Lead Data Scientist

Kantar Group; Hyderabad; On-site; INR 1,500,000 - 2,500,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days annual leave

Health cash plan

Income protection

Life assurance

Enhanced employer pension contribution

Flexible benefits covering lifestyle, health, wealth, and wellbeing

Job summary

Kantar Group in Hyderabad is seeking a Lead Data Scientist to shape and scale data science solutions that directly influence commercial outcomes. You will guide and mentor data scientists, leading complex yield optimization and forecasting initiatives.

This role demands deep technical expertise and people leadership, with responsibilities including the optimization of models and data-driven decision-making. The position offers attractive benefits, including 25 days of annual leave and a health cash plan.

Qualifications

• Advanced expertise in data science and statistical modelling.
• Experience leading yield, pricing, or optimization use cases.
• Strong understanding of forecasting and decision science.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and optimization of yield and pricing models.
• Analyse large-scale datasets for performance improvement.
• Define data science strategy for yield optimization.

Skills

Data science and statistical modelling

Python or R proficiency

Experience with yield, pricing, or optimization

Understanding of forecasting and decision science

Experience with cloud-based data platforms

Job description

Location: Hyderabad, International Tech Park

Kantar is the world’s leading AI-native marketing data and analytics business and an indispensable brand partner to the world’s top companies. We understand more about how people think, feel, shop, share, vote, and view than anyone else. By combining deep human understanding with advanced data science and AI, we help brands grow and make confident decisions in a rapidly changing world.

About the Job

As a Lead Data Scientist, you will play a pivotal role in shaping and scaling data science solutions that directly influence commercial outcomes. You will lead complex yield optimisation and forecasting initiatives, working closely with commercial leaders, engineers, and product teams to improve consistency, explainability, and decision quality across 24x7 production environments.

This role combines deep technical expertise with people leadership. You will guide senior data scientists, set technical direction, and translate advanced statistical concepts into clear, practical insights that help the business make better decisions at scale.

Job Goals

• Lead the design, optimisation, and evolution of yield, pricing, and matching models to improve forecasting accuracy, stability, and explainability.
• Analyse large-scale historical trading and behavioural datasets to uncover patterns, risks, and opportunities for performance improvement.
• Define data science strategy for yield optimisation, balancing innovation with robustness in live production environments.
• Encourage the use of more granular data, graduated levers, and low-risk automated decisions to enhance trading outcomes.
• Partner closely with commercial, engineering, and product leaders to embed data-driven decisioning into operational workflows.
• Guide and mentor senior and mid-level data scientists, setting high standards for analytical quality and delivery.
• Communicate complex technical findings clearly to non-technical audiences, enabling confident, actionable decisions.

Ideal Skills & Capabilities

• Advanced expertise in data science and statistical modelling, with strong proficiency in Python or R and applied optimization techniques.
• Demonstrated experience leading yield, pricing, or optimization use cases within large-scale marketplaces or data-rich environments.
• Strong understanding of forecasting, optimization, and decision science in discrete choice or trading contexts.
• Experience working with cloud-based data platforms and scalable analytics environments (e.g., AWS, Azure, Redshift).
• Ability to balance technical depth with leadership, encouraging collaboration, learning, and high-quality outcomes across teams.

What’s in it for you

• 25 days annual leave (increasing with tenure)
• Health cash plan
• Income protection
• Life assurance
• Enhanced employer pension contribution
• Award-winning voluntary flexible benefits covering lifestyle, health, wealth, and wellbeing

What part of Kantar might I be joining?

You’ll be joining Kantar’s Profiles division, home to specialists in survey design, sampling, and data science. With one of the world’s largest audience networks, the team partners with leading global brands to deliver trusted insights from real people at scale.

Our Commitment to Inclusion

At Kantar, equality of opportunity for everyone is a priority. We encourage applications from all backgrounds and communities. Even if you don’t meet every requirement, we’d still love to hear from you and explore whether this role—or another at Kantar—could be right for you.

We’re not able to offer visa sponsorship or relocation support for this role. Please ensure you have the right to work in the country where this role is located before applying.