Lead / Sr Lead / Principal Data Scientist

Coupa; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 3,500,000 - 6,000,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Global Wellness Days

Birthday Time‑Off

Volunteer Time Off

Job summary

Coupa is seeking a Sr Lead Data Scientist in Bengaluru to lead end‑to‑end ML features for our spend management platform. You will architect predictive models for demand, risk, and market behavior, and collaborate with OR and product teams to scale solutions in a multi‑tenant SaaS environment.

The role demands 8+ years of hands‑on ML experience, advanced degrees, strong Python and SQL skills, and a passion for mentoring peers.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or a closely related quantitative field.
• 8+ years of industry experience applying machine learning methods and deploying production‑level models in commercial software environments.
• Expert knowledge of predictive modeling, time-series forecasting, and modern ML frameworks.
• Strong, production‑grade programming proficiency in Python with design patterns and CI/CD.
• Expert‑level SQL skills and data manipulation on large datasets.
• Excellent communication and ability to explain complex statistical concepts to leadership.
• Elite ML practitioner who writes clean, scalable code.
• Analytical, self‑driven, and capable of leading engineers.

Responsibilities

• Take end‑to‑end technical ownership of complex ML features in a multi‑tenant SaaS platform.
• Architect ML solutions whose outputs feed large‑scale optimization engines.
• Partner with software architects to design scalable ML pipelines and MLOps practices.
• Mentor senior and junior data scientists and lead code reviews.
• Collaborate with Product Managers and Engineering to translate business goals into ML specs.
• Lead efforts to engineer features from large messy datasets to improve model accuracy.

Skills

ML modeling

Python programming

SQL

Leadership

Communication

Education

Master’s or PhD in Data Science / CS

Tools

Scikit-Learn

PyTorch

TensorFlow

XGBoost

MLflow / MLOps

Job description

Coupa makes margins multiply through its community-generated AI and industry-leading total spend management platform for businesses large and small. Coupa AI is informed by trillions of dollars of direct and indirect spend data across a global network of 10M+ buyers and suppliers. We empower you with the ability to predict, prescribe, and automate smarter, more profitable business decisions to improve operating margins.

Why join Coupa?

Pioneering Technology: At Coupa, we're at the forefront of innovation, leveraging the latest technology to empower our customers with greater efficiency and visibility in their spend. Collaborative Culture: We value collaboration and teamwork, and our culture is driven by transparency, openness, and a shared commitment to excellence. Global Impact: Join a company where your work has a global, measurable impact on our clients, the business, and each other. Learn more on Life at Coupa blog and hear from our employees about their experiences working at Coupa.

The Impact of Sr Lead Data Scientist at Coupa:

At Coupa, we are building the smartest Business Spend Management (BSM) platform in the world. Our Supply Chain and Sourcing engineering teams develop advanced tools that help global enterprises design resilient supply chains, optimize procurement events, and maximize the value of every dollar spent.

To solve our customers' most complex challenges, we are blending predictive Machine Learning with prescriptive Operations Research. As a Sr Lead Data Scientist, you will act as the principal hands‑on architect for our core predictive engines. You will lead the development of the intelligent models that forecast demand, assess risk, and predict market behavior, ensuring these insights integrate seamlessly into our advanced optimization solvers.

What Youll Do

• Technical Execution & Ownership: Take end-to-end technical ownership of complex, high-impact machine learning features. Design, prototype, and implement advanced predictive models (Time Series, NLP, Deep Learning, Classification) to solve highly ambiguous supply chain and sourcing challenges.
• ML & OR Synergy: Act as the primary technical liaison to the Operations Research team. Architect machine learning solutions whose outputs (e.g., probabilistic forecasts, lead‑time estimates) serve as high-quality, calibrated inputs for large-scale mathematical optimization engines.
• Architecture & Scalability (MLOps): Partner with software architects to design highly scalable, automated machine learning pipelines. Drive the adoption of robust MLOps practices, ensuring models are efficiently deployed, monitored, and retrained within Coupa’s multi‑tenant SaaS platform.
• Technical Mentorship: Act as a force multiplier by mentoring senior and junior data scientists. Establish rigorous code review standards, lead system design sessions, and elevate the team's statistical and engineering practices.
• Cross‑Functional Collaboration: Work closely with Product Managers and Engineering leaders to define feature requirements, translate business objectives into technical ML specifications, and manage algorithmic trade‑offs.
• Data Strategy: Lead efforts to engineer novel features from massive, complex, and messy real‑world datasets, continuously identifying new internal and external data signals to improve model accuracy.

What You Will Bring to Coupa

• Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or a closely related quantitative field.
• 8+ years of industry experience applying machine learning methods and deploying production‑level models in commercial software environments.
• Expert knowledge of predictive modeling, time‑series forecasting, and modern machine learning frameworks (e.g., Scikit-Learn, PyTorch, TensorFlow, XGBoost).
• Strong, production‑grade programming proficiency in Python, with a solid understanding of software design patterns, object‑oriented programming, and CI/CD best practices.
• Expert‑level SQL skills and extensive experience with data manipulation and feature engineering on large datasets.
• Excellent communication skills, with a proven ability to explain highly complex statistical behaviors and model trade‑offs to product and business leaders.
• You are an elite machine learning practitioner who also loves writing clean, production‑grade, scalable code.
• You are highly analytical, self‑driven, and excel at converting ambiguous, high‑level business goals into structured, elegant data science solutions.
• You are a natural technical leader who enjoys mentoring others and is passionate about cultivating a rigorous, collaborative, and fast‑paced engineering culture.
• You embody Coupa’s core values: Ensure Customer Success, Focus on Results, and Strive for Excellence.

What Will Give You a Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications)

• Deep domain expertise in Supply Chain Network Design, Demand Planning, Strategic Procurement, or Logistics.
• Familiarity with Operations Research concepts (e.g., Linear Programming, MIP) and experience building predictive models that interact with commercial solvers (such as Gurobi or CPLEX).
• Hands‑on experience developing and deploying ML microservices on cloud‑native platforms (AWS SageMaker, GCP, Docker, Kubernetes).
• Extensive experience with distributed computing frameworks (e.g., PySpark, Databricks) for processing large‑scale datasets.
• Experience integrating Large Language Models (LLMs) to extract features from unstructured enterprise text data.

Global Well‑Being Perks (For All Employees Globally)

• Global Wellness Days: Enjoy two designated, company‑wide paid wellness days off each year (typically the first Friday in March and the last Friday in September) so the entire global team can unplug, step away, and recharge together.
• Birthday Time‑Off: Celebrate your day! Coupa provides a paid day‑off on your birthday or another day of your choice within your birthday month.
• Volunteer Time Off (VTO): Giving back is in our DNA. We offer 40 hours of paid VTO annually to support the community initiatives and volunteer programs you are passionate about.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP): Access free, confidential, 24/7/365 counseling and resources for emotional support, work‑life solutions, financial advice, legal guidance, and support for new parents.
• Business Travel Protection: Travel with peace of mind. Zurich Travel Assist provides medical, safety, pre‑trip planning, and emergency support during any business travel.
• Referral Bonus Program: Share the Coupa experience! Receive generous monetary referral bonuses when you successfully refer talented friends or acquaintances who are hired into open roles.

Please note: In addition to these global well‑being perks, Coupa offers highly competitive, location‑specific benefits packages (which include comprehensive medical/dental insurance, retirement/pension plans, and life or accident protection) tailored to your primary work location. Your recruiter will walk you through the specific regional benefits package for this role during the interview process. Coupa complies with relevant laws and regulations regarding equal opportunity and offers a welcoming and inclusive work environment. Decisions related to hiring, compensation, training, or evaluating performance are made fairly, and we provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified candidates and employees. Please be advised that inquiries or resumes from recruiters will not be accepted. By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you have read Coupa’s Privacy Policy and understand that Coupa receives/collects your application, including your personal data, for the purposes of managing Coupa's ongoing recruitment and placement activities, including for employment purposes in the event of a successful application and for notification of future job opportunities if you did not succeed the first time. You will find more details about how your application is processed, the purposes of processing, and how long we retain your application in our Privacy Policy. We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.