Lead Data Scientist — Hybrid with Baseline Clearance

Balance Recruitment; Melbourne; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Balance Consulting Services in Melbourne is seeking a Lead Data Scientist to drive end-to-end AI/ML delivery for a major government service. The role is hybrid with six weeks onsite to start, and leadership across data acquisition, modelling, evaluation and deployment.

You will guide advanced analytics initiatives, collaborate with stakeholders, and ensure responsible AI practices across the model lifecycle.

Qualifications

• Senior-level data science expertise including statistical modelling and ML.
• Experience designing and evaluating generative AI solutions (LLMs, RAG, prompt engineering).
• Strong data modeling and exploratory analysis for large datasets.
• Ability to translate insights into business decisions with stakeholders.
• Leadership and capability-building in a complex environment.
• Awareness of data use, governance and compliance.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and implementation of AI and machine learning solutions, balancing grounding, latency and cost against business needs.
• Oversee data acquisition, integration, transformation and feature engineering across complex datasets.
• Lead experimentation, proof-of-concept work, AI training and model validation to assess feasibility, value and operational suitability.
• Develop evaluation frameworks covering model performance, business outcomes, safety and ongoing operational monitoring.
• Guide the deployment, integration, monitoring and continual improvement of analytical and AI/ML solutions throughout the model lifecycle.
• Define modelling approaches and apply suitable statistical and machine learning methods to complex problems.
• Identify trends, drivers and actionable insights, translating technical findings into clear recommendations for stakeholders.
• Establish responsible AI controls and model assurance, including bias, fairness, explainability and safety assessments.
• Maintain robust documentation, review and approve team deliverables, and lead team priorities and resource allocation.

Skills

Senior DS expertise

Generative AI design

Lang models & RAG

Large-scale data analysis

Stakeholder partnership

Team leadership

Job description

Balance Consulting Services in Melbourne is seeking a Lead Data Scientist to drive end-to-end AI/ML delivery for a major government service. The role is hybrid with six weeks onsite to start, and leadership across data acquisition, modelling, evaluation and deployment.

You will guide advanced analytics initiatives, collaborate with stakeholders, and ensure responsible AI practices across the model lifecycle.