Senior Data Scientist I

RX Brasil; City Of London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Elsevier is seeking a Senior Data Scientist I to lead the design and development of intelligent, data-driven systems that help users explore, understand, and act on complex information.

You’ll own high-impact problem areas, drive solutions from concept to production, and balance modeling choices with scalable system design in collaboration with engineering teams.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in data science or a related field.
• Proficient Python with production-grade systems experience.
• Strong ML fundamentals and real-world application.
• Proven end-to-end data science/AI project delivery.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and make trade-offs.
• Clear, well-documented code for collaboration.
• Experience with cross-functional teams delivering user-facing AI products.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and development of ML/AI systems for real-world problems.
• Own end-to-end data science solutions from framing to production.
• Set technical direction and balance modeling, system design, and scalability.
• Apply ML and LLM techniques based on context.
• Design retrieval, ranking, and generation-driven workflows.
• Define evaluation strategies for trustworthy outputs.
• Collaborate with engineering to build scalable architectures.
• Mentor other data scientists to raise the team’s technical bar.
• Influence product direction through technical insights.

Skills

Data science

Python

ML fundamentals

End-to-end projects

Ambiguity handling

Collaborative coding

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

scikit-learn

HuggingFace

Git

CI/CD

Elasticsearch/OpenSearch/Qdrant

Job description

Interested in building and shaping AI systems that combine machine learning, retrieval, and modern language models to solve real-world problems

About the team:

You’ll work closely with engineering, product, and cross-functional partners to deliver robust, scalable solutions, while helping raise the technical bar across the team.

About the role:

We’re looking for a Senior Data Scientist I to lead the design and development of intelligent, data-driven systems that help users explore, understand, and act on complex information.

In this role, you’ll take ownership of high-impact problem areas—driving solutions from concept to production while navigating ambiguity and making key technical decisions.You’ll combine strong machine learning foundations with modern AI approaches to build systems that integrate prediction, retrieval, and generation at scale.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the design and development of machine learning and AI-powered systems for complex, real-world problems
• Own end-to-end solutions—from problem framing and experimentation to production deployment and iteration
• Drive technical direction for key problem areas, making informed trade-offs between modeling approaches, system design, and scalability
• Apply a range of techniques—from classical ML to large language model (LLM) approaches—based on the problem context
• Design systems that combine retrieval, ranking, and generation to enable intelligent workflows
• Define and drive evaluation strategies, ensuring high-quality, reliable, and trustworthy outputs
• Contribute to system architecture and scalability, working closely with engineering teams
• Mentor and guide other data scientists, helping raise the overall technical bar of the team
• Influence product direction by translating technical insights into actionable recommendations
• Collaborate with product teams to design experiments, measure impact, and iterate based on evidence

Core Qualifications

• Significant experience in data science, machine learning, or a related field
• Strong Python skills with a track record of building production-quality, maintainable systems
• Deep understanding of machine learning fundamentals and experience applying them in real-world settings
• Proven experience owning and delivering end-to-end data science or AI projects
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to navigate ambiguity
• Ability to write clean, tested, well-documented code suitable for collaborative development
• Experience working with cross-functional teams to deliver user-facing data or AI products

AI & Modern Techniques

• Hands-on experience working with large language models (LLMs) in applied or production settings
• Experience with retrieval-based approaches (e.g., embeddings, semantic search, ranking)
• Experience building or contributing to LLM-powered systems involving multi-step reasoning, tool use, or workflow orchestration (e.g., agent-based approaches or frameworks such as LangChain, LangGraph, or similar)
• Strong understanding of when to apply classical machine learning vs. LLM-based approaches

Data & Engineering

• Experience working with large, complex, and unstructured datasets (especially text)
• Familiarity with ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow, Scikit-learn, HuggingFace)
• Experience with cloud platforms and modern development workflows (Git, CI/CD)
• Ability to contribute to scalable system design and collaborate effectively with engineering teams
• Experience with vector databases or search infrastructure such as Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, Qdrant or similar.

Collaboration & Leadership

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Ability to explain model behavior, trade-offs, and limitations clearly to non-technical audiences
• Experience mentoring or supporting other team members
• Ability to drive projects forward independently while aligning with broader team goals

Nice to Have

• Experience with search, information retrieval, or knowledge systems at scale
• Experience designing evaluation frameworks for AI-generated or retrieval-based outputs
• Exposure to MLOps tools and practices (e.g., MLflow, Kubeflow, SageMaker)
• Experience optimizing systems for performance, scalability, or cost
• Familiarity with frameworks or tools for orchestrating LLM-based workflows and agent-like systems
• Experience working in structured and reproducible development environments (e.g., clear specification of tasks, experiment tracking, and collaborative workflows)
• Interest in emerging paradigms such as spec-driven or AI-assisted development
• Experience with citation-aware, source-grounded, or evidence-based AI systems

Why Join Us

Lead work on impactful problems involving complex, real-world data

Build and shape systems that combine machine learning fundamentals with modern AI approaches

Collaborate with a team focused on quality, scalability, and meaningful outcomes

Opportunity to influence both technical direction and product evolution

We know your well-being and happiness are key to a long and successful career. We are delighted to offer country specific benefits.

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We believe that by working together with the communities we serve, we can shape human progress to go further, happen faster, and benefit all.

We support continuous discovery and uphold the highest standards of content integrity, reliability, and reproducibility so the communities we serve can advance their field of science, healthcare or innovation with confidence.

By combining high-quality content with powerful analytics, we transform complexity into clarity and deliver mission-critical insights that help professionals make better decisions when it matters most.

We deliver insights that help research institutions, governments, and funders achieve their goals.

We help researchers discover and share knowledge, collaborate, and accelerate innovation.

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Connecting quality content and innovative technologies, we make progress go further and happen faster.

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With 9,500 employees, over 2,300 technologists in 5 major tech hubs, and more than 60 locations across the globe, we are committed to supporting the scientific and healthcare communities around the world.

We offer a diverse range of opportunities across technology, commercial, business, and early career jobs.

If you are looking for a career that inspires progress in science, innovation and health, and allows you to grow every day, find your team at Elsevier.

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