Senior Data Scientist

Chalhoub Group; Dubai; On-site; AED 200,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading luxury retailer in Dubai is seeking a Senior Data Scientist to design and enhance machine learning models driving predictive decision-making. The role requires extensive experience in Python, model development, and collaboration with cross-functional teams. Ideal candidates will have proficiency in major machine learning libraries and tools, contributing to the Group's innovative approach and diverse workplace culture. Competitive benefits include flexible working policies and healthcare support.

Benefits

Health care

Child education contribution

Remote and flexible working policies

Exclusive employee discounts

Qualifications

• 5–7 years of experience in applied data science or machine learning.
• Strong proficiency in Python and relevant machine learning libraries.
• Proven experience in feature engineering and model performance metrics.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop machine learning models for business needs.
• Own model training, tuning, and evaluation for optimal performance.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate models.

Skills

Python

Machine learning libraries (e.g., scikit-learn, XGBoost, LightGBM)

Experimentation tools (e.g., MLflow, Weights & Biases)

Feature engineering

Bias detection techniques

MLOps practices (e.g., containerization, CI/CD)

Tools

Azure ML

GCP Vertex AI

Job description

INSPIRE | EXHILARATE | DELIGHT

For over seven decades, Chalhoub Group has been a partner and creator of luxury experiences in the Middle East. In its pursuit to excel as a hybrid luxury retailer, the Group has curated a portfolio of over 10 owned brands and strengthened its distribution and marketing expertise for over 400 international names across luxury fashion, beauty, jewellery, watches, eyewear, and art de vivre categories.

Every step at Chalhoub Group is taken to build a future where luxury dreams become reality — bridging cultures and crafting memorable experiences for our consumers. Be it by constantly reinventing itself, committing to innovation, or embracing new technologies, the Group is shaping the future of luxury retail. It delivers seamless omnichannel experiences across more than 950 stores, online platforms, and mobile apps. Driving this innovation journey is The Greenhouse — the Group’s innovation hub, incubator, and accelerator for startups and emerging businesses, regionally and globally.

Chalhoub Group fosters a people‑at‑heart culture rooted in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and a workplace catalysed by forward thinking and future‑proofing. Today, it brings together over 16,000 talented professionals across eight countries in the Middle East, with a presence in LATAM. Their collective efforts have earned the Group the Great Place to Work® certification in several markets.

Sustainability is at the core of the Group’s strategy, guided by a clear commitment to people, partners, and the planet. Chalhoub Group is proud to be a member of the United Nations Global Compact, a signatory of the Women’s Empowerment Principles, and to have pledged to reach Net Zero by 2040.

What You’ll Be Doing

We are looking for a Senior Data Scientist to design, build, and continuously improve machine learning models that enable predictive and intelligent decision‑making across business functions, ensuring accuracy, fairness, and robustness through rigorous experimentation, tuning, and monitoring.

Key Accountabilities

1. Design and develop machine learning models for predictive, classification, or optimization use cases aligned to business needs.
2. Own model training, tuning, and evaluation, using appropriate techniques to optimize performance, precision, and recall.
3. Engineer and select relevant features, leveraging statistical and domain knowledge to improve model outcomes.
4. Implement experiment tracking frameworks to ensure reproducibility and model comparability across versions.
5. Establish and maintain model performance metrics, including accuracy, F1 score, AUC, etc., depending on use case.
6. Develop strategies for detecting model drift, including statistical monitoring of input data and prediction shifts.
7. Define retraining strategies and triggers based on performance degradation, data shifts, or periodic review cycles, in collaboration with MLOps and platform teams.
8. Ensure fairness and mitigate model bias, applying techniques to identify and reduce demographic or systemic disparities.
9. Collaborate with Data Engineers, MLOps, and Product Managers to integrate models into production pipelines.
10. Document and version all models, experiments, and assumptions to support auditability, governance, and reuse.
11. Apply generative AI techniques, including LLM fine‑tuning, embeddings, and retrieval‑augmented generation, to support NLP and conversational use cases.
12. Link model outputs to Success KPIs by quantifying value creation (e.g., time saved, accuracy improvements, or revenue impact).

What You’ll Need To Succeed

• 5–7 years of experience in applied data science or machine learning.
• Strong proficiency in Python, machine learning libraries (e.g., scikit‑learn, XGBoost, LightGBM), and experimentation tools (e.g., MLflow, Weights & Biases).
• Solid understanding of model development lifecycle: training, hyperparameter tuning, evaluation, deployment, monitoring.
• Proven experience in feature engineering, including categorical encoding, normalization, and feature importance analysis.
• Knowledge of model performance metrics, statistical validation, and A/B testing approaches.
• Familiarity with bias detection techniques and fairness frameworks.
• Experience with drift detection methods (e.g., population stability index, data drift metrics) and retraining triggers.
• Comfort working with structured and semi‑structured data, including tabular and time‑series formats.
• Strong collaboration skills; able to work with MLOps, engineering, and product teams in cross‑functional environments.
• Working knowledge of MLOps practices (e.g., containerization, CI/CD, model serving) to ensure models are production‑ready and scalable.
• Hands‑on experience with Azure ML and GCP Vertex AI for model training, deployment, and monitoring.

What We Can Offer You

With us, you will turn your aspirations into reality. We will help shape your journey through enriching experiences, learning and development opportunities and exposure to different assignments within your role or through internal mobility. Our Group offers diverse career paths for those who are extraordinary, every day.

We recognise the value that you bring, and we strive to provide a competitive benefits package which includes health care, child education contribution, remote and flexible working policies as well as exclusive employee discounts.

We Invite All Applicants to Apply

It Takes Diversity Of Thought, Culture, Background, Differing Abilities and Perspectives to truly Inspire, Exhilarate and Delight our customers. At Chalhoub Group, we are committed to inclusion and diversity.

We welcome all applicants to apply and be part of our exciting future. We ensure equal opportunity for all our applicants without regard to gender, age, race, religion, national origin or disability status.