Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the confidence to present technical concepts and insights to non-technical audiences, including senior leaders and executive teams.</li>
<li>Strong organisational skills, with the ability to work autonomously, prioritise workloads and deliver high-quality outputs to agreed deadlines.</li>
<li>A passion for continuous learning, sharing knowledge with others and staying current with emerging trends in data science and AI.</li>
<li>Experience analysing sales, marketing, customer, higher education or property-related data, and a degree in a numerate discipline such as Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, Data Science, Economics or a related subject would be advantageous.</li>
</ul>
What You`ll Get in Return
<ul><li>A discretionary annual bonus so you can share in the company`s success</li>
<li>25 days` paid holiday and an annual holiday buying scheme, with 5 additional days awarded for long service</li>
<li>A generous pension scheme - employer contributions between 5% and 11% depending on how much you save</li>
<li>Various benefits to support your health and wellbeing including a Healthcare Cash Plan, an Employee Assistance Programme, a Wellbeing platform and a Gym benefit that you can share with your family and friends</li>
<li>Enhanced Family Leave including 18 weeks full pay for birthing parents and 4 weeks for non-birthing parents</li>
<li>Lots of other great benefits including an annual ShareSave scheme, Employee Life Assurance, a discounts portal and more!</li>
</ul>
About Unite Students
Founded in 1991, Unite Students is a FTSE 100 business and the UK`s leading provider of purpose-built student accommodation. You can find us in 25 leading university towns and cities, with 74,000 students calling US home! We are driven by our values, culture, and a commitment to develop diverse and inclusive teams, filled with positive energy and new ideas.
Instinctive inclusion. We know that to create and maintain a happy healthy organisation, we have to work hard to ensure inclusion isn`t just what we do but who we are.
People make Unite Students. Employees, students and neighbours all contribute to building environments where we can all thrive.
Room for Everyone
We`re proud to be an employer that embraces individuality, and we`re passionate about building inclusive teams. We focus on creating a collaborative culture where you can be you, where your voice is heard, and where you can truly belong. We take great pride in being rated Gold Investors in People and are constantly striving to provide the highest standard of learning and development opportunities and professional pathways for our people. Building a home for success, for both our employees and students, requires exceptional people with a passion for creating room for everyone, doing what`s right, keeping US safe, and raising the bar. Join us as we build better experiences for students that live with us.
We are US.</div>

Data Science Lead - 12 month FTC

Penta

<div><h4 class="jobSectionHeader">What&rsquo;s in it for me?
</h4><ul><li>Competitive salary and compensation structure</li><li>
Generous paid time off and holiday schedule</li><li>
Frequent firm-wide social events and activities</li><li>
Excellent environment for learning and growth</li><li>
Further benefits, depending on location</li></ul><h4 class="jobSectionHeader"> 
About the Role</h4><div>
We are looking for a hands-on technical leader to lead Penta&rsquo;s Data Science team: someone who still designs, builds and reviews real solutions while owning execution, delivery and team development. You will be accountable for turning data science capability into shipped, dependable value for our clients and advisory teams, in alignment with our product roadmap. 
 
Penta&rsquo;s technology makes client outcomes sharper, faster, more differentiated and harder to replace. The Data Science team&rsquo;s success is measured by how much it improves live client work, not by technical elegance in isolation. 
 
Our core data science focus is natural language understanding at scale, processing millions of articles daily across stakeholder sentiment, topic identification over time, competitive peer-set selection, summarisation, contextualisation and other processing of unstructured content. Most use cases are creative chains of multiple steps drawn from data processing, exploratory analysis, fundamental ML, NLP, SQL, LLMs and integration into our live systems.</div> 

What you&rsquo;ll do 
 
Lead the team<ul><li>
Manage, coach and develop Penta&rsquo;s Data Science team, setting priorities, planning capacity and creating a high-trust, high-output delivery culture.</li><li>
Translate the product roadmap and advisory needs into a focused data science plan, partnering with Product, Advisory, Database, Development and DevOps teams to keep delivery aligned with client outcomes.</li><li>
Raise the delivery bar for execution, quality, pace, maintainability and cost discipline.</li></ul>
Ship production data science and AI systems<ul><li>
Design, build and review data science solutions across NLP, LLM workflows, machine learning, SQL and large-scale content processing.</li><li>
Own technical design and architecture for data-science-enabled applications, ensuring solutions are maintainable, supportable, observable and easy to operate.</li><li>
Productionise delivery with DevOps and MLOps, automating deployment in AWS and puttinge evaluation, monitoring and provider-routing controls in place so AI outputs remain reliable and cost-effective.</li></ul>
Scale practical AI adoption<ul><li>
Design and implement AI workflows as skills, models and MCP tools in OpenWebUI, with cost control, provider routing and observability built in.</li><li>
Partner with other departments to turn AI capabilities into everyday workflows, reusable tools and knowledge layers that improve internal productivity and client delivery.</li><li>
Evaluate emerging AI tools, models and agentic patterns, bringing the useful ones into production quickly and responsibly.</li></ul><div>
Success in this role 
 
Means the Data Science team is shipping reliable, maintainable AI and analytics capabilities into live client and advisory workflows; team members are growing; delivery is predictable; and Penta&rsquo;s applied AI capability is visibly improving across products and engagements. 
 
The Team 
 
Our Technology team supports Penta&rsquo;s ambitious delivery plans, using technology to automate solutions, optimise outcomes and support continuous integration and deployment. The six-person Data Science team sits alongside Development, Engineering / DevOps &amp; Platform Security, IT and the PMO, and works hand in hand with the Product team. 
 
The environment is collaborative, pragmatic and delivery-focused. We move quickly, share ideas openly, and use regular hackathons and experiments to generate practical business value. 
 
This is the hands-on leadership role for that team. Reporting to the CTO, You will lead a team working at the frontier of applied AI and data science, combining production LLM workflows, advanced prompting, agentic tooling, NLP, ML and large-scale content processing. You will set its direction, raise its delivery bar, grow its people through hands-on coaching, and lead from the front by actively shaping and delivering the work yourself. 
 
Our approach to AI is practical 
 
We are forward-thinking and ambitious in practically applying AI across client-facing work, corporate teams, technology and data science. We do not train our own foundation models; we apply, orchestrate and evaluate the best available models from major providers, engineering them into robust workflows that solve real business problems. 
 
We validate and document our methodologies through white papers and technical explainers, setting out the academic and analytical foundations behind our products, and the evidence that supports their use. This helps build trust in our tools, why they work and shows how they can be applied. 
 
We build on open-source AI software, including LiteLLM and OpenWebUI, to maximise the internal value of AI and build durable institutional capability. Reliability, cost control, observability, instruction-following, usability and adoption matter most. 
 
The team designs reusable workflows, skills, models and MCP tools that support Penta&rsquo;s move towards an AI-native advisory operating system. Keeping Penta at the forefront of practical AI in PR, communications and strategic consultancy is part of the role.</div><h4 class="jobSectionHeader">
About You</h4>
Tech skills required: applied AI, LLMs and data science 
<ul><li>
Advanced Python coding for data science</li><li>
Power-user fluency with frontier AI tools, especially Claude: expert-level prompting, context engineering, agentic workflows, model selection, evaluation, and practical use of the latest AI- native data science techniques</li><li>
Practical experience engineering production LLM workflows, including prompt / skill design, evaluation, cost control, provider routing, agentic / human-in-the-loop orchestration, embeddings, vector search and RAG</li><li>
Implementation of foundational ML algorithms, classic NLP techniques and LLMs</li><li>
Strong SQL for analytical and production use, ideally PostgreSQL, including complex joins, CTEs and aggregation</li><li>
AWS: EC2, ECS, S3; DevOps and automated deployment</li><li>
Git version control</li><li>
Ideally experience with OpenWebUI, LiteLLM, MCP tools and/or Claude Code</li></ul>
Key competencies &amp; experience<ul><li>
Significant hands-on experience as an Applied AI / Data Science technical leader, with recent, practical experience using frontier LLMs, prompting and agentic workflows to ship production systems. Typically this will mean around 10+ years&rsquo; hands-on experience, with technical-leadership exposure.</li><li>
A suitable degree, ideally in Software Engineering or a related technical field, and the technical grounding set out above will round out the profile.</li></ul>
The successful candidate will also have:<ul><li>
an analytical and logical mind, dynamic, positive and ready to make a difference;</li><li>
the ability to communicate complex technical topics clearly to senior, non-technical and technical audiences;</li><li>
a passionate drive for code quality, results and getting work shipped, with sound judgement on build-vs-buy, prioritisation and balancing speed against maintainability, cost and risk.</li></ul>
We strongly believe in developing talent and are willing to invest time to develop the people who join our team.<h4 class="jobSectionHeader">
About us</h4>
Penta Group is a global company providing data-driven solutions to help clients achieve their objectives in an increasingly complex stakeholder environment. We provide cutting-edge intelligence products to help clients understand what their stakeholders think, see, and hear, and then leverage that intelligence to develop and execute effective, measurable strategies. 
 
Our global team brings decades of experience in business, government, communications, research, data science, and media. Our clients include companies across a variety of industries, including technology, financial services, energy, healthcare, and more. Penta has offices in New York, London, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Dublin, London, Brussels, Singapore, and Hong Kong.</div>

VP, Head of Data Science

Wayflyer

<div>
 
 About Wayflyer
 
 
 
 Today's small businesses need a capital provider that keeps pace with their growth ambitions. Traditional financing options are slow, cumbersome and often out of reach. That's why we built Wayflyer.
 
 
 Our technology allows us to assess businesses in minutes, generate financing offers that reflect their growth potential and send funds in as little as 24 hours. To date, we've deployed over $6bn to thousands of businesses worldwide, backed by Tier 1 banks like J.P. Morgan.
 
 
 You'll be collaborating with ambitious colleagues from around the world. We have offices in Dublin, London, New York, Charlotte, Berlin and Sydney.
 
 
 
 The challenge
 
 
 
 Data Science at Wayflyer isn't a research function sitting outside the business - it's embedded in the decisions that determine who we fund, how we price, and how fast we grow. We have a team of talented Data Scientists and ML Engineers doing serious work. Now we need someone who can lead them, raise the bar, and make sure what they build actually ships and sticks.
 
 
 
 What You'll Actually Do
 
 
 
 We treat Machine Learning as a branch of software engineering, so you'll be a hands-on technical leader, not someone who manages from a distance. You'll write code, review PRs, and take responsibility for the production-grade ML models that power Wayflyer's go-to-market and funding processes.
 
 
 <ul>
 <li>
 Manage, mentor and scale a team of 4+ DS/ML engineers, holding the bar on technical excellence and code quality
 </li>
 <li>
 Own the ML lifecycle end to end, from dataset annotation and model training through to deployment, monitoring and infrastructure
 </li>
 <li>
 Partner with Product and Engineering leads to shape a data science roadmap that actually moves the business
 </li>
 <li>
 Put engineering discipline behind the work: reproducible pipelines, automated testing, documentation that holds up
 </li>
 <li>
 Translate complex technical work into something VPs and the C-suite can act on
 </li>
 <li>
 Push your team to use AI and LLMs to get to better outputs faster, not as a substitute for thinking
 
 
 </li>
 </ul>
 
 Who Thrives Here
 
 
 
 You started as an individual contributor and you haven't forgotten what it feels like to be in the weeds of a model that won't behave. You lead from the front, your team knows you can do the work, which is why they trust your direction on it. You can hold a technically rigorous standard and a commercially pragmatic one at the same time, and you know when to push back on a roadmap request and when to find a way to say yes. The people you've managed would say you made them better.
 
 
 <ul>
 <li>
 Advanced Python and SQL, the kind you'd expect from a strong Software Engineer
 </li>
 <li>
 Real experience getting models deployed, monitored and running reliably in production (Airflow, Dagster or similar)
 </li>
 <li>
 A proven track record of building and maintaining production ML systems yourself.
 </li>
 <li>
 Ability to translate business challenges (specifically in risk or growth) into technical data solutions.
 
 
 </li>
 </ul>
 
 How You&rsquo;ll Stand Out
 
 
 
 <ul>
 <li>
 Stack: Python, SQL, Modern Data Stack, Orchestration tools.
 </li>
 <li>
 Bonus: Experience in FinTech or Credit Risk.
 </li>
 <li>
 Bonus: Experience with NLP (Text classification, NER).
 
 
 </li>
 </ul>
 
 What This Role Could Turn Into
 
 
 
 This is a role with a direct line to how Wayflyer scales. As the business grows, so does the scope: more products, more markets, more decisions that need Data Science at their core. The person who lands this role won't just be running a team, they'll be shaping how data science is practiced across the organisation. That might mean:
 
 
 <ul>
 <li>
 Expanding into adjacent domains like growth or platform
 </li>
 <li>
 Taking ownership of cross-functional initiatives
 </li>
 <li>
 Setting the standards other teams build to
 
 
 </li>
 </ul>
 
 We hire for range
 
 
 
 We're less interested in years served than in the arc that got you here. You've probably gone from building models yourself to building the team that builds them, and you're still just as comfortable doing both. You've led a data science or ML team before, and you still write code, and you've got the judgment to know what great looks like at every stage of the ML lifecycle.
 
 
 
 Location and working policy
 
 
 
 
 📍
 
 Dublin or London, Hybrid.
 
 
 
 The good stuff
 
 
 
 25 days off, plus public holidays. Private healthcare, life insurance, and a pension. Equity - because you should own a piece of what you're building. Generous parental leave for primary and secondary caregivers. 60 days a year to work abroad from wherever you want.
 
 
 
 By submitting your application, you acknowledge that Wayflyer Limited will process your personal data for the purpose of evaluating your suitability for the role. Such processing is based on the need to take steps prior to entering into a potential employment agreement. To learn more about how we handle your personal data, you can contact our privacy team at
 
 
 privacy@wayflyer.com
 
 
 or review our privacy notice at
 
 
 https://wayflyer.com/privacy-notice
 
 
 .
 
</div>

Data Science

<div><div><h4 class="jobSectionHeader">Who We Are</h4>

WPP Enterprise Solutions designs, builds, and operates the growth systems that competitive businesses rely on. In a world where Al is reshaping how companies drive growth, we lead clients in business transformation and marketing modernization, connecting strategy directly to execution. Our 12,000 experts in engineering and platforms, commerce, consulting, content transformation, CRM, and CX work within a unified global operating unit across 40+ markets. WPP Enterprise Solutions works alongside best-in-class partners including Adobe, AWS, Braze, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Shopify, as well as innovators in AI, to deliver growth solutions tailored to the needs of our clients' businesses.</div>
We're looking for a Lead Data Scientist and manager of the practice to lead this next chapter. You'll own the data science practice end-to-end; building and managing the team, advising clients on what's possible, and delivering work that raises the bar for what data can do within marketing ecosystems.

Client demand is growing. And you'll have real autonomy to shape what this practice becomes: the product offering, the ways of working, and how data science becomes an accelerator that elevates the work of activation, engineering, and insights teams around you.
<h2 class="jobSectionHeader">
What will your day look like?</h2>
<ul><li>Lead &amp; Grow the Team: Manage a team of data scientists end-to-end; hiring, onboarding, personal development, performance conversations, and day-to-day support. Coach team members technically and professionally. 
Identify skill gaps, plan for future needs, and scale the team as the practice grows. Foster a culture of knowledge sharing, curiosity, and quality.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Build, Not Just Oversee: Personally contribute to high-complexity initiatives; designing and shipping ML models, training and inference pipelines, and experimentation frameworks. Bring deep, hands-on expertise in marketing-relevant techniques: uplift modelling, propensity scoring, attribution, next best action, segmentation, causal inference, and recommender systems. Set the technical bar through code and craft, not just review.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Advise Clients Strategically: Partner with account and strategy teams on scoping, proposals, and commercial conversations: you're a credible voice in the room when clients are deciding where to invest. 
Act as a trusted data advisor. Proactively identify gaps and untapped opportunities in clients' data and marketing ecosystems. Translate complex findings into business recommendations. 
Anticipate business needs and challenges; build lasting client relationships as the go-to person for data science matters.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Deliver End-to-End with Quality: Lead complex data science initiatives from hypothesis and experimentation through model development, validation, and activation. Collaborate closely with Data Engineers and Architects so solutions are grounded in solid infrastructure. Own quality across all team deliverables, with discipline in statistical methods, reproducibility, and insight generation.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Lead the team into Agentic AI: Champion agentic AI as both a way of working and a delivery capability. Coach data scientists to adopt AI-native engineering practices (agentic coding, AI-assisted development, prompt and context engineering) and lead the design of agentic solutions for clients: from internal accelerators to production-grade agents embedded in marketing workflows. We expect you have shipped or prototyped agentic solutions and have a clear point of view on where they create real value.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Apply CRM &amp; Marketing Domain Expertise: Contextualize data science within clients' CRM, campaign, and personalization strategies. Leverage hands-on experience with platforms like Adobe AEP, Salesforce Data Cloud, or Braze to extend marketing measurement and influence communications from a data perspective.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Shape the Practice: Establish guidelines, ways of working, and reusable accelerators. Maintain a backlog of data science use cases. Contribute to roadmapping, maturity frameworks, and the data science product catalogue alongside the Global Data Practice Lead.</li>
</ul><h2 class="jobSectionHeader">Who are you going to work with?</h2>

You will lead a small, technically capable team of data scientists who need a manager with both technical credibility and genuine investment in their growth. Beyond your team: Data Engineers, Architects, Strategy Consultants, Account teams, and clients directly.
<h2 class="jobSectionHeader">
What do you bring to the table?</h2>

Data Science &amp; Technical
<ul>
<li>5&ndash;8 years of hands-on data science experience combining technical depth with client advisory.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Strong expertise in statistical analysis, experimentation, ML techniques (regression, classification, clustering, hypothesis testing, next best action modelling).</li>
</ul><ul><li>Proficiency in Python and advanced SQL.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Solid grasp of adjacent domains: data modelling, ETL/ELT strategy, no-SQL databases, pipeline design&mdash;enough to collaborate credibly with engineers and architects.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Domain knowledge in CRM and marketing technology: campaign metrics, measurement frameworks, and experience with platforms such as Adobe, Salesforce, or Braze.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Cloud platform experience (GCP, AWS, or Azure).</li>
</ul>
Advisory &amp; Business
<ul>
<li>Consulting craft: Run client conversations end-to-end &mdash; scoping problems, shaping proposals, writing SOWs, contributing to RFPs, and defending recommendations under challenge. Comfortable moving between boardroom narrative and technical detail in the same meeting. Prior consulting or agency experience expected.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Commercial &amp; advisory instinct: Track record of identifying data-driven opportunities, building maturity roadmaps, and translating data science into business outcomes. Sound judgement on effort, ROI, and prioritisation by impact.</li>
</ul>
People Management
<ul>
<li>Demonstrated experience managing a team: mentoring, performance reviews, hiring, and day-to-day support. Formal management experience is essential.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Coaching-oriented leadership style. You grow people through trust, feedback, and investment&mdash;not top-down direction.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Comfort scaling a team that's still taking shape: anticipating needs, defining roles, onboarding effectively.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Emotional intelligence, empathy, and conflict resolution skills.</li>
</ul>
Excellent communication skills in English.

Nice to Have
<ul>
<li>Agency or consultancy experience in fast-paced, multi-client environments.</li>
</ul><ul><li>CRM certifications (e.g., Adobe CJA, RTCDP).</li>
</ul><ul><li>Familiarity with data governance and privacy (GDPR, CCPA).</li>
</ul><ul><li>Experience with out-of-the-box vendor intelligent services.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Exposure to agentic AI or AI-driven automation use cases.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Management or leadership certifications.</li>
</ul><h2 class="jobSectionHeader">A leader in personalized customer experiences</h2>

VML MAP is a world-leading Centre of Excellence that helps businesses humanize the relationship between the brand and the customer through hyper personalization at scale, marketing automation and CRM. With the brain of a consultancy, the heart of an agency and the power of technology and data, we work with some of the world's most admired brands to help them on their transformation journey to becoming truly customer-centric. Together, we are 1000 + technology specialists, data scientists, strategic thinkers, consultants, operations experts, and creative minds from 55+ nationalities.
<h2 class="jobSectionHeader">
A global network</h2>

We are part of the global VML network that encompasses more than 30,000 employees across 150+ offices in 60+ markets, each contributing to a culture that values connection, belonging, and the power of differences.

#LI-EMEA<div>
About WPP

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world's leading brands. We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel in a single company &ndash; powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth. For more information, visit WPP.com.

WPP (MAP/VML) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.

When you click &quot;Apply now&quot; below, your information is sent to MAP/VML. To learn more about how we process your personal data during when you apply for a role with us, on how you can update your information or have the information removed please read our Privacy policy. California residents should read our California Recruitment Privacy Notice.</div></div>

Senior Manager - Data Science (Martech/CRM)

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