Lead Data Scientist - US - Contract to Hire

Very; United States; Remote; USD 150,000 - 175,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading IoT technology firm is seeking a Lead Data Scientist to collaborate with diverse teams in building innovative solutions. The role involves leading data science projects, mentoring team members, and ensuring successful client engagements. Candidates should have strong expertise in algorithms, machine learning, and effective communication skills. This fully remote position offers competitive compensation based on experience.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in data science and client interaction.
• Experience deploying models on AWS and leading teams.

Responsibilities

• Define Statements of Work and communicate value to stakeholders.
• Build and deploy end-to-end data and ML pipelines.

Skills

Effective communication

Influencing skills

Leadership

Education

Master’s degree in Data Science

Tools

Python

GitHub CI/CD

Linux

Job description

Lead Data Scientist - US - Contract to Hire

About Very
Very is a fully remote IoT technology firm led by expert problem-solvers to create efficient, scalable solutions that move commercial, industrial, and consumer IoT projects from pilot to production in record time.

We’ve built a collaborative, tight-knit team that thrives, whether we’re hanging out in person or coordinating work across time zones. The results show that we’re doing something right — as we’ve won numerous workplace awards over the years. Most recently in 2021, we were certified as a Great Place to Work, and in 2022, we were listed again in Parity.org’s list of Best Companies for Women to Advance.

We believe that everything we build — and the people we build it with — has the potential to change the world. Our client list includes numerous well-known brands determined to leverage the power of IoT to drive material outcomes — such as Vizio, Peloton, Clear, iHeart Radio, and Fellowes. Our goal, for each client we partner with, is to create high-value solutions through a collaborative and user-centered process.

About This Role

As a Lead Data Scientist at Very, you will work with our Software, Hardware, and Product Design teams to build full-service solutions for our clients. We focus on building end-to-end hardware and software solutions that meet our client's business needs, often incorporating reliable algorithms and machine learning systems. An ideal candidate will have expertise in algorithms, machine learning, and data science, strong communication skills, and the ability to present ideas and results to diverse audiences. Experience translating business problems into analytical solutions, working in interdisciplinary teams, and deploying models into production are essential.

A Lead at Very operates with high knowledge and accountability for service delivery, providing technical leadership and confidence to major stakeholders and team members. Travel may be required up to 10% of the time.

What You’ll Be Working On

Our projects are diverse, but primarily involve production systems. The key research component is establishing a repeatable delivery pattern for full-scale data science applications. Lead engineers also serve as sales solutions engineers, partnering with the commercial team to close high-value contracts, which may involve onsite client visits and project negotiations.

Our Current Tooling

Projects typically involve building a full IoT data pipeline and MLOps lifecycle, utilizing tools such as:

• Git, GitHub, CircleCI/GitHub Actions, pytest
• SciPy Stack (Numpy, SciPy, Pandas, Scikit-Learn, Matplotlib)
• SQL/Postgres, Docker, MLFlow, PySpark, PyTorch, TensorFlow, LangChain
• Jupyter notebooks

Cloud resources include AWS (Lambda, ECR/ECS, RDS, DynamoDB, IoT Core, Greengrass, Sagemaker, Bedrock), Azure (Functions, Container Registry, SQL Database, IoT Hub), third-party tools, and Terraform for Infrastructure-as-Code. Familiarity with additional tools like Django, Flask, React, React Native, Swift, Yocto, Linux, embedded C, Rust, and SBCs like RPi is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Work with stakeholders to define Statements of Work (SoW), communicate value, estimate work, and identify risks
• Own the data science components, build and deploy end-to-end data and ML pipelines, ensure testing and verification, and maintain client relationships
• Expand and evolve the Data Solutions practice, provide guidance, mentor team members, and establish DataOps and MLOps best practices
• Lead complex projects, develop product roadmaps, monitor implementation, and mitigate risks

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Data Science or related field
• 5+ years of experience, including deploying models on AWS, real-time signal processing, leading teams, and working directly with clients
• Proficient in Python (SciPy stack, Scikit-learn, TensorFlow/PyTorch), GitHub CI/CD, and developing in Linux and embedded C

Nice-to-have

• 7+ years of experience, embedded real-time processing, machine vision, speech recognition, edge deployment, AWS certification, familiarity with Elixir/Phoenix/Nerves, SBC experience

Skills

• Effective communication, influencing skills, confidence in technical ability, risk-taking, project estimation, leadership in challenging scenarios

Compensation

Between $150,000 and $175,000 per year, based on experience. Fully remote within the lower 48 states of the US.